durability of Prius

Canadian cab company had 200,000 miles on one. Seems a lot of the Candian taxi companies are moving to them. Some fleets savings wee $900 per month. Maintenance has been very, very low on the vehicles to date.

Probably long after you've moved to another vehicle. Warranty in California on the HV battery is 10 years, 120,000 miles. Never owned a car longer than

Approx. $2975 last time I checked. As I said above, warranty will cover it if you buy a new car every decade or so.

B~

The owner of the Yahoo Prius group, Eric Metzler, has 180K+ miles on his

One of the gurus from the Yahoo Prius Tech group bought a battery assembly from a wreck for experimentation - he paid $500 US. Not bad, considering Toyota pays a $200 "deposit" for a dead battery pack... he paid $300 more for a good one than a bad one would be worth. From present experience the batteries will be a glut on the used market, since there have been a number of totalled Prius cars and no out-of-warranty demand.

The battery pack, and the entire hybrid system, is warranted for a minimum of 100K miles and 8 years in the US. In some states (like California) it is

Mike

Hmm. How long can these NiMH batteries sit discharged without damage?

It isn't the discharge state but the method of charging that matters.

Bob Wilson

There is a DoT and Canadian fleet study URLs are in:

If you voted for GW Bush instead of Al Gore:

- six months after you buy the car

- 10% of the purchase price

- wait for a hyrdrogen car

Bob Wilson

Dunno. The Prius owner's manual (or is it the service manual?) warns about letting the car sit six months without operating it because the hybrid battery can discharge.

I'm not certain what happens to a NiMH battery when it sits discharged. Even a short time is deadly to NiCads because they grow "whiskers" and short out. Lead-acids aren't much better for reasons I've never researched.

Mike

Unlike NiCad, NiMH does not create whiskers. Unlike lead acid, it does not create a coating on the lead plates.

NiMH discharges at the rate of (about) 10 percent a month. After 6 months, the charge may be low enough that the volatge will not power up the inverter. If the inverter can not run, it can not spin up the ICE to charge the battery.

If the battery pack discharges too low you have the dealer charge it and you are right back in business. Yes, a hassle, but there are other problems associate with leaving a car undriven for 6 months.

Daniel

• In California (and all other states that have the California emission standards) the battery and electric drive train are guaranteed for

As I recall, the internal combustion engine and mechanical drive train are guaranteed for 60,000 miles.

earle