Tips and Expectations For Your Hybrid Battery Replacement

If you are planning to buy a used hybrid car or you already own one, you will at some point give some thought to your hybrid battery. This is because the hybrid vehicle’s cost is not like the traditional battery, the Toyota hybrid battery replacement cost and the Honda hybrid battery replacement cost usually can be done at the cost of $75 and have a lifespan of more than eight years, it depends on a variety of factors, age of the vehicle, mileage, usage and how much the vehicle is taken care of.

•    Usage of Vehicle- Are you an Uber or Taxi driver who runs around 1500 kilometers per week or are you a private vehicle owner who use the car to drive to and from office. The usage of your vehicle will affect lifespans of your battery. The Uber driver’s battery will have a more wear and tear than the driver who uses it for private purposes only. Therefore, it is obvious that the Uber driver will be having a shorter lifespan of their hybrid battery.

•    Age of the vehicle- The privately used vehicle crosses their 10-11 years mark easily before being reconditioned but the vehicle which is used for mere Taxi purposes doesn’t cross the 5-year mark before turning down.

•    Mileage- Though not all high mileage cars are the same. On comparing the 2005 Prius with the 2011 Prius which have run the same kilometers you will see that the 2011 one is of the worse condition, this is because cycling is harder on a hybrid battery as it was installed in a shorter period.

•    Maintaining the balance- The key failure of the hybrid battery is when the cells don’t maintain each other’s balance. A typical Prius battery usually has 28-30 cells and each of these cells has a capacity of over 6500mah. Over the time like the normal batteries, these batteries usually deteriorate as low as to 1500mah. The deterioration is never even, some cells may be as low as 1500mah while some cells still have the capacity of 4000mah or higher. A hybrid battery with unbalanced cells will deteriorate faster than the balanced ones.

•    Servicing- A hybrid vehicle is a combination of the petrol engine and electric drive. A petrol engine which performs poorly will reduce the mileage and stress the hybrid battery. Vehicles which have a run some higher kilometers are prone to the servicing neglect by their owners. We recommend the taxi owners to go for servicing every 8000 kilometers their vehicles run and 1,00,000 kilometers or 6 months whichever is lower for the private vehicle owners.

The lasting time of your hybrid battery depends on many factors, Toyota promises an 8-year lifespan of its battery, while the typical lifespan of all the batteries available in the market lasts for 5-10 years. To increase the lifespan of your battery, you should go for regular servicing and maintenance will ensure the engine is not underperforming and putting stress on the battery and a preventive rebalancing of the cells of the hybrid battery is mandatory.

Hybrid Battery Conditioning

Toyota has designed and engineered hybrid battery in such a way that it lasts the lifetime of your car. The hybrid battery is designed to work with the electric engine and conventional engine. With the conventional engine, it is powered by fuel, diesel or petrol. One of the best features of the hybrid battery is it continuously recharges itself when the car is in motion unlike other cars and saves on fuel cost. 

Hybrid battery has an eight-year lifespan however it completely depends on the vehicle condition. It requires proper maintenance to work smoothly. Toyota has offered an extended guarantee for hybrid batteries. They provide with 1 year 15,000 miles extension to the guarantee.

An underperforming hybrid battery can cost a lot of money hence, battery conditioning is needed. Hybrid Battery Conditioning is approximately 1/3 of the cost of battery replacement. Hybrid Battery Conditioning enhances the vehicle performance. It makes it more efficient, cost less to operate and have improved drivability with immediate effect. 

Benefits of Hybrid Battery Conditioning

1. Economical: - Hybrid battery conditioning is more economical as compared to replacing the complete pack. As it costs more while with hybrid battery conditioning can add many years to vehicle lifespan.

2. Improves Performance: - Hybrid battery conditioning helps you to evaluate how different aspects of the car are trending to deliver maximum results, reliability, and cost-savings from hybrid vehicle services.

3. No Need to Plugin Batteries: - A hybrid battery charges itself so there is no need to worry about the fuel and engine. As excess power from the engine charges it itself and enhance the driving performance.

4. Environment-Friendly: - Hybrid batteries are designed in such a way that it saves the fuel and low fuel-consumption means low emissions. Hybrid batteries do not impact the environment as it has low levels of harmful nitrogen oxides.

Hybrids have been designed to be as easy to drive as possible. All Hybrids are automatic, Hybrid system controls itself. There are three major types of batteries that companies use or are considering for use in hybrid cars: lead-acid, nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion.

Hybrid battery cost

Retail price for a new hybrid battery is around $2589. However, the installation charge may differ as per the location and labor charges. Replacement of hybrid battery can cost anywhere from $1,000 to more than $6,000, depending on the year and model of your vehicle. While replacement old battery doesn’t go in the waste as per Toyota terms it can be recycled. 

Hybrid Battery Recycling

Toyota launched the world's first recycling business for NiMH car batteries in 2010. This program was a success because it saves a lot of money for the customers. When you replace the batteries with the new one, you get some amount for the old one back. As 98 percent of the battery material gets recycled and it also lowers the production cost of future hybrid batteries.

Recycling process helps the environment by reducing the amount of waste. Toyota has taken over the world by its extremely good initiatives and up to date technology.