[aprssig] Prius Battery Life and Replacement Cost

Sun Aug 26 09:23:24 EDT 2007

sufficient heat when it is cold outside, but I do notice a considerably
longer time for the coolant temp gauge to come up to low end of normal.
Cooling, Its "okay" but I am a a/c tightwad it has to be really hot
before I will usually turn it on anyway, its no where near the cooling
power of a land barge but it makes it comfortable inside.  Remember that
I ride a m/c as much or more than 4 wheels so a/c isnt on my list of
super important items.

The insight only has a 1 liter engine so there is not a whole lot of
reserve power there, and it has quite a bit of glass area so it has a
lot of greenhouse effect when sitting in the sun.
bob

On Sun, 2007-08-26 at 09:04 -0400, James Lovell wrote:
> Bob,
> 
> How well does your Insight manage air conditioning and heating?
> 
> Jim
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "bob evinger" <wd9eka at evinger.com>
> To: "TAPR APRS Mailing List" <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
> Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 12:24 AM
> Subject: Re: [aprssig] Prius Battery Life and Replacement Cost
> 
> 
> > Dust to dust cost being more than a HUMvee, I would like to see or read
> > that report because my personal experience would seem to dispute that,
> > but then I dont have personal experience with a humvee.....
> >
> > I do not have a prius.. I DO have a honda insight and have had it 7
> > years. I bought it new, had about 100 miles on it when I got it.  I have
> > put approximately 114,000 miles on it. I have had no realistically
> > unexpected service costs with it to date.
> >
> > I keep track of every piece of work I do on it.
> >
> > I managed to get approximately 55,000 miles on a set of the potenza
> > tires. I just now put my third set on earlier this summer.
> >
> > I did not have to replace the front brake pads until 110,000 and still
> > have plenty of pad on the back shoes.  I do use the regenerative braking
> > considerably(obviously). I had to replace the front rotors because
> > something about the way I lightly brake actually caused wear that didnt
> > trip the  noise makers up front and I was into the rotor before I
> > realized it(but got reasonably priced rotors at NAPA( $20 a piece I
> > think).
> >
> > I had a recall with the ECM very early on that my vehicle was part of.
> > Had a loose hi voltage battery connection somewhere in the system that
> > caused an IMA(hybrid) error condition that they had to look at around
> > the same time as the ECM problem. That is the only time the dealer has
> > ever laid their hands on it.
> >
> > whoops, I did have the primary O2 sensor bite the dust at about 105,000
> > miles but that seems to be the average mileage for that sensor
> > apparently on the insight. Car still ran mostly normal, autozone ran the
> > code, but didnt have the best price on the sensor. It is expensive, but
> > NAPA only wanted close to  1/2 what I think mother Honda wanted. Without
> > pulling the program up I think the sensor was around 280, honda listed
> > it up in the high 400's I think.
> >
> > I do my own maintenance(fluids, rotations literally just about
> > everything). unless something really nasty blows up which so far, knock
> > on wood, has not happened. I changed the rotors and pads when they
> > needed it, did the O2 sensor change.  But hey I build my own airplane
> > too so its all relative.
> >
> > i will admit that the High voltage battery pack is getting pretty weak
> > but it has not yet tripped any check engine or IMA lights long enough
> > for me to take it in. I probably should take it in though and have them
> > check for codes as there were a couple times earlier in the summer where
> > I had IMA drop out on long drives but cleared on its own later.
> >
> > Honda extended the IMA warranty on the insights to 10 years or 150,000
> > miles so I basically have another 3 years before it becomes a concern.
> > This warranty extension to 10 years is official, I've seen the extension
> > paperwork and checked with my local dealership to confirm that mine is
> > covered by it.
> >
> > I initially was getting honest +70mpg trips on the highway with a few
> > 85mpg trips over a 400 mile route to the Peoria hamfest and back. These
> > days its averaging more in the high 50's to low 60mpg range. I can still
> > live with that though.
> >
> > so at least from my hybrid experience I have a real hard time believing
> > that the "dust to dust" cost of a hybrid is more than a humvee. Maybe it
> > is because I am thinking on the maintenance side, or the report was
> > comparing some hybridized suv where the gas mileage difference wouldnt
> > be as noticeable?
> >
> > I am not 100% sure I would buy another hybrid but its not because of
> > maintenance costs or any other tangible. But it has made me set my sites
> > high.  Basically the government shuffling their feet over CAFE standards
> > to me is a joke. I have a personal fuel efficiency standard for my day
> > to day personal operation of it needs to get over 40 mpg. I ride m/c's a
> > big chunk of the year when I am not in the insight(raining, snowing,
> > icy, just plain nasty temps, i.e. below 20F) and those get less mileage
> > than the insight, 48mpg or so, but the "mental therapy" I get from them
> > far outweighs the 10+mpg difference.
> >
> > I can honestly say I still love my Insight. i swore when I bought it
> > that I would drive the wheels off of it. I'm paying for a new m/c now so
> > I have to make it last at least until I get the 2 wheeler paid off.
> >
> > bob evinger
> >
> >
> > On Sat, 2007-08-25 at 20:49 -0700, Dale Blanchard wrote:
> >> Ray McKnight wrote:
> >> >
> >> > After watching "Who Killed the Electric Car", the subject of the
> >> > Prius came up.  We all love the concept of the Prius, but not so much
> >> > Most of the other hybrids that fail to get much better mileage than
> >> > A Corolla.  But the big debate revolves around battery life.  Toyota
> >> > And most everyone else all promise the batteries will last "the life
> >> > Of the car", but are not warranted past 100,000 miles.  10 years is 
> >> > also
> >> > Murmured a lot as well.  Everyone has horror stories of rechargeable 
> >> > battery
> >> > Failure, it's not a question of if, just when.  Given that a Prius with
> >> > A bad battery is basically useless and will have near-zero resale 
> >> > value.
> >> > The replacement cost has been quoted at anywhere between $5,500 to over
> >> > $7,500 (I think Ford's are up at the top end of this range).  So will
> >> > Prius be a throw-away 100,000 car?  Who knows for sure if the batteries
> >> > Can survive high mileage or longer than 10 years?  Will it be cost 
> >> > effective
> >> > To sink such a large amount of money replacing batt's in a 10+ year old
> >> > Vehicle?  All of this has caused most of my debating friends conclude 
> >> > that
> >> > Given the high initial acquisition cost, the cost/mile of ownership 
> >> > will
> >> > Eventually be several times higher than a car with 35+mpg costing under
> >> > $18,000.  And, no, I am not ignoring the environmental considerations.
> >> > Comments?
> >> >
> >> > Ray - WB3ABN
> >> > Kingston, WA
> >> >
> >> I read a report (don't know here it is now) that the Dust to Dust life
> >> cost of operating a Hybrid is more than a Humvee.
> >> This took in the consideration of total longevity of each and all costs
> >> involved.
> >> Dale
> >>
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