All About Hybrid-Car Battery Packs
All about hybrid car battery packs
Those considering purchasing a hybrid may be a little concerned about what's under the hood. Hybrid cars have battery-powered motors. Since most people don't associate a battery-powered motor with what's under the hood of a car, it's beneficial to gain a thorough understanding of the hybrid-car battery pack. Below are a few facts about it.
Hybrid cars don't require replacement battery packs.
Made to last over the lifetime of the vehicle, a hybrid car's warranty covers the battery for a time period that lasts between eight and ten years. We expect a battery pack to last between 150, 000 and 200,000 miles, and it likely lasts longer than that.
Battery toxicity is a concern, but not a major one.
Hybrid cars use NiMH batteries, not rechargeable nickel cadmium. While nickel-cadmium batteries typically pose environmental risks, hybrid cars utilize fully recyclable NiMH batteries.
Hybrid batteries contain hundreds of cells.
Hundreds of cells indicate that hybrid cars have a lot of complexity under their hoods, and complexity usually translates into higher costs. However, with the generous warranties that car manufacturers are offering on these cars, purchasing a hybrid involves minimal costs.
The number of battery failures in hybrids has been extremely low.
When I say low, I mean really low. If a failure occurs, it likely occurs before the cars even leave the dealership. Toyota has confirmed that some of its original Prius models have batteries that have exceeded 300,000 miles in use.
The cost of replacing hybrid batteries isn't even an issue.
The long-lasting nature of the battery packs in hybrid cars eliminates the issue. The Department of Energy looked into hybrid vehicles but stopped its test when the capacity was "just like new" after 160,000 miles. So no one really seems to know for sure what it costs to replace the battery pack in a hybrid car.
The battery packs in hybrid cars are evolving.
If we look further into the future, the next generation of hybrid batteries is in the works. The goal is to discover a technology that gives lots of power, lasts for the hybrid car's lifetime, and costs less to make.
If the battery pack in your hybrid car does run out, there is a solution.
Toyota has given some advice on what to do if your hybrid battery runs out after the warranty has expired. The advice is to recondition the battery. The solution is effective because only one of the battery's 28 modules can malfunction. So if you simply replace the problematic module with one that matches the chemistry of the other 27 modules, your hybrid car's battery should be in excellent shape. You can find a match by getting a battery pack from another car that has a similar mileage and age.
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