Prius Nickel Hydride Batteries Have Long Legs

When Toyota introduced the Prius Hybrid, it told Green Car Reports the secondary batteries were life-of-car components. They would last for ‘hundreds of thousands of miles’ because they were nickel-metal-hydride batteries. We spotted a chat on East Bay Times suggesting Prius nickel hydride batteries are proving to be up to that task.

Some Prius Nickel Hydride Batteries Good for 355,000 Miles

Dan Fisher from Los Gatos began the conversation. “My electric battery finally died when I had 355,000 miles on my 2004 Prius hybrid,” he said. Doug Fairburn from the same town in Santa Clara County, California had a similar experience.

“My 2006 Prius clocked 250,000-plus miles with no sign of deterioration in mileage. I only gave up the car last year because the catalytic converter needed replacement. I was looking at a $3,000 repair bill so replaced it with another Prius with only 76,000 miles. Happy driving with Prius nickel hydride batteries!”

Let’s Pause and Learn More About a Prius Secondary Battery

Continuing the Conversation on East Bay Times

Ed Tang from Sunnyvale not far away appeared equally positive. “We have a Lexus RX400h 2007. It has done 202,000 miles on the original batteries, and it is doing very well. I had Lexus check the electrical system and they found everything OK.”

Prius nickel hydride batteries have similar positive electrodes to nickel-cadmium (nicad) ones. However, their negative ones are different because they don’t use cadmium. They use a hydrogen absorbing alloy instead and this beefs up their density three times. In fact they are almost as good as lithium in that regard.

Replacement Prius hybrid batteries cost around $4,000. They had an eight-year guarantee, or ten in California and other states adopting its emission regulations. But of course that’s over now and expired.

Hybrid and Electric Vehicle’s Batteries

What is a Nickel Metal Hydride Battery?

Preview Image: Toyota Prius: Cutaway of Battery Pack

Video Share Link: Replacing a 2004 Prius Hybrid Battery

Link to East Bay Times Article