What Can You Do?

There are a several choices when the battery fails. Unfortunately, those options don't involve driving the vehicle, since the battery is important to the drive train. That means you can't just rewire it to work on gasoline alone, as some thrifty drivers hope.

Your 1st option is, of course, to simply buy a new battery. In our knowledge, this can price around $2,500 plus labor and taxes, though it's more expensive in some versions. Do this and you'll likely get a decade or more out of your new battery.

Another option is to buy a reconditioned or re-manufactured battery. While a seller is unlikely to perform this job, spend some time searching on the Internet and you'll get many third parties who will. They rebuild batteries by replacing dead cells with new ones. While re-manufactured batteries may not last as long as the originals, they're also much cheaper. If you go this path, get ready to pay $1,000 to $1,400 plus installation.

Your finally option is to buy a used battery, which typically comes from a hybrid that suffered an problem. This is the cheapest option but also the riskiest, since there are few guarantees that the battery will work until it's fitted and paid for.

Examine Your Warranty

One piece of suggestions we give consumers concerned about hybrid battery failure is to examine their vehicle's warranty. While most hybrid vehicles offer an 8- or 10-year/100,000-mile warranty, several states mandate that hybrid warranties last up to 150,000 miles. If your vehicle was bought new in one of those states, you might be able to get your battery changed under warranty for free.

Be Careful, Not Scared

Hybrid vehicles have many advantages, and we wouldn't advise a shopper to run away from one just because of potential battery traps. But we surely advise doing your homework, even if that means discussing a lower price to account for potential battery failure.

Hybrid Battery Replacement: 

When Can You Hope It?  

Whether you're preparing to buy a used hybrid or you already have one, you'll need to give some thought to the hybrid battery pack. That's because the battery in a hybrid motor vehicle isn't like the one in a traditional vehicle, and it can't be replaced for $75 at the local auto parts shop.

Instead, a unsuccessful hybrid car battery can cost thousands of dollars to replace, and that can be a big deal to a shopper who bought a hybrid to save money. But before you get too worried, we've given some tips on when to expect the battery to fail and ways to avoid a big bill.

When Will It Fail?

This is the most important problem posed by hybrid users and drivers considering a used hybrid. Unfortunately, answering it isn't easy -- largely because each case looks to be different. Some drivers experience failure at 70,000 miles, while others can make it to 200,000 miles without problem.

In our knowledge, hybrid batteries begin to become a risk when they're 10 to 15 years old and they've covered 120,000 to 150,000 miles. Yes, some users will do a lot better than that. There are information of batteries lasting well into the 200,000-mile range. But we wouldn't recommend counting on those reports as the norm, especially if you're thinking about a used hybrid and you're on a budget.

next part coming soon........

Tips for Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrids, and Electric Vehicles

5. Use Accessories Smartly

Accessories such as heating, air conditioning, and entertainment systems affect fuel economy on all motor vehicles, but they can have a greater effect on hybrids and electrics. So, keep that in mind when trying to maximize fuel economy or electric range. Pre-heating or pre-cooling the cabin of a plug-in hybrid or EV while the motor vehicle is still plugged in, for example, can extend its electric range.

Tips for Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrids, and Electric Vehicles

4. Maintain the Battery Charged

(EVs and Plug-in Hybrids Only)

For plug-in hybrids, maintaining the battery charged ensures that you will use as much electricity and as bit of gasoline as possible, protecting you fuel and money. For EVs, it helps maximize your driving range.

For lithium-ion batteries, the kind typically used on EVs and plug-in hybrids, recharging a partially charged battery pack ("topping off the battery") does not degrade the battery's storage capacity or make it degrade more quickly.

Tips for Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrids, and Electric Vehicles

3. Avoid Hard Braking

Anticipate stops and brake softly or moderately. This allows the vehicle's regenerative braking system to recover energy from the vehicle's forward movement and store it as electricity. Hard braking causes the motor vehicle to use its conventional friction brakes, which do not recover energy.

Tips for Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrids, and Electric Vehicles

Many of the gas-saving driving and maintenance tips for conventional motor vehicles also use to hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and all-electric vehicles (EVs). However, here are some extra tips that may help you increase the fuel economy of these advanced motor vehicles.

1. Study the User's Manual

These motor vehicles can vary significantly in design, specially the way they control energy use; tips that apply to one model may not apply to another. The manufacturer knows how to operate and maintain your motor vehicle to maximize fuel economy, driving range, and battery life. So, consult your user's manual for tips specific to your motor vehicle.

2. Use the Economy Function

Many of these motor vehicles come with an "economy mode" or similar feature that maximizes the vehicle's fuel economy. In some motor vehicles, this mode can be activated by easily pressing a button. The economy mode may limit other aspects of the vehicle's performance, such as acceleration rate, to save fuel.

TOYOTA HIGHLANDER battery pack

The nickel metal hydride battery applied in Highlander Hybrid-and the Lexus RX 400h-is packaged in a recently developed metal battery casing. The 240 cells can provide high voltage of 288 volts-but the motor-generators units can handle on variable voltage anywhere from 280 volts to 650 volts. The battery pack products 288 volts, but the boost converter, a part of the inverter above the transaxle, changes this to 500 volts. This battery pack gives 40 percent more power than the Prius battery, despite being 18 percent smaller.

Each of the modules has its own monitoring and cooling manage system. The cooling performance decreases performance losses due to excessive heat, ensuring that the battery can supply required electric power to the motors at all times. The battery-monitoring unit manages discharge and recharging by the generator and motors to keep the charge level constant while the car is running. The battery pack is stowed under the back seats.