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Those considering buying a hybrid car may be a little concerned about what’s under the hood. Hybrid cars have battery-powered motors. Since battery-powered motors don’t usually come to mind when people think of what’s under the hood of a car, it’s a good idea to get a good look at the battery pack of a hybrid car. Here are some facts about it.
Hybrid car battery packs don’t need to be replaced
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The warranty on a hybrid vehicle is for the entire life of the vehicle, and the battery warranty is between 8 and 10 years. In terms of mileage, battery packs are expected to last between 150,000 and 200,000 miles, and probably longer than that.
Battery toxicity is an issue, but not a major one
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Hybrids use NiMH batteries rather than rechargeable NiCd batteries. NiCd batteries are usually harmful to the environment, but the NiMH batteries used in hybrids are fully recyclable.
Hybrid batteries contain hundreds of cells
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Hundreds of batteries means a lot of complexity under the hood of a hybrid car, and complexity usually means expensive, but with the generous warranties given by automakers on these cars, there are few problems involved in buying a hybrid.
The number of battery failures in hybrids has been low
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When I say low, I mean really low. If a failure occurs, it probably happens before the car leaves the factory. Toyota even says that some of its original Prius models have battery packs that have exceeded 300,000 miles.
The cost of replacing hybrid batteries isn’t even an issue
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It’s not an issue because the battery packs in hybrids are built to last. The Department of Energy studied hybrids, but stopped testing when the capacity was “like new” after 160,000 miles. As a result, no one really seems to know what the cost of replacing a hybrid’s battery pack is.
Battery packs for hybrids are evolving
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If we look further into the future, the next generation of hybrid batteries is in the pipeline. The goal: discover a technology that provides a lot of power, lasts for the life of the hybrid vehicle, and is less expensive to manufacture.
If your hybrid car’s battery pack does run out, there’s a solution
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Toyota has released some advice on what to do if your hybrid battery runs out at the end of the warranty period. That advice is to recondition the battery. This solution works well because if something goes wrong, the problem is only with one of the 28 modules of the battery. So if you simply replace the faulty module with one that matches the chemistry of the other 27 modules, your hybrid’s battery should be in good shape. You can find a match by getting a battery pack from another car with similar mileage and age.