Can A Toyota Prius Battery Last 250,000 miles?
Jesse Rudavsky purchased his 2010 Toyota Prius used with about 42K miles on it. That was back in 2013. Jesse, like many Prius fans, knew that the Prius was one of the most reliable cars built. Still, how long would that original battery last? In Jesse's case, the answer is at least a quarter of a million miles.
That's Jesse's odometer reading in the image above. He told the Facebook Toyota Prius Owners Club that he has driven the car coast to coast (East to West and back) as well as from New England to Florida and back and "many places in between."
The truth is, Jesse knew that his battery pack could last that long. His 2002 Prius logged 349,531 miles before being totaled in an accident.
Torque News reached out to our local used Prius Expert, Chris Eldoueihi of 1A Auto Sales in Walpole, MA to ask if this was normal. 1A Auto sales focuses on the Prius, and has for a decade. Chris was not at all surprised that Jesse's Prius cars had seen such long battery life. He pointed out to Torque News that Prius batteries are warranted for 10 years or 150,000 miles in California-compliance states and eight years or 100,000 miles in non-California compliant state. In his experience, the batteries last about 12 to 15 years (the oldest Prius cars on the road are now 20 years old).
Although Chris said that it is rarely necessary we asked him how much it costs to replace a Prius battery and he said the typical budget is about $800 and that his dealership has a network of battery suppliers. It isn't necessary to even go to a Toyota dealer, who can charge roughly triple that for a new replacement.
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