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Old 03-08-2015, 08:22 AM   #8 (permalink)
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There was an 05 on Craigslist locally for $1200 with a bad hybrid battery. A Dorman replacement is supposedly a little over $1300 with free shipping available through NAPA auto parts.

I jumped on that one contacting the seller by email (through cl) and my cell phone. No response and this morning the ad is gone. Probably decided it was worth more. It was not one of those ads you KNOW are just a fishing expedition.

I think now that the firist of the gen 2 (04-09) is passing the ten year mark you are going to see battery failures. They are probably more predominant here where there are military deployments and cars sit for months.

Taxi service with almost continuous operation and much higher than average yearly mileage is actually an ideal situation for battery longevity, so take all of those claims with a fairly large grain of salt. Frequency of use and time both affect longevity but sitting idle for longer periods of time can really killthe hybrid battery (bricked).

Not sure how a Prius responds to "coasting in neutral" but it might be away to test battery capacity, using neutral to prevent regen, not sure. On my Insight when the battery capacity had reached it's lowest level, it took two coast in neutral cycles then fairly rapid acceleration to set the light indicating battery failure and after replacement. it was a huge difference in capacity. My guess would be at least a 500% increase in capacity and possibly twice that.

regards
mech
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