Quote:
Originally Posted by JSH
Interesting. I would not think a battery that lives inside an air conditioned cabin would be effected much by heat.
Lots of questions:
If 10 years / 160k miles is the average in Arizona what is the average nationally? How does Arizona compare to other hot locations like Texas or Florida?
What do you do to have all this cool data?
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Perhaps it's just a matter of perspective, but most of the country isn't under clouds most of the time, and even on a comfortable 70°F day, full sunlight exposure can drive interior temperatures North of 100°F. In Phoenix, summer interior temperatures often exceed 140°F.
Do you see how a battery inside an air conditioned cabin could be affected by heat? I've seen battery temperatures as high as 145°F in the middle of summer following a bunch of short trips while sitting in the sun after each trip. Battery temperatures in excess of 120°F are very common in summer.
It's further complicated by the fact that the ENTIRE INTERIOR has to be cooled for the battery to benefit from an "air conditioned cabin." Most folks aim a vent at their face and often close off the other vents... or at least the far right one... that can cool the battery...
TX and FL are about 20K better than PHX. TX is 10-15° cooler than PHX and FL isn't so bad because the peak temperatures aren't that high... the humidity is horrible for humans, but the battery is about temperature - not heat index.
Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
He did say PHX cuts 40k and 2 years off the average. That would make the average 200k and 12 years. That means we should be seeing 2007 Prii with failing packs right about now.
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Important to point out that the data set doesn't include cars with batteries that haven't failed, so it's an average failure of failing batteries... not Prius batteries. It just illustrates that they do fail, and one should not expect them to last indefinitely.
Additionally, I frequently visit one of the local dealerships... at any given time, they have 5-10 cores queued for return to Toyota. They have about 10-20 failures per month across all models.
Lastly, never ever ever buy a 2010-2015 Prius from a hot climate... I'm talking anywhere from the bottom 1/3rd of the country. I've encountered several, and their batteries are destroyed. They rarely drop a cell, but their battery capacity just deteriorates to the point that the car has nothing with which to work. The damage can't be repaired through reconditioning. They are dead.
Why? IMHO, Gen3 cooling system is worse than the Gen2, and they use the batteries more aggressively.