Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary
I'm no expert, but it just seems that if every car were a hybrid and therefore every car basically had an expiration date of 15 years, that would put an end to the poor man's car, period. People who buy new cars might not be affected, depending on the demand and such. But if car's are worthless in 15 years, then what will be the prices of 10 year cars, or 5 year cars? It seems like there'd be some effect, probably good for the richer but bad for the poorer.
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Hybrid batteries don't magically quit at 15 years old. Some will die sooner, others later. There was someone on Ecomodder that worked at a Toyota dealer and if I remember correctly he said most Prius batteries die at 16 - 18 years.
That said - even today a 15 year old car is pretty much worthless. As I mentioned above it is a major failure or even several minor failures away from going to the scrapeyard. It is the reason why people like Xist end up with 3 broken old cars. They buy a cheap car, something breaks and fixing it is more than the car is worth. So they buy another cheap car, something breaks - rinse and repeat.
That is the reality we live in right now. Less than 25% of vehicles on the road are older than 15 years. In 2021 1.2% of 15 million used cars sold in the USA had more than 200K miles on the odometer.
Another thing to consider is that a hybrid with a dead battery isn't necessarily dead. A Prius will drive with a dead battery as will other hybrids. They won't get the fuel economy they would with a working battery but they will go down the road. They will also have the dash lit up with warning lights so they won't pass inspection in areas that require inspections.
There is also the option to replace the battery either with a new one, junkyard one, or aftermarket battery. If all vehicles were hybrids people that drive 15 - 20 years old cars will have to learn new skills to keep their cars on the road. Instead of learning how to swap in a junkyard automatic transmission they will need to learn how to swap a battery.