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Of course it also comes down to longevity.
Part of starting this thread is the assumption that an HV battery is going to quit at about 15 years. I think you, JSH, commented that the average may be more like 18 or more years. My insignificant experience was I bought a Prius that had lost it's battery at 213K miles and 14 years.
If there were another part of any other vehicle, say a CVT or 9 speed transmission, that was known to fail at around 200K miles or 15 years then the vehicle would probably lose value towards that point, especially if it were dead expensive to repair to the point of being destined to the junk yard only.
It's nice to see claims that battery tech is getting way better. Tesla batteries will supposedly last 300K to 500K miles, for an example.
Something else that hasn't been brought up is what can a person do to make their batteries last on an old hybrid? With an engine you can change the oil often and drive it moderately, for an example. You can do the same with a gear transmission (I'm not sure what makes CVT's fail).
But what about a battery? I've heard of people drilling into their Prius batteries and topping off the electrolyte with distilled water or some special chemical solution and then sealing those holes back up. There are also people who put their hybrid batteries through a deep cycle. But the thing is that batteries are made to be maintenance free.
What about better battery cooling? Some have tricked their battery cooling fan into staying on full time. Would setting the battery in a bath of mineral oil and pumping that through a radiator be worth it? Or adding a duct of some sort from the A/C unit to the battery cooling duct?
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