Hybrids: What Circle of Hell Do They Belong To?

What's Veeky Forums's take on purchasing used hybrids?

Is there any type of planned obsolescence that plagues any one make or model?

Batteries do wear out eventually. 150k+ usually, depending on how it was used. But it's no more expensive to replace than a major engine/trans service costs. Like 1500 for a prius or insight battery.

Volts are goat.

Awesome, my budget can handle that.

Volts are great but really tiny. A prius is a slight compromise in mpg for a huge boost in space.

You trade a inconsequential amount of interior space for less gas usage.

me too OP, I'm really thinking about getting an HS250h

Do the batteries wear out moreso based on mileage/charge cycles or does time also play a big factor?

i.e an older prius with less mileage than a newer prius with more mileage

Guy I know got one for like $2,000 because one or two of the batteries in the array was bad, fixed it for nothin

>camry hybrid

>any type of planned obsolescence
Batteries decay over time. There's no way of checking on the level of damage to them without serious amounts of testing gear.

If you want to save money, buy a cheaper used car instead.

Replacement prius batteries cost thousands. Not $1,500.
Try $5,000- $8,000

>that 10 years (5+5) warrantly on hybrid part & battery

Nigga the first thing you'll change in 10 years is the cae

This was 100% true 4 years ago. Worked at a government agency that was actually testing the claims of the manufacturers, we went through a lot of batteries. Used the cars as company vehicles, took telemetry data on road trips, etc. Cost us 7500 to install a new battery in the Prius, around 6500 for each of the volts, and I don't know what the Leaf was but it wasn't cheaper. However a lot could have changed since I was there.

Here's a question: why do they use batteries in hybrids rather than a big super capacitor?
If you have a gas engine in there anyways, just have that be the initial start, then use the alternator and regenerative brakes to charge the capacitor and use that to power the electric motor whenever it can be. I'm pretty sure a giant capacitor would be much lighter than a huge battery anyways.

I know it may seem like EV and Hybrids have been around for awhile now, but they are still in their infancy.

Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, Tesla and others are making big leaps in the technology, but it comes with a price. The great thing about technological advance is that with every new leap, the last one is a little easier/cheaper to obtain.

Just give it time. The technology still needs time to mature. Especially when it comes to batteries. Luckily we are making advances there.

Cool thing about batteries is that you don't have to put the same ones in as before. If there was nickel, go to lithium. If you can get the same capacity with less cells, do it. It'll cost some more money, but if it's worth it to you, why not?

Also, look into hypermiling. There is a ton of simple things you can do to a vehicle (hybrid or not) to get ridiculous MPG gains. Some of them completely free.

Because capacitors like unleashing all their energy in one go, not slowly discharging over time.

>$5000-8000

What is this? 2008? Costs have gone way down since then. It only costs $1300 to change a prius' battery now.

>hypermiling
Is this how Americans call ecodriving?

Maybe if there's a short, but otherwise you can get a small super capacitor to power an led bar for several hours. I don't see why that can't be scaled up to work with a car.

I think it sounds better. Don't you?

The energy density in super caps is still far below current lithium batteries.

My Camry's hybrid battery died on me at 120k miles and again at 250k miles, and I don't know if I want to replace it.

It'll cost more to replace it than the car is worth.

Trips can't lie.
What was the cost of a replacement battery then?

$4000