Since I leased a Mercedes Hydrogen fuel cell EV, my regular cars have been sitting idle while I enjoy the new car. That was a mistake. The batteries drained until they became "imbalanced" and no longer chargeable: - July: my Honda Insight failed emissions due to the bad battery. I bought a $1999 Honda battery to fix the problem (add $500 for labor and taxes) - September: my Toyota Prius failed for same reason. I don't know the exact cost yet, but the battery is $2296 plus labor & taxes. I have until October 2 to get it fixed. This reminds me of the Bricked Teslas I read about: If you store them for 1-2 months time, unplugged, they drain to 0% and become bricked (need a new battery). Apparently unplugged hybrids are the same. - Meanwhile my old diesel Beetle started-up just fine & passed both mechanical and smog inspection. I'm starting to think simplicity is the answer. Buy a standard car with >40mpg and fewer items to breakdown.
Why wouldn't the Toyota be covered under CARB warranty 10-yrs? I thought you were in Californy PS- You missed all 2,365,875 posts of FCV arguments
The 12V battery will fail within a couple of months due to self-discharge. The Prius traction battery takes much, much longer and would require an unusual environment . . . salt humidity, parked in direct sun. Bob Wilson
I think you received a wrong diagnostic for an excessive dollar bill. The NiMH battery doesn't get ruined just because; it must exist an external reason like extreme freezing or chemical boiling, leading to cell reversal and destruction of same
We must take with a grain-of-salt any anti-FCV comments from the author unless he first builds credibility on this post.
Well he doesn't say how long the cars were unused for. Pearl and Pearl S have both sat for 6 months unused (Battery Tender on the 12V battery) with no ill effects. Five times for Pearl, and three times (so far) for Pearl S. Current owner of Pearl does the same, 3 times to far, for a total of 8 times for that car. Toyota says 4-6 months is no problem. I think we may have a ringer here.
NiMh batteries do have a high rate of self-discharge, but they should still last months of sitting idle without sustaining damage. I wonder if grid charging could return the OPs batteries to useful condition? I'd certainly try that first before replacing it at great expense. I've got the PiP which uses Li-ion, and that chemistry has a lower rate of self-discharge and much larger capacity, so I imagine it could sit for several years without sustaining damage. The car I bought sat for 2 months "discharged" before I bought it and was able to charge it back up. I get normal range out of it and all cells are in balance.
I picked up a low mileage gen II traction battery that was out of the vehicle for over a year. After a year it was reading 211 volts, I grid charged it up to 235 volts and have since put almost 5,000 miles on it with no problems.
Here's the crux of the issue: Have we ever had a U.S. case where the hybrid batt failed and Toyota refused 8-10yr warranty on the basis of owner-caused failure? I recall we did have one overseas poster from Israel saying Toyota refused 12-month warranty on a replacement batt when his wife accidentally emptied both the fuel tank and the HV batt.
