A common fear about hybrid vehicle ownership is the potential cost of replacing the traction battery. While the cost of the battery varies significantly depending on the brand, the general consensus is that post-warranty battery replacement will be in the thousands. Although the failure rate of traction batteries in the second generation Prius have been relatively low, there is still a lot of fear about their potential replacement cost.

However, after reading a thread on Prius chat this morning, I've learned that this fear is quite unfounded, even if a traction battery failure occurs. One individual on the PriusChat forum was experiencing a traction battery failure on his 2004 Prius with 172,000 miles. He went to a local junkyard and found a traction battery from a wrecked 2007 Prius with 26k miles for only $400. The battery is easily replaceable with hand tools and basic mechanical skills, so he performed the simple swap himself. When he was finished, he turned in the old battery to his local Toyota dealership, who then gave him a $150 in cash for turning in the core (Toyota Corporate wants to encourage people to dispose of the batteries properly).

So in the end, he spent $250 to replace his traction battery, far less than the thousands that people have talked about. Even if he had paid a mechanic to perform the swap, the cost of the battery replacement would still be quite low-- probably even lower than the cost of a timing belt job on many six-cylinder cars. Therefore, there's really no reason to be scared of the replacement costs of a hybrid battery-- the replacement costs are far lower than expected.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-technical-discussion/69522-hv-battery-failing.html

What you failed to realize as the vast majority of consumers will have to pay retail. Sure some folks will do it for a fraction of the price, but unless 1 prius is scrapped for each one that needs a battery you are going to run out of junkyards with them. As the miles and time rolls up you will need more replacements

What you failed to realize as the vast majority of consumers will have to pay retail. Sure some folks will do it for a fraction of the price, but unless 1 prius is scrapped for each one that needs a battery you are going to run out of junkyards with them. As the miles and time rolls up you will need more replacements

However, until you have a sample space of more than one, this is just an anecdote. It hardly sets a trend.

[quote=javacontour]
Right, but a quick search of eBay motors right now shows a number of Prius batteries priced between 400-900. And, if I go on car-part.com, I see a ton of them priced at under $800. So, at least for now, finding a low-mileage, affordable priced Prius battery should not be a problem.

What guarantees do those come with? Ones from a recycler would probably be worth the paper they are written on, but I would buy no sooner buy a used Ebay hybrid battery than I would a used Ebay cell phone battery.