Um…
…duh.
…The stiff cost of replacing a battery at your dealer helps explain why an underground aftermarket in Prius batteries is emerging.
So add the current $3-$4K premium (+ base sticker) for buying the sucker, along with the battery charge (no pun intended)(really) at about 100K miles and guess what?!?! It ain’t such a bargain after all.
What a surprise.
I’m feeling like a Bene Gesserit or something, because I’ve been asking since the Prius was introduced:
“WHAT happens when all those batteries sh*t the bed?”
Gorebal Warming | tree hugging sister | 
June 21, 2008 11:53 pm
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THS,
I have been preaching this from the beginning. Yeah a hybrid is great. 50mpg!
Our recent trip to Tampa and back would’ve cost me only 14 gallons at $4…that’s half of what I spent…
BUT…
At some point those batteries are going to go bad. How much is it going to cost to replace them? What about the environmental cost to dispose of the batteries? I hear Toyota can’t keep up with the batteries now, what if you need new batteries but they are still running short?
Hybrids were never more than an environmental indulgence, money paid to placate Mother Gaia™. TANSTAAFL.
If only you could use your weirding voice and knock some sense into people.
Someone did a report not too long ago comparing the environmental impact of a Hummer vs. a Prius, considering everything from gas usage to longevity.
Turned out, the Hummer may have used more gas, but it lasted a hell of a lot longer, didn’t require environmentally dangerous materials to make it lighter, withstood the years better (requiring less parts), battery disposal, and (snicker) turned out that after it died, you could recycle the parts – unlike a Prius which has to be disposed of properly at a great cost in energy and environment.
You can’t repeal the law of unintended consequences.
This is a point I’ve made since they came out too.
What’s the increased risk if a hybrid is in a major accident?
What’s the extra load on the environment for building a hybrid and recycling the batteries?
Batteries don’t just die, they start to lose their charge quickly, etc. What happens to the mileage on a hybrid as batteries hit that gray zone? I suspect it would get worse than the non-hybrid of the same variety at some point.
You mean it was O.K. for me to snort with laughter when I saw that the car parked next to me for yoga class yesterday was a Prius with a finger-wagging “Don’t be fuelish” bumper sticker? Thank you!
I live to serve, Kate! And welcome to the Swilling, darkpixel!
I wonder if the whole thing has to do with the fact that a lot of folks I know – even folks who want to be fashionably “green” – don’t even keep a car for 100K miles, but rather use some kind of lease program or trade the thing in for a newer model after a few years. So it’s kind of an “out of sight, out of mind” issue.
My other concern about hybrids: I live in a tiny little town. Is there even a mechanic here who would know how to deal with it if one broke down, or would it have to be towed to some city somewhere, fixed, and then either brought back or the owner have to go pick it up?
An ‘underground aftermarket’? Is that an euphemism for a black market? I bet the drive to meet the demands of the ‘underground aftermarket’ will make the crime wave and insurance costs associated with the ‘underground aftermarket’ for dashboard and steering wheel airbags look very mild. All those oh-so-ethical environmentalists will look oh-so-hypocritical wagging their ‘fuelish’ fingers at you while furtively feeding the ‘underground aftermarket’ in order to replace the battery that was liberated from their Prius to stock the ‘underground aftermarket’ they buy from.
Right after they buy their crack that feeds the terrorists so they can buy the explosives they use to blow up the oil infrastructure that causes $140/barrel oil… oh wait a minute the OPEC people fund those terrorists so the speculators will drive up the oil… oh, never mind, it’s all Bush’s fault. Isn’t that much simpler?