Can we ever "break even" with no battery replacement?

[69800]

I think there will be an aftermarket battery with more KWH for the leaf by the time we need it. Also ...one bomb on Iran and we could be looking at $8.00 gas... the the Leaf will really shine....

 

[smkettner]

I think there will be an aftermarket battery with more KWH for the leaf by the time we need it. Also ...one bomb on Iran and we could be looking at $8.00 gas... the the Leaf will really shine....

I thought Iran was already operating with export restrictions.

 

[dhanson865]

It's a flawed view of "break even". The correct comparison would be to another new car purchase.

That's a flawed view of car buying, some people are making the decision between buying a used Prius vs a used Leaf.

I know if I buy a used Prius with less than 50,000 miles on it I can drive it for another 100,000 miles with no major repairs (I'll have to do tires, wipers, filters, oil changes, rear shocks)

If I buy a used Leaf with 11 bars and less than 50,000 miles on it can I go 100,000 more miles over the next 8 years and not have to buy or lease a new battery?

I honestly see the Leaf and the Prius as luxurious enough to be a wash as to which I prefer on creature comforts. Heated seats is about the only luxury feature that I wouldn't get on a cheap used Prius.

So at that point the only thing I care about it cost to purchase and cost to operate.

Maybe by "we" you assumed that only included new car buyers? I know for sure there are plenty of users on this forum that have bought a used leaf and there are plenty that bought new instead of leasing and still consider this comparison relevant to themselves.

Lots of luck on driving a Prius another 100,000 miles with no major repairs, I needed a new battery pack at 110k. I also got stuck with about $2k because of the check engine light. Even with the help of "Toyota engineers" they couldn't diagnose the problem and just kept on replacing things until the light went out. The Prius is good for the 100k mile warranty, after that you are at the mercy of Toyota dealers.

Maybe you live somewhere hot like FL, TX, AZ, CA?

Me I live on the edge of a rainforest so I don't have to worry about battery packs for a Prius at all, and I have to worry about the battery on a leaf less than others.

The catch is I can't ignore the battery pack on a leaf because they are shipping them all over the country to resell them after someone in a hot state gets Nissan or a car dealer to buy it back or accept it as a trade in vehicle.

Oh and I also have to assume you aren't technically inclined or you'd be using priuschat.com to get all the info you need to repair the prius yourself for anything short of a multi thousand dollar repair job. And realistically those don't happen with a Prius that often.

http://www.truedelta.com/Toyota-Prius/reliability-272/vs-LEAF-968" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You'll see that neither car has much issues with repairs. I consider both cars pretty close to ideal compared to the average ICE vehicle

compare for example a 2005 Prius to a 2005 Elantra

http://www.truedelta.com/Toyota-Prius/reliability-272/vs-Elantra-119" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

or a 2005 Prius vs a 2005 Nissan Altima

http://www.truedelta.com/Toyota-Camry/reliability-264/vs-Altima-222" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


I already have one 2005 Prius that I bought cheap years ago and have driven tens of thousands of miles, I expect I could do the same or longer with a leaf assuming it has 11 or 12 bars left as a used car. The only question is how much would it cost me when I know I can maintain the Prius cheaply but I'm looking at years of payments on a leased battery should I need the range and the leaf battery goes below 9 or 10 bars?

Mechanically I consider the Leaf a better bet than a Prius, no ICE means less maintenance, less failure modes. I really want to make the leap. But given the current pricing I have to find one very cheap and/or know that I can replace the battery pack in the leaf for a one time fee that rivals keeping an ICE car on the road for 5-10 years.

 

[cwerdna]

Lots of luck on driving a Prius another 100,000 miles with no major repairs, I needed a new battery pack at 110k. I also got stuck with about $2k because of the check engine light. Even with the help of "Toyota engineers" they couldn't diagnose the problem and just kept on replacing things until the light went out. The Prius is good for the 100k mile warranty, after that you are at the mercy of Toyota dealers.

Maybe you live somewhere hot like FL, TX, AZ, CA?

Me I live on the edge of a rainforest so I don't have to worry about battery packs for a Prius at all, and I have to worry about the battery on a leaf less than others.

The catch is I can't ignore the battery pack on a leaf because they are shipping them all over the country to resell them after someone in a hot state gets Nissan or a car dealer to buy it back or accept it as a trade in vehicle.

Yep, I suspect Desertstraw lives in a hot climate and/or had a Gen 1 Prius (I wouldn't recommend anyone buy one of those used). In CA (and CARB states, more added over the years) the 04+ Priuses have a 10 year/150K mile HV battery warranty. Yes, there seems to be a correlation between early HV battery failure and hot climates and/or hills.

People have taken Priues to very high mileage w/o major trouble: http://prius.wikia.com/wiki/Lifespan/Operating_costs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, but yes, there are a few expensive bits that could fail like the HV battery, power split device (rare), or brake actuator (rare).

2 fas 4 u put 465K miles on his 09 Prius before trading it in for an '12 Prius v wagon. I know he eventually had high oil consumption and his combination meter (speedometer, odometer, etc.) had a known problem, which Ingineer fixed for him. Toyota later extended the warranty on this, but it was too late for him. Other than that, I don't recall him having any other significant trouble.

He now is past 201K miles on his '12 Prius v wagon (http://priuschat.com/threads/prius-v-100-000-mile-club.102769/page-8#post-1825552" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false that he got in January 2012 (http://priuschat.com/threads/299-999-mile-club.79235/page-30#post-1457248" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false.

 

[dhanson865]

Lots of luck on driving a Prius another 100,000 miles with no major repairs, I needed a new battery pack at 110k. I also got stuck with about $2k because of the check engine light. Even with the help of "Toyota engineers" they couldn't diagnose the problem and just kept on replacing things until the light went out. The Prius is good for the 100k mile warranty, after that you are at the mercy of Toyota dealers.

Maybe you live somewhere hot like FL, TX, AZ, CA?

Me I live on the edge of a rainforest so I don't have to worry about battery packs for a Prius at all, and I have to worry about the battery on a leaf less than others.

The catch is I can't ignore the battery pack on a leaf because they are shipping them all over the country to resell them after someone in a hot state gets Nissan or a car dealer to buy it back or accept it as a trade in vehicle.

Yep, I suspect Desertstraw lives in a hot climate and/or had a Gen 1 Prius (I wouldn't recommend anyone buy one of those used). In CA (and CARB states, more added over the years) the 04+ Priuses have a 10 year/150K mile HV battery warranty. Yes, there seems to be a correlation between early HV battery failure and hot climates and/or hills.

People have taken Priuses to very high mileage w/o major trouble: http://prius.wikia.com/wiki/Lifespan/Operating_costs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, but yes, there are a few expensive bits that could fail like the HV battery, power split device (rare), or brake actuator (rare).

http://priuschat.com/members/desertstraw.55897/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; shows AZ and a 2001 Prius.

Anyone in AZ has my sympathy when it comes to battery issues.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
With a whopping 1 post, of course I don't recognize the name there.

Yep, 01 was a Gen 1 Prius (NHW11) and the 1st model year sold here... Well, there was JDM-only NHW10 which pre-dated it and looks like the NHW11 on the outside but that had D-cell NiMH batteries and no touchscreen. That was close to a Toyota science experiment.