Hybrid Battery Failure

[Anthony Poli]

I dare say, Toyota are the only ones that use 40% of the Battery capacity and have long Battery life.

 

[AisinW]

When outside is cold and inside is warm, water will condensate from inside. That's why allowing outside air in or AC remove the foggy glass. 

Colder air is always dryer because of humidity limit in cold air. AC acted as dehumidifier in recirculation mode.  If you press defroster on, the fog went  away fast. 

Rear vents are always colder in winter because of longer route and plastic duct still leak heat. 

Back to topic, The AC is very important in hybrid to keep both humidity and cooling for the lifespan of the HV Battery.

I still believe heat is the main enemy of HV Battery. Not driving it more than 1 month is also not good for both engine and Battery. Typical lifespan of HV in FL without garage in 2nd gen Prius is 10-12 years, 200-300k miles does not really matter. 

[Hornet3D]

It is only recently that the real cost of electric vehicles will  become apparent and it is not only the batteries that may be the issue as the weight of the batteries may have an impact on the suspension.  Motoring organisations are are also saying that the extra weight may also cause more damage to the road surface in relation to the petrol equivalent.

Don't get me wrong, I know that Battery cars are the way to go and you have to be safe buying a Toyota thanks to the quality of the vehicle and, mainly due to that, the long warranty that it can offer.  I am just not sure that this is going to be true with all manufacturers and that fact that electric cars are marketed as some sort of panacea to global warming is worrying.  Mind you I still remember how diesel was pushed heavily by government as being the way to go.

Again I am not attacking the idea of electric cars just that the manufacturers should acknowledge they have their own set of problems and measures should be put in place to protect those buying such vehicles in good faith.

[Popama]

I do use the recirculation most of the time during city driving as I can not stand the fumes from the cars in front.

But I do switch to external air whenever I get the chance. I have not tried the auto switch.
During a recent drive in a mountain area with plenty of snow I only used external source with the AC on and still got misty windows.

[AisinW]

EV car is probably fine for 10 years ownership before it is totaled from simply superexpensive Battery replacement.  The main problem in EV is cold/winter with temperature  -10C or lower. The range dropped more than 30% because of heating electricity takes Battery power. Hybrid has a "free" heat from the engines although still get minor drop on short trip mpg. In 30 minutes or more trips, winter or summer are similar in hybrid. 

In my opinion, hybrid is much less disposable than EV or poorly built small turbo engines with dual clutch automatic transmission. 

[Cyker]

Yeah, hybrids really are the best of both worlds right now. There is no EV that can touch my Mk4 for range, and the running costs are about the same too (If only using public charging)

11 hours ago, Stopeter44 said:

Are you indicating that you use recirculation mode most of the time ? I have the car decide, i.e. in the parameters in one of the setup screens you can choose to have the car switch between recirculation and outside. Generally, without AC and with recirculation the windows will mist quicker, when cold (rain and/or snow).

In my old car, I ran AC all the time and generally with exterior air. I'm still deciding with the Yaris, but there are other factors to consider like moisture build up in the AC system, so I am coming around to using AC like I did on my old car, but with the auto mode activated.

Can you remember where that option is? Mine keeps switching and I don't want it to, but wasn't sure what or where the option is!

[Stopeter44]

13 hours ago, Cyker said:

Yeah, hybrids really are the best of both worlds right now. There is no EV that can touch my Mk4 for range, and the running costs are about the same too (If only using public charging)

Can you remember where that option is? Mine keeps switching and I don't want it to, but wasn't sure what or where the option is!

It's in the infotainment display, somewhere. The manual is not explicit on where it is, says it can also be set by the dealer. I'll have a dig around for it, when I'm next in the car.