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frogblast 3 days ago

My prius (2006 model) finally had the traction battery (NiMh) start to loose modules at about 250K miles. It was clearly getting weaker, but drivable at that time. Then Covid hit, and it sat for 2 months without being driven / charge cycled. That pushed it over the edge.

That isn't predictive at all of NMC or LFP chemistries though (and I'm not going through multiple charge cycles per drive), but a fun anecdote. It was an entertaining project opening up the battery pack and identifying/replacing the bad modules.

In the end, other parts of the car were dying too, and the final straw was California's refusal to allow aftermarket catalytic converter replacements, and the Toyota's price (with no competition) was more than the vehicle was worth.

So far my two EVs, both NMC chemistry (Kia and Rivian) are at 80,000 and 30,000 miles respectively, with no noticeable degradation.

timbit42 2 days ago | parent [-]

My Prius is also a 2006 but with only 194,000 kms. The first battery module failed 21 months ago. I bought a used one on eBay for $35 and it's been running perfectly fine ever since. I keep it undercoated but the body is going to go before anything else because we salt our roads in the winter.