Since electrification takes place in the gas guzzlers, hybrid car vehicle technology came to the automobile industry. so the hybrid car maintenance is an important topic to discuss as there are so many myths and questions out there the society.
So, let’s take a look at the commons questions and myths regarding hybrid car maintenance.
Is hybrid car maintenance expensive?
A lot of people worry about buying a hybrid. the fact that it’s complicated, it’s going to be very expensive to maintain, it costs a lot more when it’s new.
Are they true?
Compared to an ICE car, a hybrid car is more complicated. but a hybrid car is not a more expensive car. it’s less expensive throughout the life of a car than a regular car. a hybrid car is a little bit higher in price, but if you compare the maintenance that’s required on these cars, hybrid car maintenance costs way less per year to operate than a regular car.
If you spend all your time commuting on the freeway at normal speeds. here are some average annual maintenance costs that we collected from our customers.
- An average Subaru hybrid customer spends $1500 a year on maintenance and repairs.
- An average Honda hybrid customer spends $1300 a year on maintenance and repairs.
- An average Toyota Prius customer spends less than $800 a year on maintenance and repairs.
So if you even look at that over five years. it’s very inexpensive to take a hybrid car maintenance.
There are a lot of different kinds of hybrids on the road. there’s the full hybrid like the Prius. and there’s it’s a simpler hybrid the Honda Civic. you can go into the very simple SUV GM hybrids. they all have slightly different configurations.
The simpler it is the more expensive it to maintain. because the gas engine will run far more often. the more often the gas engine runs, the more complicated the more expensive it is going to be maintained.
So, Hybrid cars are winners. have fewer maintenance costs for sure.
How often do hybrid cars need brake pads to change?
You have regenerative braking which makes the brakes last way longer.
An average Honda hybrid car owner gets 15,000-30,000 miles out of a set of front brakes.
I’ve never sold a set of front brake pads on a Toyota Prius from 2001. I have customers that have 180 thousand miles on a set of brake pads.
So you can get a clear idea of how less maintenance a Toyota Prius brake pads, and overall all hybrid cars are.
How often do hybrid cars need oil changes?
You have oil change intervals that can be changed from 5,000 miles or even longer, or after 12 months, whichever comes first. it’s always better to check your hybrid vehicle’s manual.
Tips:
- Don’t ask your dealership company regarding oil changes. because most of them say to change the oil every 3 months, or something like that. it’s a myth!
- Most of the modern hybrid cars now have an oil change indicator on the dashboard. it will appear when your hybrid needs an oil change.
So basic things like that, the fact that the car runs more often off of electricity means that it will run less often off of gas. so the engine itself works less. it doesn’t work nearly as hard.
Common myths in hybrid car maintenance of batteries
One of the things that we get a lot of questions about hybrids is the misconceptions about batteries. people worry about the batteries. because they’re a very expensive part of the car.
First-generation Priuses had a few issues with their batteries. a very few. in terms of the third generation of Priuses, we’ve not replaced any batteries whatsoever. we expect them to last well beyond the life of a Prius.
If they do go bad, let’s say for some reason you have a weird cell or two inside of your car. these batteries are guaranteed for 10 years or 150,000 miles right off the battery.
In terms of worrying about what’s going to happen with these batteries when they come out of the car. you don’t need to worry about it that much. when these batteries are no longer good to be used in a Prius, they probably still have about 50% capacity as battery storage.
Companies are working on projects where they’re taking old Prius batteries either out of crash cars or ones that from the early generation have failed. and they use them as stationary storage for solar systems. if they were totally bad, the elements inside of nickel-metal hydride and lithium batteries are so valuable today that recyclers are stripping them to everything possible and recycling them. so if they did go bad and if it was outside of the battery, your battery warranty chances are by the time that happens. these batteries are going to sell for a third of what they sell for today.
You may also like to read: Change Clock on Toyota Prius 2016 to 2019 (Step by Step Guide)
