And it'll also boost the value of your car.
A YouTuber by the name of ChrisFix has taken the time to document the process of replacing the battery in a 2013 Toyota Prius, and as you'll see, the entire exercise is not nearly as challenging as you may expect.
While the cost of replacing the battery in an EV can easily exceed $10,000 in many cases, hybrids like the Prius have much smaller batteries that won't cost as much, so a battery replacement becomes a viable alternative for owners with older hybrids not wanting to splash out on a brand-new model. Besides, a Prius is still a Toyota so the rest of the car holds up pretty well even after a decade of ownership – that isn't true for every generation of the Prius, but more on this later.
In the case of the Prius seen here, ChrisFix purchased it for just $2,700 due to the battery's age, but he estimated the car will be worth $8,000 when the battery replacement is done.
To replace the battery pack of this Prius, a Toyota dealership quoted a figure of just over $4,600 for the entire job, including $3,261 for the OEM battery itself. But if you have the willingness and expertise to do the replacement yourself, you can obtain an aftermarket Prius battery for around $2,200 – a saving of over $1,000. Plus, this aftermarket battery pack is an upgraded version of the original one in the Prius.
Many of the tools needed to complete this job are commonly found in household garages, and the specialty tools that are needed are built into the car itself. These involve high-voltage security nuts and the safety circuit breaker houses the tools you need to remove them.
Accessing the initial portion of the battery in the Prius is easy, requiring little more than pulling out the trunk floorboard since the battery is mounted just behind the rear seat. A safety plug in orange can be removed, and this kills the voltage to make the battery safe to work on.
A few more trim panels need to be removed to gain full access to the battery. The video provides more detail for fully removing the battery, but once it's completely disconnected, it helps to have a friend close by to hoist the 90-pound battery out of the rear of the Prius. By comparison, heavy EV batteries in trucks and SUVs are approaching an absurd 3,000 lbs, as is the case in the Hummer EV.
The battery cover then comes off before the old cells are replaced with the new ones, but for customers who find this process too much of a chore, you can buy the entire pack with the new cells already inside. That means no digging around inside the battery itself.
While the overall process involves many steps, ChrisFix has done a brilliant job of clearly explaining each one, and it’s definitely not beyond the reach of customers who are used to tinkering with their cars already. Besides, the potential saving over taking your Prius to a dealer and actually leaving with an inferior battery is a lot of motivation to do the job yourself.
With its new battery in place, this Prius can easily go for another couple of years, providing its owner with an incredibly efficient hatchback. When new, the 2013 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid could achieve 50 mpg combined, while the regular Prius could do 48 mpg combined.
While the Prius nameplate is generally associated with solid reliability, our own research of the third-generation Prius reveals that it isn’t as dependable as its predecessor. Issues reported relate to the low-tension piston rings used for the gas engine, high oil consumption, the hybrid system itself, and the braking system.
However, we found that the 2010-2012 models were significantly less reliable than later ones, so the 2013 model (featured in this battery replacement) and up are recommended if you do opt for a third-generation Prius.
A later third-gen Prius with a new battery and that has been carefully maintained is still capable of racking up the miles with low running costs.
Keyword: DIY Toyota Prius Battery Replacement Saves Hybrid Owners Thousands Of Dollars