Originally Posted by SLegacy99

Many ways.

1. Electric motors require no maintenance. Batteries require no maintenance. The ICE does of course require maintenance, but note that it is of course being used less in a hybrid so there is less wear.
2. Brakes. This is a big one for hybrids as they have been shown to last three to four times as long as the brakes in a conventional vehicle. That is a lot of savings in the long run. At 70k miles, our Lexus mechanic said not anticipate on ever replacing the brake pads and rotors in our 400h, given the rate of wear.
3. You cannot replace parts that aren't there. Power steering pump comes to mind. Lexus hybrids feature electric power steering. There are other components as well.

This is a common misconception that hybrids are way more complex and will cost a fortune to maintain. This is simply not the case. In fact, this is why dealers do not want EVs because it leaves windshield wiper replacement and washer fluid refills as all that they need to do. This doesn't translate to income for them.

To answer your question, the Ni-mh batteries used by Toyota have proven themselves to be stalwart sources of electricity storage. There have been a number of articles on Toyota hybrids racking up over 300k miles. Yet, the idea that one might have to spend thousands on a replacement battery for his/her hybrid is still pervasive. Toyota has over 1 million hybrids on the roads throughout the world. Trust me, you would hear about it if even as many as 5% were failing.

Originally Posted by IS-SV

Thanks for the facts related to Toyota/Lexus hybrid vehichles instead of the unrelated hearsay about non-automotive electric motors, etc.

Also, CR (if I remember correctly) did a long term report on an older Prius at well over 100K and the maintenance costs were very low.

Originally Posted by bitkahuna

or $200 in parts of europe.

Originally Posted by Stormforge

+1, i couldn't have said it better myself




i uploaded the CR article in post #9 in the link below (if anyone is interested in reading it)
link: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hyb...ml#post6316267

Originally Posted by mmarshall

I've heard (but can't verify) that gas is over $10 (in American-dollar/gallon-equivalent) in London. And England, of course, gets North Sea oil right offshore. I wouldn't be surprised if it was more expensive than that in countries like Italy and Spain that don't have any significant oil-production of their own.

Originally Posted by Big Andy

There is a garage in Park Lane, London that is always famous for having the most expensive petrol in the country. It serves a very wealthy clientel and I can well believe it would be $10 a US gallon there.
The rest of the country is bad, but not quite that bad - $8.77 per US gallon at current exchange rates is the norm.

Despite the fact that North Sea Oil production is on the wane, the UK still has cheap petrol. Unfortunately, by the time the Government has added fuel tax and then 20% VAT on top, it's as expensive, if not more so, than much of Europe.