AFAIK and have read there have not been any warranty replacements made to batteries on the Gen 2 models so far. Also, individual cells can be replaced in the event of an issue and used battery packs can be found on eBay for $500-600 with low miles/usage.

By the way, my 2005 Prius was totaled back in November by a driver in a Ford F350 that decided not to stop at a red light. My wife was driving and managed to avoid the full-on t-bone but still got hit pretty badly in the passenger side front quarter-panel. My wife was ok and the car did amazingly well. It still ran after the accident but the bent frame was enough to make it a total loss.

In other words, you take two technologies and use both to power the system in tandem. The technology involved is really: how do we fit two systems into one car, and how do we maximize the two system’s individual benefits to make a better car.

If you like the new combustion engine technology coming out, why would a hybrid preclude your use of that technology? Why couldn’t you put that new tech into an even better hybrid? (There may be reasons, such as size that might prohibit it, but I would not just *assume* that).

Indeed the use of flywheels, fuel-cells, etc, are all just more power technologies. Maybe some of them can be used by themselves to power a car, maybe some may not. Any that would be used together is what a hybrid car is.

The current cars just use whatever the current electric drive and combustion drive technology. There is nothing stopping us from combining different technologies or better of the same technologies, except for the engineering and economics that lie in the details.

Anyway, what do I drive? A 1999 New Beetle. Why? Well in 1999 there weren’t any good cars to buy anyway but I needed a car to do my job. Why haven’t I bought a Prius or something better? Well, because my car still works — if I sold it or otherwise disused it, I would not likely be making anything “greener”.

You must figure in that *someone else* will be driving the car regardless of myself, so it’s lifetime would still exist. All I would be doing is adding a new car to the population. In otherwords, it’s probably best to continue to use my car until it “dies” than to “consume” another prematurely — even if that one is “greener”. Would you throw away a half-eaten meal for a cheaper one?

By the way, how much does a replacement battery cost and how is it disposed of? Is there additional charge for that disposal?

As I said, no car is great for the environment. If I want to be environmentally friendly, I walk, failing that I cycle. I buy a hybrid that is a product of the Tokyo summit, is guaranteed carbon neutral by the supplier, gives me great mileage in relative luxury and doesn’t pump out much from the exhaust and I keep it for at least ten years. As for a ’statement’, well how many of these new hybrid/electric/hydrogen cars do you think would have gone into production if the Prius hadn’t shown the moribund car industry that the buying public WANTS this kind of vehicle?

And to be honest, I just bought it because I quite liked the idea and the car itself. I did not sign up to be some communist hemp-wearing Swampy.

Guess which two superbly engineered luxury German cars I would prefer.
The Prius is a Toyota and has bland styling and the hybrid technology is extremely complex. The nickel iron battery pack will also be extremely expensive to replace. In the RSA only 1 million Prius’s have been sold since its introduction.
Leon