Driving a Honda Civic Hybrid without the hybrid battery?

Thanks for everyone’s input here. I’m leaning towards just driving it without the hybrid battery, me being cheap, and wanting to bank the repair money towards the future. I’ve had almost no problems with it in 9 years, and I’m a bit attached to it, but $2800 is a good boost to my cash down payment fund. For now, it seems to be running ok, and the hybrid battery is still working, for the moment.

After this experience, I’m not looking for a hybrid for my next purchase, so I can use the experience of lower mileage with my “non-hybrid” hybrid to prepare me for my next ride.

You’re leaving the old one in there, right? Not ‘driving it without the hybrid battery’, right?

There are non-hybrid cars on the horizon that equal or exceed the mileage, emissions and acceleration performance of today’s hybrids… I can visualize a 1.4L Turbodiesel Hybrid achieving 100MPG fuel mileage…The oil companies will be hard-pressed to maintain $100/barrel oil prices as consumer demand begins to fall…

“The Lithium battery in cars is designed to last well past 100k miles. Many lasting past the 150k mile mark. I know of at least one person with a Honda Civic Hybrid who’s past the 100k mark on the original battery.”

Don’t Civic Hybrids use NiMH batteries?

Yeah, I was going to just leave it in there and drive.

Ok, contrary to some opinions here, you cannot just leave a dead battery there and do nothing. Dead batteries still try to accept a charge so that means the motor generator will be trying to constantly trying to charge the dead battery, and that will end up using more fuel than if the battery wasn’t there to begin with.

In the Honda Civic, the hybrid system was a parallel system, meaning the engine, transmission and drive axles are conventional. An electric motor generator is sandwiched between the engine and the transmission or between the transmission and the drive shafts to add a little HP to the engine output while accelerating or going up steep hills. When coasting and braking, it recharges the battery. I think the additional HP is around 13, but at low gas engine RPM, that may be almost double what gas alone would provide.

When the battery dies, at the very least, you should have it disconnected. If you have it removed completely, that will remove some weight, but I don’t know how heavy this battery is or if it would be worth the trouble, but at least get it disconnected.

When the battery is disconnected, the terminals must be insulated and secured or they will short out causing other problems. It’s not just a matter of removing the wires.

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I don’t understand why someone would pay the extra price for a hybrid, save gas for nine years while driving it, and not put some of that saved gas money aside for when it needs a new hybrid battery pack. We all know rechargeable batteries don’t last forever.

If you think the hybrid feature is expendable, why did you spend the extra money on a hybrid in the first place?

I bought my 2010 Insight to see how I liked the technology. Also, The car is the perfect size, etc. for my needs. I do not expect to save a penny with it, but I’ve certainly saved gas, averaging an honest 50 mpg so far. My next car will not be a hybrid, though; probably a Honda Fit in 5 years or so.

Keith: thanks for the info!

i actually think the way you are going about this is very economical. you ve gotten 9 yrs so far, and you may get much more out of the battery before it does give up the ghost. you could even replace the bad bank or banks of batteries without buying a whole new or used one.

then you may be able to go many more years on the conventional motor even after the battery is totally gone.

all this with no more car payments.

i say squeeze every drop of juice from your peach. then recycle the pit.

if when the battery does die, you remove it. its very heavy and your mileage with he reg. motor may increase significantly with out it. idk how it will effect your cars balance and braking, but if it doesn t harm handling, take it out if possible.

With NO battery in the circuit, the computer may throw a tizzy-fit and light up the dashboard like a Christmas Tree, perhaps even shutting the car down…I guess you could try it and see…Good Luck…

@guitarnerd, get a digital voltmeter to plug into your 12V socket on the console so you can see it while you drive. It should read 13.8V or more normally, but go to 12.8V or so at times when the 12V battery is fully charged (Honda dual-voltage charging system). As long as the 12V battery is happy, you should be fine.

I strongly recommend against removing the 144V main battery

It is not a simple battery with 2 posts. There is a junction box and about a million wires connected to it. The IMA control module is also connected to it, as are the fan. I think anybody removing it completely would be asking for even worse problems than leaving it in

Keep driving it as is. The hybrid system will not function. It will not go into idle stop mode at the stop light. It will be less fuel efficient, but the car will be driveable

From what I’ve read the Prius batteries are pretty much ‘life of the car’ items, with occasional failures, just like with other major parts, like the transmission. Most folks don’t put money to the side for a new tranny, so no surprise they don’t save up for a battery.

I wondered what main component wil fail on hybrid first? I am pretty sure the battery pack will fail eventually. But what about a very important motor controller or electrical regen braking module or something else? An owner with warranty has no concerns. Dealer says fix system “A” for $3200? Go for it. No warranty? Ugh, not good.

@texases: “From what I’ve read the Prius batteries are pretty much ‘life of the car’ items, with occasional failures, just like with other major parts, like the transmission.”

I’ve never seen a rechargeable battery that was designed to last as long as a car can last, not in a hybrid, a cell phone, a laptop computer, or any other piece of technology.

@texases: “Most folks don’t put money to the side for a new tranny, so no surprise they don’t save up for a battery.”

Are you telling me you don’t budget for big ticket auto repairs? If that is the case, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t go around giving others advice to do the same.

@Whitey - Prius batteries are for the most part lasting the life of the car (250k or so). This is possible through the carefully controlled charging and discharging, completely unlike what folks do to their personal electronics batteries.

I’m not advising folks not to save up for major mechanical failures, but many (most?) don’t.

Let’s not forget this discussion is about a 2005 Civic Hybrid with 160,000 miles (90,000 miles short of your estimate). In my experience, the lifespan of rechargeable batteries seems to be a matter of time, not mileage. In my experience, that holds true for both hybrid vehicles and personal electronics.

You’re right that Honda has had more problems with their hybrids, batteries included.

How many miles a year do you put on it? How long would you keep it if you replaced the battery? At $3.50+ per gallon, how much more fuel can you afford to burn due to the dead hybrid pack before you’re cash-flow-negative versus the price of the battery pack? Run the numbers; my bet is that you’re probably better off from a cash standpoint by letting the dead battery be ignored, but if you drive it a lot and the gas in your area is costly, it doesn’t take long for that choice to become a false economy. Not to mention the depressed trade-in value that you’ll see with the hybrid pack dead, if you decide to go that route when it’s time to replace the vehicle.