As I got into my car at my local YMCA recently, I noticed a Prius parked next to me with a For Sale sign in the window. It read: "'05 Prius, $14,999, 97,000 miles." This beige Prius looked to be in good condition. And with gas prices topping $4 a gallon, it certainly seemed like a good deal for a gas-electric hybrid that gets 48 mpg in the city and would cost about $23,000 new. But one question nagged at me: as the odometer approaches the century mark, how much life is left in this car's electric battery? And then an even scarier question occurred to me: if the battery runs out of juice, how much would it cost to replace it? Those concerns short-circuited any interest I had. So I put the key in the ignition of my far less fuel-efficient car and drove off.
Hybrids these days are hotter than a laptop battery, with sales up 58 percent last month. But what happens if the battery on your hybrid goes dead? After all, hybrids have been on the road in America for eight years, racking up hundreds of thousands of miles. Automakers say those big batteries under the seats are holding up well. But when they power down, replacing them will cost you thousands. That thought might have been a caution light for me, but it isn't for the growing gridlock of used hybrid buyers. On the car Web site MyRide.com, the number one search term last month was "Used Toyota Prius"—up 944 percent since January. "People are ignoring the concern about battery life," says J.D. Power auto analyst Michael Omotoso. "Their immediate concern is, 'Oh my God, gas is $4 a gallon. I need a hybrid. I'll worry about battery replacement five years down the road.'"
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