My question is not how much a new one would cost, the car would be 8 to 10 years old. My question is can the car run as a Hybrid after the battery is shot?
No battery = no hybrid. Anything is possible, but a firmware update could change what happens or what could happen if you disengaged the engine or battery. What happens if fossil fuels dry up in 8-10 years?
In 8 to 10 years, the car's battery will lose capacity, but the capacity will not be zero! So yes the car should run as a hybrid just fine after 8 to 10 years. Note, there is a post that shows how much capacity loss Honda allows before Honda will replace the battery under warranty. That should give you an idea as to what to expect the maximum capacity loss to be at 8 to 10 years, depending on whether or not you live in a CARB state. The battery warranty is 10 years in a CARB state.
I still own a 2006 Civic Hybrid where the battery started failing after about 10 years. The car still functioned as a hybrid, as the battery pack does not go completely dead. It just cannot hold a complete charge and gets depleted quicker - due to bad battery cells within the pack. So, if you ignore all the IMA errors which pop up on the display... the vehicle was definitely still driveable. I replaced the battery pack with a refurbished pack for around $2000.- from a 3rd party, and the car still works fine up to this day. Now, the Clarity pack is much larger - but who knows, there may be 3rd Party companies out there down the road which will sell refurbished batteries for a lower than new cost.
Unlike conventional hybrids, the big battery of the Clarity will last a long, long time if you just need it to run fine as a hybrid. You can even lose 80% capacity. After all, there's only two bars when the car switches over to hybrid mode. If you take care of the battery, there's no reason you shouldn't have at least 20% after 20 years.
I think thats one of the reasons this car may go 20 years. Even if we only have 10 percent battery left it will happily do 44mpg as a hybrid. I highly doubt it will drop that much but even at 50% after 15 years you will still have decent electric range and full hybrid mode. Add to that the huge amounts of aluminum and you have a car that could theoretically outlast all others.
As with all Honda hybrids, the big battery is required to recharge the small battery. The Clarity doesn't offer any way to power a jury-rigged alternator, so the big battery needs to be somewhat functional for the car to work.
Your wish is my command, Marshall. The Service Bulletin for the Pre Delivery Inspection is # 17-093. On the last page, p13, it appears to show in the screen shot that the nominal Battery Capacity Signal is 55 Ah. It states that warranty replacement occurs when it goes below 36.6 Ah which is about 66% or 1/3 loss of 55 Ah. Attached is the SB in PDF.
guys, tesla has battery prices down to $100 per KW. In 7-10 years when you need a battery they wont be more than $500 bucks.