Is it safe for me to work on or replace my hybrid battery myself?

 

          The hybrid drive battery in a second generation Prius (04’-09’) has a nominal DC output voltage of 202 Volts. This is more than enough to be deadly if you don’t know how to handle it. DC electricity is especially dangerous because of its tendency to cause a victim to freeze up and continue to be shocked. A good recommendation would be that if any of the  warnings above don’t make complete sense to you, then you probably don’t have the proper amount of electrical knowledge to safely work with your battery. We highly recommend that if you do choose to replace your battery on your own that you invest in a repair guide, research everything before you do it, and follow all of the safety precautions while working with your hybrid battery. There are some regular maintenance items (cleaning the battery cooling fan) that you can and should perform to prolong the life of your battery and we encourage vehicle owners to be present when we install their replacement battery so that we can show them how to safely do this.