Replace Hybrid Battery -- Where to buy dead battery to repair?

Sam Spade.

I plan to have 2 options to customers.

1. Totally rebuilt battery with 4 years warranty to replace. This means ALL new modules. The price will upwards of $2,500. And I want to talk to discuss with an attorney about offering a payment plan over 1 year if I can somehow enforce payment.

2. A reconditioned battery with 1 year of warranty. The prices will be comparable to others of similar quality and about $600 to $800. Personally, I will make it very clear that this means only replacing failed packs and so the others might go any time but I will take that risk for one year and replace it again and again with similar quality until the year is up. So I will recommend customers to choose a totally rebuilt battery.

These two options will be because some people cannot afford $2,500+ on a properly rebuilt battery. Or they don't intend to keep the car long and don't want to put that much money into it. Everyone are adults and understand that you "get what you paid for".

For me? I'm very happy with the service and help of the guy that sold us the reconditioned battery for my daughter's car. He was a real life saver at a point in our lives when a $3,000 or $4,000 battery was impossible. Paying $1000 for a battery that's guaranteed to last a year was much better than having a useless automobile, right?

About Fire. That is covered by a person's on automobile insurance, isn't it.

 

Thanks for this info. I want to find out where and how much brand new modules cost. I guess have to get brand new modules from a local dealer? Is there any better priced placed to get new ones? Or I guess I could shop around to different dealers.

 

Thanks Brad. FYI, One of his replacements was because our 12 volt Aux battery died and we didn't replace it right away. Apparently the car will lean on the HV battery in that situation and killed a couple of the cells. Some research seems to confirm that he's correct about that.

Brad, you said, "you have a lot to learn". That excites me. I'm the kind of person her thrives on learning. I learned to speak 3 language fluently in addition to English and now working on Mandarin Chinese. I'm learning the electric guitar. I learned enough about medicine to keep my family healthy without visiting any doctors in many years. I learned law. I'm an electrician, engineer, learned psychology and healed myself and friends of trauma. etc. etc

My enjoyment of building deep understanding of things like rebuilding batteries from both the physics involved in rechargeable batteries and the factors such as heat dissipation and balancing of the cells is most satisfying. I will go to great lengths and time to build deep knowledge that far exceeds most others who get into this kind of business.

Yes. and part of the learning process is making mistakes.

Also, thanks for the prices. I decided that reconditioned batteries are the way to go versus new ones based on your prices you quote for brand new cells. I will check with the local dealer in the morning.

Why? Well for a long trip it will, of course, be bad to lose a battery but most people like my daughter just "putt putt" around town and if the battery starts throwing codes, there is the gas engine to help until a couple days to replace the battery. We usually rent a new car or even minivan when we want to go on a longer trip.

Originally, I liked the idea of getting my daughter a used Prius at an auction for the excellent gas mileage. But with the cost of batteries, whether buying brand new for $4000 at the dealer or limping along with reconditioned batteries, it seems very little savings financially or maybe net loss. Apparently the Prius is more about caring for the environment than saving money.

Still what I love most about the Prius is how gentle it is on the gas engine. In effect since the Prius uses both the electric and gas engine then it means effectively much less miles of wear and tear on the gas engine than an ordinary car. That is intriguing. And we have zero repair costs on the engine so far. And it has a timing chain that didn't need to be replaced. So maybe it's a fair trade to spend money on batteries instead of engine repairs or replacement like other cars. And the technology and learning about how hybrid functions is just so much fun.

So you see, that in addition to love of learning, I think that I am struck with the love of hybrid technology and the Prius in particular.

And when someone loves, loves, loves something, they can get really good at it -- that's been my experience.

 

Brad, thanks for the link to the used auto parts market!!!

That's very kind of you.

 

You're right about all this regarding "down time" except that's why I want to have my own spare to rebuild when she's driving for less down time. So that way she can drive the car when it starts throwing codes, while I'm rebuilding another battery for her to use next. Yes. it's less than ideal. But I don't see either solution as any good A) Buy brand new battery or all new cells for $2,600 and install them myself. B) keeping a space and rebuilding every time hers fails.

The car itself is only worth about $4,500 resale value or less. The dealer installed prices of $4,000+ seems insane. And even $2,600 for brand new battery packs that install myself into a car that is 11 years old doesn't make sense.

If I have any other brand used car worth $4,000 and needs a $2,5000 repair??? Will junk the car and buy another one. That's the cost of an engine replacement with a low mileage engine for other vehicles

By the way, we are a family that loves driving used cars that are paid for due to the saving on car payments, new car depreciation, and automobile insurance costs. But maintaining them well so that the break downs are infrequent is an important goal.

She owned this car 3 years and has only 3 repairs needs and none of them left her "stranded".

That is a very reliable used car, in our book. It hasn't needed any other significant repairs during this time and only $1,300 repair costs so far.

It's all a matter of perspective and what a person can afford. I see $800 and $1000 batteries selling left and right on the eBay sales history. so there is a market for people who don't want to drop $2,000 or $3,000 dollars to repair an old car.

 

Thanks for the tips and about Eric!! Yes. I already read a number of entire threads on here and was thoroughly fascinated about the process of reconditioning cells. Swelling, heat, etc. etc. My plan is to get enough chargers to charge 12 cells at a time. Once I'm ready with most of my plan together, I will definitely give Eric a call and love any insight he can add. I do not believe in learning things the "hard way".

 

Thanks guys for adding this to my thread. You both gave me a great laugh and your reply stockdaddy had me ROFL.

Duck tape. Who can go anywhere without that?

But cannot picture how that will help with a dear.
Oh of course, to tape of the deers legs so you can fit it into the car, right?
My friends in Louisiana never fail to bring a deer like that home to eat.

 

Yes. You're more technical on this than I am yet. But I am aware that driving a lot with a dead or dying battery can stress the transmission (if that's the correct term) and wear it out sooner. So keeping up a good quality battery is important.

Reading the rest of your description was nothing short of fascinating.