Prius Battery Replacement Kit (GenII/GenIII) with NEW custom cells

As been described in this thread and other threads, the battery cells are different. It's a CEBA pack hardware and even my installation manual says just follow the CEBA videos for some extra detail. The new plastic bits, are from me that they now get to use (and are). That way I didn't have to pay for custom tooling on all the plastics. I do the mech design, they do the production and sell to others including me.

My cells are not the same as the cells in the image. If you lok at the top of those batteries they should be stamped with "CEBA". Mine are not.

The mechanical is the same. The chemical is different.

 

Everyone I have seen has been in the $870 to $1000 range advertised. I posted a photo of my CEBA invoice earlier for the pack I tested a while back. By the time it was shipped, custom duties, custom fees, bank wire transfer fees, transaction fess (5%!!!), etc it was over $1500 shipped to my commercial address.

 

Mine say 6.5Ah and are measured 6.5Ah. The ones I got in my CEBA pack said 6.5Ah and I measured on average 3Ah. Using very generous slow testing methods, I got up to 4.5Ah, but using the same tests mine says 8Ah...

 

Also for comparison, my original cells (2006 Prius pulled originally around 138k miles in 2016 and then left to sit for over a year in my basement) measured between 2.6Ah and 3Ah

 

That sounds about right. But when UPS knocks on your door to deliver you will need to write them a cheque for customs brokerage fees and potentially extra shipping charges unless you have a commercial ups account with enough volume to where they waive some fees. In my case the brokerage fees they asked for were $33 before I put the charge on my account.

 

If you look at a photo from last year of any of the kits they look nothing like that. There's a reason why...

Also if you believe that everything manufactured within the same area is identical just because, I can't help you. China like every developed country is full of factories that will make what you want. If you want the lowest cost something, they will oblige. If you want something that meets certain requirements, they can do that too. The important part of a Prius battery pack is the battery. Mine, stamped with VERG ontop, are actual 6.5Ah cylindrical modules with 12 point welds between cells. Unlike the cells used in the other kits that are stamped 6.5Ah but are truthfully half that with random welds just to hold it together.

 

Let me know if you need any install pointers. The only confusing part (I think) is what orientation for the modules. For a Gen-2, module #14 goes close to the electronics, and it counts in descending order to the end of the pack with module 01.

Here is the interim manual: http://www.newpriusbatteries.com/Installation%20Manual/Installation_Manual_001B-WM.pdf

The long original wire from the Prius is connected to the (-) terminal of the new cells and the shorter original wire from the Prius is connected to the (+) terminal of the new cells (close to electronics).

This is the manual with the both the old plastic style pictures and new ones: http://www.newpriusbatteries.com/Installation%20Manual/Installation_Manual_001B-WM.pdf

On page #47, you can see the modules lined up and the safety interconnect switch making contact on the third and fourth modules. Also that's the side with the 7-x sensors and the 8-x goes on the other side.

 

There is definitely a different harness to the Gen-3 than Gen-2. I may have mistakenly shipped you a Gen-2 kit. I sent you a PM, lets get this sorted!

 

There are a couple dozen in the US so far, of those I believe 8-10 are (active) PriusChat members.

Everybody that has reported anything, has been unanimous in that it works like new and other than that boringly the same. Boring is good in this case. It means it does what it should, as it should.

My complaint would be my factory takes too long to make, assemble, and test them! But so be it for good quality cells.

As far as I know, nobody that has the pack has had an issue with it. One member (above) I accidentally sent a Gen-2 wiring harness to instead of a Gen-3 harness. I UPS Overnighted a brand new Gen-3 harness to them at my cost including a return label to send back the other harness also at my cost. So far, that's been the biggest problem I am aware of.

The only other downside right now, is that there is no user manual. It is still in the drawing phase, expected to be first draft ready by mid-January. Printing and shipping puts the actual manuals around mid-February at the earliest. The thing with production, is that everything is on the timescale of months.

But there is a post above (#196) that has all the basic information plus a cobbled together interim manual.