Long-term data for Re-Involt?

I helped Daryl replace his traction battery March 10, 2010:


In a private e-mail he wrote:

". . . I don't see being able to do anything with the batteries we took out of our Prius ( which is still running great, thank you).. . . "

He is referencing the old style, NHW11 modules. Off hand, I would call this 9 months and he is one happy customer.

Bob Wilson

 

How long have they had batteries to sell? I see their domain name was apparently registered in March 2008, but I don't know when they sold their first replacement pack. Maybe they could talk an early customer into posting a followup?

-Chap

 

I replaced the Hybrid Battery in my 2001 Prius in January 2009 at 197,000 miles with a new Toyota battery from the local dealer. It took more than two weeks to arrive. In July 2010 I began experiencing problems. The symptoms were not consistent with the first battery failure, but it appears that I will have to replace the battery. The car now has over 220,000 miles and is not worth the cost of a new battery. I do not recommend Toyota replacement batteries.

 

Bob of KY that is not good news at all. Is it correct that the local shop is not offering to help financially with this second repair? I realize that you probably received only a 1-year warranty on the replacement bettery.

Have you also described the situation to the Toyota Customer Experience center (the 800 #)? One would want to at least give them the chance to assist you. Hwever I admit it has been quite a while since we have heard of them handing out any post-warranty freebies.

We all presume that nobody can make these abtteries better than Toyota, so it is a bit disappointing of the new replacement assembly had a bad cell, electrolyte leak, or some other defect.

Please write more about the resolution of this. Perhaps start your own thread?

Anyway, my condolences.

 

Alxc, What did you decide? How is working out? I am in the same position and I'm considering a battery from Re-Involt.

 

A ReInVolt was installed in my 2004 Prius at 194k miles in April, 2011. Two years later at 237.5k miles everything is working well.

JeffD

 

Have you considered priusrebuilders?
I had a gen1 battery using gen 2 cells installed in my 2003 prius at 155k its now at 170k and im still getting 45+ mpg
they are quite a bit cheaper than re-involt anyways

 

It at all possible, try buy a rebuilt battery from a local rebuilder with a good written warranty. Always pay with a credit card so you have some recourse if things don't work out.

No matter how experienced the rebuilder, some batteries will fail within the warranty period. We helped a customer fix a gen2 into gen1 Re-Involt battery that failed early. It was easier for us to repair than shipping it back and forth across the country and have the car out of service for at least 10 days.

Another customer bought a DIY install battery from a California vendor, it never worked right. The customer spent many hours futzing around, the vendor telling them to change this and try that etc. Customer ending up paying us for a diagnostic to confirm the battery was crap. He then had to remove, repack and return bad battery back to the seller.

The hassles of removing/shipping a heavy battery 2 ways may not worth the time and expense unless you have no local options available.

 

Any idea of what buying a 'brand new' NHW20 or ZVW30 traction battery pack might run? I wonder if a volume discount threshold might be available?

If they are shipped like the NHW11 from Toyota, a case with 38 modules, it might make sense to look at buying sets of "new" modules instead of trying to recycle from salvage. Yes, the price would be higher but given the problems of unreliable salvage sources, it might provide a cost-effective solution.

Sure the Toyota NHW11 packs would be cheaper but it looks like they are still shipping the old-style modules. The new ones are so much improved, starting with "0 mile" modules might have value.

I would still want modules (or a sample) tested for Ahr capacity. Of course get two packs and then pair the modules from each pack.

Bob Wilson

 

Looks like about $2000 and $2100, respectively, at one of the partswebsite.com discounting dealers.

-Chap

 

That's about as cheap as you'll find for new batteries from a dealer....however, there are likely additional charges for shipping and recently dealers started charging a core charge of about $1350.

Most dealers collect a $1350 core charge until you give them your old battery.
This sucks multiple ways; you have to tie up another $1350 until you get your car fixed, you have to pay to ship your old battery back (expensive) to the Internet dealer, and you'll have no "used" modules to sort through keep as spares and/or sell on ebay, PC etc.

If anyone has recently bought a new battery from an Internet parts seller, please share your total real costs, especially if the dealer didn't insist on a core.

.

 

Hmm ... does that mean if you buy two 28-module stacks to make up a Gen 1 battery, you've got $2700 tied up on deposit? Will they give you trouble about sending back a mix of Gen 1 and later modules to claim the refund?

-Chap

 

Yes, if the dealer insists on the core deposit you'll have to loan them $2700. You could probably send back any modules, but they should all be the same type within each battery case. The dealer shipping clerk has to remove the cover and add insulating rubber sheets before sending back to Toyota, so a mixmatch of modules in the same battery case may raise a red flag, although most shipping clerks are not that technical.

For Gen1 best value IMHO is to buy new Gen1 battery, it's way cheaper than two Gen2 batteries and very little risk in problems, and much quicker to install since you don't have to disassemble the packs. There's no reason it won't last 8-10 years like the factory battery did, especially if the modules were manufactured in the last couple of years. And while new Gen1 modules may look the same, Panasonic hopefully changed manufactured techniques and/or their recipe to make them hold up better than ones made in 2001-2003.

At present new Gen1 packs still cost less than new Gen2 packs, even though they have more modules (38 vs 28).
Cost per module is way less on new Gen1 packs.

 

Thanks. The car has other problems with motor generators, inverter, or planetary gear system.

Toyota does not manufacture the hybrid battery. They are manufactured by Panasonic.