Battery Question

what are these batteries with all new cells? i don't recall reading about them, except for the program at toyota dealerships in california.
what is bumblebee?

 

Hybrid Batteries for Honda and Toyota | Bumblebee Batteries

 

thanks. they are talking 'memory effect' of refurbished batteries, and quoting places like auto trader, and autos.com. it already sounds like they don't know what they're doing.

seems more honda oriented.

lists one prius battery good for model years 2004-2012.

they're claiming better performance than a new toyota battery due to proprietary technology.

or, they have 'remanufactured'.

$2,400. after core credit? plus installation? meh, i'll stick with an oem.

 

@ericbecky said he knows the chap that runs it and says he is a stand up guy who knows what he's doing.

Yes, these batteries are true remanufactures and use a different cell tech to that used by Toyota.

 

Bumblebee is a company run by Eli P. Great guy. Quality packs. He has a high attention to detail.

He has been a part of the hybrid community for a long time. Initially his business was heavily skewed toward Honda hybrids.

New cell packs can be made with cylindrical cells instead of prismatic.

I trust him and products from his company.

 

do you agree with the 'memory effect' of rebuilt batteries?

 

In my opinion saying "memory effect" is kind of simplification of terms for things that are more complex than that.
There are some good technical papers I have read in the past that are much more detailed.

 

So when you say "new" battery, you mean a new Toyota HV battery supplied and fitted by Toyota, or do you mean new to you but a recycled/refurbished second-hand HV battery such as Dorman, Greenwich, etc.

 

Situation normal. The easiest way to see a full battery indicator is to drive down a mountain. Get stuck in line at one of the tunnels and you'll see 2 bars and the engine will spin up to recharge the battery to just above the minimum.

 

Agreed. I've seen my battery gauge completely full only once so far in the 6 months or so I've owned my car. That happened when I was coming to a stop after going down an hill. And it will go down to 2 bars when I've got the air conditioning on and stuck in traffic. The "happy place" of the battery is 6 bars, and most of the time, mine is at 6 or 7 bars.

 

While the screen is kinda interesting it doesn't give you the granular detail your really want/need.

Kind of like a temperature gage with with "bars" but no actual numeric markings.

You can buy inexpensive OBDII reader and pair it with Torque Pro app. Then you can set up much more detailed screens so you can see the numeric value of the State of Charge as well as battery voltage.