Review Of Green Bean Battery 2/5 *

Aloha!

I thought maybe an honest review of my experience with Green Bean Battery would be helpful for those considering them. Green Bean Battery offers refurbished hybrid batteries for Prius for about $1700 with a 3-year warranty and an optional upgrade to a lifetime warranty with one allowable transfer to a new owner.

My 2010 Prius had a little over 150k miles when the hybrid battery went out. I had it towed to the local Toyota dealership where they quoted me $4500 to replace the hybrid battery. This car was my "mainland" car, so I wasn't prepared to spend that much on a new battery. (I live in Hawaii, but come home to Alabama a few times a year, so I left it at my mom's and she would drive it once a week.)

I ended up using Green Bean Battery to replace my battery in April of 2022. The process was extremely easy and much more enjoyable that dealing with the dealership. After the taxes and the warranty upgrade the total cost was around $2000.

The car drove well and seemed to charge normally. I did have decreased fuel economy. Went from around 50 down to 42 that summer. However, in October, it gave a dash notification to "Check Hybrid System". This warning did not shut down the car as the earlier one did, but I still brought it into a non-Toyota service center to have the code read because I knew I could replace the battery under Green Bean's warranty program. Cost $150 for diagnostic.

The service center came back with P0AA6, but I couldn't provide a sub-code to Green Bean Battery that directly linked the code to the battery (612). They replaced the battery without demanding I provide a code.



After replacing the battery in October, the car drove fine. My family drove it until I came for Christmas in December. I drove it while I was home and all was well. No issues.

Then my mom calls me in Feb to tell me that the car is once again telling us to "Check Hybrid System." I tell her to leave it for now because I'll be in town in a few weeks. In the meantime, I order an OBD scanner and get Dr. Prius for the car. When I get home, I crank the car with no issues and scan the car. It gives me code P0AA6-Hybrid Isolation fault. I am able to drive the car to test the battery with Dr. Prius. Other than the wildly fluctuating charge indicator and some suspect cells according to Dr. Prius, I wouldn't have assumed there was an issue. However, because I won't be home to wait for it become a problem, I submit a warranty claim to Green Bean with the following information:




They answer within 24 that I’ll need to have the codes read by Toyota to determine the sub code. Doesn’t matter what Dr. Prius says. Another $150 for the diagnostic. I do that and get this information back from Toyota:



They get back to be very quickly and let me know that they will replace the battery again, without the sub code that directly links them to a battery fault.

However, I am told that they will no longer replace the battery without the code that directly links the code the battery. They tell me I will need a diagnostic that cost approximately $700 to flesh out the third code. I ask them to confirm if Toyota suggesting a battery replacement is not enough. They never responded to that question, even tho I asked them to confirm it twice. They told me that if the car throws P0AA6 after a replacement then it is most likely not the battery, but another component causing the code. I ask them wouldn’t it make sense for the code to come back immediately instead of months later if it was another issue, but I didn’t get clarification on that, either.

So I want to echo what I’ve seen others say that they will start trying to sidestep the warranty after multiple replacements.

Here is the battery info for the 3rd Green Bean Battery:





So I am back in a situation where I don’t want to keep spending money to keep the car going. If the battery is going to die every 6 months, then a $700 diagnostic, whether I get a new battery or not, is prohibitive. So I listed the car for a song on Facebook and had a buyer within 45 minutes. I disclosed the refurbished hybrid battery, provided the info on how to transfer the warranty to them and said goodbye to what was the best car I’ve ever owned.

I FIRMLY believe that had I bellied up and paid for the new battery from Toyota, I’d still have a car that would last me years to come as my mainland driver. As it is now, Im back to renting when I come to town. I am disappointed in MYSELF more than the company.

I don’t know enough about those batteries to say whether or not the data I provided the company is enough to prove that it was in fact the battery throwing that code. I did have the inverter serviced during the recall.

TLDR: I give Green Bean Battery 2 out of 5 stars. The two stars is for the responsive nature and willingness to replace the battery twice without making me jump through very expensive hoops. I also appreciate the heads up that they would make me jump through that hoop a third time. My gut feeling is that these batteries are failing much quicker than the 3-5% they advertise, but I suppose it could be another issue. AC was running fine, car running smooth and I had the inverter replaced during the recall.

 

Yeah, I think you’re right. They got me. By the time you realize it, you’re gonna pay $6000+ replacing the Green Bean ($2000) with a new TOyota Battery ($4000). I also know that someone else got those leaky batteries they pulled out my car 2x. I hope that whoever gets her that the third battery is one of those miracle batteries I see on threads here and on Reddit.

 

I’m not sure of their refurbishment procedure, but they say they only have a 3-5% warranty claim rate (what is the time period for that metric, I wonder). I was trusting and felt confident in their warranty program. However, paying a $150/$700 diagnostic fee to call in your claim will quickly surpass the original savings

I’ve learned my lesson, now I’m sharing my story so people can make their own decision. Should they choose read my essay