I have two Prii. One has a battery that is a Toyota installed replacement battery. It is six years old. The other Prius I have recently rebuilt the battery pack. It was a green bean battery that failed after two years. I’m trying to decide which Prius to sell and which to keep. The battery is my only variable. Thoughts?
Green Bean is a rebuilt pack that is good for 3 month to 3 years, which is why they eliminated their lifetime warranty program. The original Toyota installed pack is good for a dozen years or longer so that's the one to keep.
Really? Are they the same generation? If so, since swapping the batteries isn't that much work, I would next go over both cars and rate them without regard to the HV battery. Then move the battery if it makes sense to do so. Ditto for the 12V battery, keep whichever 12V is in the best shape. At the very least I would inspect them both thoroughly for rust, if you are in a part of the country where that is a problem. It would be silly to keep the car with a good battery and then have it suffer a major structural failure a week later.
Agree with the above. If they are both Gen 2, each needs to be evaluated, disregarding the HV battery. Does either one have a failing brake actuator? Current air conditioning functionality? Body damage? Suspension problems? Tires? etc. or, which one do you just like more? Move the newer battery(ies), tires, etc to that car and keep it.
First, make sure it is the battery pack. Swapping out a battery pack isn't too difficult if you are handy. There are plenty of videos on how to do it. I did mine about 9 months ago after first checking the voltage of each module. I found 2 bad modules and replaced them with 2 used ones and it was good for about a month, so I decided to just replace the entire battery pack because the 2008 only had 125k miles on it. I combed the web for used, rebuilt, and new battery packs. I found one dealer in another state that listed the MSRP of a new Toyota Prius battery pack as $1,950. But the shipping cost was high and they use a special crate and there is returning the core to deal with. I called my local dealer (who I wasn't too fond of) and asked how much they would sell me a new battery for. Their first price was $2,650 ($700 over the MSRP). I asked if they could give me the MSRP of $1,950, and they just said YES. They had the battery pack for me in 2 days in a real fancy heavy duty shipping crate, which fit in the back of my Prius which was still running. Figure on a good day to swap the batt pack out. After I got the new battery in, I got the red triangle of death. Crap. I rechecked all the connectors, especially the one that has about 20 small gauge wires. That fixed it. It's only been 9 months, but the energy display still shows the battery charging nicely and the mileage is still 42-43 mpg like it has been for years. I thought the $1950 for a new Toyota pack was a good deal.
