I have an '02 that has run on gas, oil and a replaced ignition coil for 110K miles. I was looking into a new car, but ran across a battery pack on ebay. It's a Toyota Panasonic part number G9280-47031. It's selling for cheap, with cheaper installation. 1500 for the battery (new, with warrentee), and 300 for the install. Here is the ebay page: 01-03 Toyota Prius Upgraded HV Hybrid Battery Pack : eBay Motors (item 130384208722 end time Apr-28-10 09:14:20 PDT) Is this guy full of you-know-what? I figure that this is a good place to look for known frauds.
Re-InVolt is well known here. http://priuschat.com/forums/generation-1-prius-discussion/77222-visiting-2001-prius.html Has a visit to re-involt, and all the reasoning that led to it the pictures start here http://priuschat.com/forums/generat.../77222-visiting-2001-prius-4.html#post1090761
It is a real offer and of good quality, but it is NOT new. Re-in-Volt rebuilds battery packs with matched good cells. These use cells from Gen2 Prii and may even be better than you original battery pack. JeffD
Now we're getting somewhere. So there is a chance that I can get 200K out of this little fella after all. How long does he take to change the battery? I live in Maryland, and a short trip to the outer banks might not be too out of line.
Are you currently having a driveability problem that causes you to think you need to replace the traction battery?
No. The battery simply has a bad case of being old. It's an 02 with about 112K. I know that it might just make it to 140 - 150K, but I'm sorting through my options. Eventually, I realize that I will have to get a new car, but this one has been a trooper. As I think I said, she has a lot of miles on her, is still getting about 42 mpg, and has run on gas, oil, and had a coil replaced last year. The coil might have been unnecessary, but I was getting warning lights on the dash, and the scanner showed some codes relevent to the coil. I hate buying cars, and part of me just wants to get it over with. Another part of me wants to drive this Prius until the wheels fall off.
Honestly, I think the battery is not that big of a deal compared to other possible issues. If the car is in good condition (rust free and running well) I would drive it until it is no longer economically feasible to repair it.
If my Prius were approaching the 10 year mark and there were indications that the traction battery needed to be replaced, I would definitely go with Re-involt. They're reasonably priced, and putting in a re-manufactured battery into an older car seems to make more sense than paying 3-4X more for a brand new battery that will likely outlast your car. In your case, since you are fairly close to their facility in NC, that makes it even better for you. Re-involt says their re-manufactured batteries are actually better than the originals, but that is hard to quantify (in other words, this is an added plus, but even if they were just "equal" they are still a good value).
You may want to consider the following: (1) There are taxis running around with 200-300 thousand miles (2) When the battery finally goes, it doesn't necessarily go 'POOF'. Rather it'll start to loose capacity incrementally . . . 10% then 15% then 20% over some length of time. Consider the RAV4-ev batteries as an example. Some of those batteries are over 100,000 ... 10 years old and still running. As they age, the range simply drops ... 100 miles, then 90, then 80 and so on. I wouldn't worry that your traction pack will suddenly leave you stranded in the middle of the road some day. That's not the pattern of failure. As for the ebay ad, WOW ... the shipping to our house would be nearly $400. Still, beats dealer market I suppose.
