Shop recommendation on battery repair or replacement?

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by Myrdx, Aug 7, 2022.

  1. GregersonIT

    GregersonIT Member

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    If it's in good shape you might get a decent trade on it.
     
  2. wintergreen

    wintergreen New Member

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    Hi Myrdx,
    Do you have an update on this? Is the replacement battery working ok? How much did it all cost? Thanks!

    __________________
     
  3. Myrdx

    Myrdx Junior Member

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    It's been a while since I posted but here's an update.

    From the time my traction being dead it took 2 months to finally get it back up running. First battery received (reconditioned) from reputable 3rd party HV battery retailer was DOA and local shop wasnt able to get my Prius running due to all sorts of random HV faults they encountered. Battery retailer shipped 2nd reconditioned battery on their dime (including additional installation cost that incurred) 3 weeks later and has been repaired ever since. Total time was 2 months to look for battery till up and running. It cost me total of ~$3k instead of going Toyota dealer route with new battery quoted for $12k. It was really bad time as used and new car mkt were absurd and had no choice but to repair the vehicle.

    It's been 3 months and my Prius PIP with reconditioned battery has been running very well. Now that I am invested in this vehicle after paying a big repair bill, on semi new reconditioned battery, I am going to clean or replace all EGR system(EGR cooler, EGR valve, PCV valve, and intake manifold) including water pump to avoid inevitable head gasket failure. I will be adding a catch can also but jury is out on that one as far as effectiveness. Mileage is currently at 160k.

    Upon having reconditioned battery I got an OBD2 scanner with Dr Prius App. All HV system looked good per app and it showed that I have 65% battery life expectancy. I was hoping closer to 80% on reconditioned battery but I dont know how accurate Dr Prius app is calculating this. I did perform the test back in late September when it was still mild out and temperature was 70-80 deg outside.

    As expected reconditioned battery gave 14.5 mile EV range initially but took a month before it settled down to 13 miles EV range after logging in 1000 miles. Now with sub freezing temp here in Utah it has settled down to 11.5 mile range; original battery range came down 1.5-2 miles during winter months also. I suspect EV range will bounce back to 13 mile range in late mid spring like it has in the past with original battery. Btw before traction battery going dead in the summer I was only getting 10.5 mile EV range and total mileage on vehicle was 157K at that time and just coming on 10 years old. I wish I had used Dr Prius app on that original battery to get some baseline comparison. It seems many Prius starts having battery failure around ~10 year mark and not so much mileage dependent from my research. I hope to get another 3-5 years out of this battery then likely that will be end of this Prius PIP but new 2023 AWD (non PIP) is very tempting right now but skeptical of buying first year model on new generation. In the future I will likely purchase non PIP HV as this experience has me wonder if it's worth the cost and time to replace traction battery. Because if it was non PIP traction battery I could have easily locate replacement battery and replaced it myself on much cheaper cost.
     
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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    congrats! glad to hear you're up and running at a reasonable cost.
    now you've got me thinking i should trade while the tradings good (n)

    all the best!
     
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  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Witness Leader

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    New regular 3rd gen Prius batteries were around $2K USD, perhaps still. And if the plug-in's 3 times the capacity*? So three times two equals six (thousand dollars) would seem roughly appropriate.

    *Yeah checked on Wikipedia, that's about right:

    The 4.4 kWh lithium-ion battery developed for the Prius Plug-in fits under the rear cargo floor and weighs 80 kg (180 lb). As a comparison, the nickel-metal hydride battery of the third-generation Prius, which has a capacity of only 1.3 kWh, weighs 42 kg (93 lb).

    A little apples/oranges though, different chemistry. But six grand more??
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    perhaps that was installed, but dealers charge anything they want, and we are free to shop around
     
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  7. Myrdx

    Myrdx Junior Member

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    Yes that was installed cost. That was during when car mkt was "supply shortage everything" and still is so greedy dealership wasn't in the mood to give customers any break. I am sure if I looked around more I may have got it $1-2k cheaper from another Toyota dealer but how far away? Towing a dead Prius PHEV was a hassle and was getting expensive from two tows incurred already. If I went that route I probably be waiting on that battery from Japan still. Btw I did check the new battery from Amayama @Mendel Leisk suggested then and even their price was $6.5k before shipping cost from Japan to US was applied.
     
    #27 Myrdx, Dec 26, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2022
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  8. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    I had to wait for DrPrius to support the Prime and would have liked to have gotten a baseline on the Pack earlier too. The car was already 2 years old before I got my first baseline, but am grateful to have that even at 2 years from new.
    I had a 14 PiP, also. I was going to suggest doing the DrPrius thing before I read you'd already got it.
    FYI, iirc the PiP has 3 battery banks making up the Traction Pack. So if you get the techstream documentation on the traction pack it will show you how to do with the PiP pack what others have already done with regular prius packs, except the reconditioning and balancing since the pack is Lithium and all the charging discharging in the reconditioning and balancing is different.
    Each one of the 3 banks in the PiPs pack is easy enough to deal with on it's own. And if you have DrPrius when your car coded, it might have shown you if you actually needed all three banks or just perhaps one or two banks.
    Obviously, at least to me anyways, if I were going to attempt to replace the 351 volt nominal 95 cell 5 bank traction pack in our Prime, I'd be using Techstream Lite and the recommended Toyota 3 passthrough adapter for the newer models. I'd be trying like hell to figure out how to remove the batteries in the traction pack bank by bank as opposed to pulling the whole pack out of the car with a cherry picker.
    I already have the Prime pack disassembly instructions from my first 2 day subscription of techstream.
    Cost per bank for the Prime is. last time I looked a year or two ago was 3.3k / 19 cell bank in the US and something like 1.5k / bank from amayama. Yes you got that right, a replacement pack for the Prime cost almost as much as the car cost new in 2017.

    And my interest in Jack @ DrPrius and Jack @ nexpower lithium replacement for NiMH prius packs has a lot to do with how Jack nexpower packs are conditioned and balanced, even though the lithium chemistry if a bit different, it's close enough for now.

    Professor John Kelly s Deep Dive into the Prius Prime Lithium Ion Traction Pack
     
    #28 vvillovv, Dec 26, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2022
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  9. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Witness Leader

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    And it’s three banks? That is a pricey battery for sure, but are you saying the Prime was $10,000 new? Presumably after rebates, but really?
     
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    5 banks. i could have gotten a new prime a few years back for around 22k, base model.

    $3,300. x 5 from toyota = $16,500. plus labor.

    amiyama is a much better deal of course
     
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  11. Myrdx

    Myrdx Junior Member

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    What was your life expectancy or capacity from Dr Prius app on Prime and 14 PIP? And how old was the battery when test was done?
     
  12. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    I don't have an amayama account yet, so I didn't get shipping rates when I looked up the batteries. I'm still looking for a reasonably priced one from the yards. which me luck.....

    Dr Prius didn't support the PiP when I had ours. Most PiP owners were using scangauge or torque. And I haven't run the either test on the Prime except a once I tried to duplcate some of the cap test with the app open to get an idea about how long the test might run while I had the go pedal floored waiting for the traction pack to charge up.