Similar Hybrid Battery Packs? GM vs Toyota vs Ford

I have not heard of the manufacturers taking steps to keep non-dealers from servicing the packs in EVs.
The size of a plug in's pack might prevent a home mechanic from doing the work though; may require access to a car lift.
Then there is the possible issue of dealing with coolant and plumbing in those models that use liquid cooling for the battery.

 

Actually, there is much more to repairing a Prius battery back other than replacing a module with a random used one.The replaced module & whole pack need to be properly balanced to get best results.
You cannot compare repairing a pack with buying a new one. A closer comparison to a new pack is 2K1Toaster's kit of new cells for $1600 and a 2 year warranty.

 

You also have to look at the battery chemistry in the aforementioned vehicles.

Different battery chemistries, requires different methodologies.

For the Prius you worked on, the battery chemistry is a nickel metal hydride, which uses air cooling as its source of cooling the packs. While electric cars that I know of, employ lithium ion batteries that requires complex BMS designs to oversee their functionalities, because of the excess heat they emit. They are water and air cooled.

 

Nope. There's this pesky thing called a patent.

 

But there is also tech sharing/leasing/buying/trading. For example if you pull the pack out of a hybrid GMC Yukon, it is a Toyota style pack using PrimeEarth modules...

 

The battery pack does not go through a deep enough discharge/recharge cycle to balance well. That is where the Prolong charger & discharger system from Hybrid Automotive do a better balancing job,

 

My understanding is if the modules get far enough out of balance, you get hybrid battery trouble codes. @TMR-JWAP & @2k1Toaster can expand further because they have studied this.

 

You're where I was a few years ago. Check the link in my signature to see what I did.

 

You're correct in your submissions

 

Aren't those old stuffs part of another greenhouse gas emissions source?

 

I know the experts here say you should not mix different generation modules in the same pack. @2k1Toaster could probably explain best why that is the case. I know Toyota said they use a higher grade of Nickel in the Gen 4 NiMH battery pack.

 

There are some videos I saw on youtube where a professor takes apart a Chevy Volt and Bolt battery. He does a pretty thorough job of dismantling it and showing off as many of the individual pieces as possible.

Of course, he was also using some hefty lifting equipment, and was in a big room which most DIYers probably won't have access to.

There are also some folks who are buying those battery packs from crashed EV's, and using the batteries for backup power for their house. While it's risky because you may not know what kind of damage said packs sustained during that crash, they can still be useful as backup power for a house, since they're no longer needed to provide a ton of power at once to move a car around even after they've suffered some degradation and capacity loss.