If you've replaced the main G1 traction battery, please tell us here!

[Rrn3p]

1. year: 2002 Prius
2. miles at replacement: 131K
3. whether you bought new/used/Ebay: New
4. general reference to who did the work: Dealer
5. symptoms you had: Hybrid warning light on. Car was driveable, Drove another ~200 miles before I replaced the battery. However seemed like the battery would drain lower than usual not always re-charging immediately, occasionally resulting in sluggish acceleration from a stop....but would never completely drain and always still re-charge. I was getting 49-50 mpg (true mpg, 50-51 mpg on the info screen) before the warning ight came on. Afterwards I tended to use more gas to make sure the battery would be re-charged.
6. amount you paid parts/labor or if it was warrantied. This is interesting....
First dealer quoted me $4479 (tax incl'd), claiming the HV battery cost ~$3400+tax. 2nd dealer quoted $3100 for the battery and installation. 3rd dealer quoted $2650+tax (~$2810 total). I went with him, had to wait 4 days for the battery, as it was on back-order...I guess it's a hot ticket item now (all the dealers would've had to order the battery). Got it done today. The battery itself cost $2100. Don't know why the discrepancy in price w/ the 1st dealer. The dealer assured me that it's a new battery and went so far to say all the local dealers would get the same price and didn't know why the other dealer quoted so high.
My big problem with getting a new HV battery is that it is only warrantied for 1 year like all Toyota components, I heard this from all three dealers.

[bwilson4web]

Do any of you have a month-by-month or tank-by-tank MPG record AFTER the battery was swapped?

Data from the Dept. of Energy fleet studies, one other battery swap user, and data from my battery refurbhisment studies indicates there is about 2-5 MPG improvement for the first 3-4 months that then decays to a steady state mileage for the rest of the battery life, until near the end. But I would be interested in anyone else's MPG data to see if this pattern is repeating or limited to the three known vehicles and my bench batteries.

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

[dipswich]

1. year: 2001
2. miles at replacement: 101368 (how 'bout them apples)
3. whether you bought new/used/Ebay etc....: Used, from a wrecked 2003 w/ 46k miles 170 miles away. I had to pick it up as the yard wouldn't ship it (HAZMAT), but that ended up shaving a day off the repair time. It wasn't the closest salvage battery available, but I liked the year and miles the best. I am actually surprised to see 5 other traction batteries within 2.5 hrs of me with prices of $400-800 (and the $800 offering is a high-priced outlier).
4. general reference to who did the work: Dealer. Dealer had no issues with installing a Toyota used part.
5. symptoms you had: Same symptoms I've seen posted-- fast full/empty battery fluctuations using full range of the icon; quick engine restarts on any type of demand; wanting to constantly charge a full battery icon with high engine RPMs; hybrid MIL lights (codes P3006, P3000(123)); soon after (within 400 miles), I started noticing power loss/hesitation and then within the next 50 miles the brake MIL with engine-brake-style revving to dissipate regenerative energy (code C1259) came on after deceleration from the highway. At this point top speed became 35-40mph and it was tow-time. Codes P0303, P0304 and P3191 were also pulled indicating engine restart/misfire problems. P3191 may be HV-related, but P0303/P0304 are likely showing a need for new plugs.
6. amount you paid parts/labor or if it was warrantied: Original estimate was $4500 to include new battery at ~$2800 and HV ECU at ~$1100. I ended up only springing for $500 for the used battery and $375 for labor. I declined replacing the HV ECU, and that seems to be the right call to this point. I just got the car back this morning, so I'm basing this on the dealer's 40 miles of testing and my own 25 miles.

I would've pushed for some warranty or "good will" negotiation if I hadn't been able to find an acceptable used battery. But, the newer 2003 battery which I hope has improvements beyond the 2001, reasonable cost of repairs on a 100k+mile-vehicle, and the fact that I had indeed crossed the warranty line make the battery replacement rather easy to swallow. Plus, I kept the original battery and now have replacement modules available if/when this battery goes.