Hybrid Battery Replacement... to your door

Haven't heard of them before. Found a website here. Look like they are possibly based in Florida.

Prius Hybrid Battery- FREE Installation Service

Welcome to Prius Chat!

Ron

 

Sounds great. I would ask for verifiable references that you can contact.

 

I just found them yesterday advertising via e-Bay. They offered the battery for $250 and shipping for $950, which seemed strange. I sent the following message yesterday:

Dear ishopper-2013,

I have an'04 with 220K on it. My battery still works but I see small indications that this may not be too much longer. I am considering several ways to go, including rebalancing it myself, including the replacement of a limited number of modules. Reinvolt and their ilk are also a possibility and even Toyrota. I found your ad and am frankly a bit suspicious of the pricing as shown in the ad: $250 for the battery and $950 for the shipping. Are these figures reversed or do they assume shipping the entire car? What I mean is, if I show up in Venice and want to buy a $250 battery, 1) would there be one for sale and 2) would I even want it? It seems like a a very small profit margin which makes me think that I am confused. Please straighten me out on this.

As I stated, my car is still OK but nothing goes on forever and I am looking at "pre-need long term care" here, or something similar.

Thanks. (Brady)

- kurzweil33

So far I have received no response to the above.

 

There's a sucker born every minute. And, you, my friend, are that sucker.

 

Yes be very wary. One common reason to use a very high shipping cost and a low item cost is because shipping cost is generally non refundable!

So lets say hypothetically we decided to set up a business where we buy used batteries at the lowest available cost in any condition, "recondition" them by dusting them off with a brush, an then on sell them as a recondition part. Since we know that we'll get a lot of failures we just make sure that all of our profit is made on the non refundable shipping. Too easy.

 

I'm suspicious.
Of course I'm always suspicious.

But offering mobile installation to any location within the continental US? That would take an amazing infrastructure of technicians and contacts, and it certainly wouldn't be cheap. Hard to believe that an operation capable of offering that service would be one almost nobody has heard about.

I wouldn't send them money.

 

Actually if you read their "about us" and "warranty page" they aren't charging for shipping to you, at least not upfront. But they do say that if you are unsatisfied you can return the battery for a refund within 14 days, however YOU are responsible for the return shipping costs.

 

wow, that's a pretty good website (except for all the misspelled words and incorrect info on the battery page). how the heck do you install a battery in california from florida?

 

I'm not sure of the current state of eBay, but it used to be that the eBay seller fees were based on a percentage of the sale price, excluding shipping. So, often sellers would put low sale price with high shipping to lower their fees paid to eBay.

 

eBay changed a few years ago to charging commission on the full amount of the sale including shipping.

 

Think three times before buying a 'reconditioned' battery from an unknown source.
I think most people would be far better served by either 1, buying a low mileage, used salvage battery*; or 2, new from Toyota.

I would spend most of my time shopping around for a local installer who charges less than the stealership.

* Like this one
Or this one

 

Call me a pessimist, but this sounds way too ridiculous to ever be true. I mean seriously, a $250 traction battery alone sounds like something from another universe. And then they have this service where you get it installed RIGHT at your door, no matter where you live or how far you are from their headquarters? If something is too good to be true, it most likely is. You are likely in a phase of denial about having to shell out $3000 for a new battery pack. Just look back on how much you've saved by not needing a brake job, new alternator, starter, timing belt, transmission rebuild, etc. If you're tight on cash, try to get the best salvaged battery that you can. Other than that, stay vigilant of services like this.

 

Hmmm, been following this string since it began. There seems to be some confusion concerning price and shipping.

First and foremost I am NOT promoting the company or their services (HIGH VOLTAGE SOLUTIONZ)

However, their website that has spelling errors plainly say "free shipping" Also their auction's on Ebay state the same thing.

I posted a link in post #2 of this string for their website, and I am also posting a link to a current Ebay auction. You will find "both" of the link's below.

Prius Hybrid Battery- FREE Installation Service

2004 2009 Toyota Prius Hybrid Battery Complete w HV Computer | eBay

I do not understand where you guys are coming up with this $250 for the battery and $950 for the shipping. Both the website and the auction state something entirely different. Also, their username on Ebay is the same name as the name of their company. I do agree that if their replacement unit goes bad, then yes you have to pay for shipping and labor which is not a good thing however even that cost is NOT disclosed on their website under "warranty".

Again, I am not trying to promote the company. I too am skeptical, but I think there is some bad information being posted in this string.

Ron

 

Here is the eBay listing which shows that pricing, under seller name is-hopper2013:
2004 2009 Toyota Prius Hybrid Battery 18 Month Warranty | eBay

That eBay account has 27 positive feedback as a seller, you can read the comments which appear to show satisfied Prius owners.

The same seller is now trying another pricing scheme under the eBay seller name highvoltagesolutionz-2013, where the price is allocated as $1,000 purchase and $250 shipping. That seller name has 0 feedback as of this writing.

At minimum, what appears to be happening is that the seller is taking a used traction battery, loading it into a truck, and driving from Florida to wherever the US customer (contiguous 48 states) is located. Then, the battery is installed.

It is unclear whether any "remanufacturing" is actually happening. My guess is that little or no work is done to the used battery.

I wouldn't get too excited about the 18 month warranty because 1) you have to count on the company remaining in business for that time duration, and 2) as previously pointed out, it appears the buyer is on the hook for freight and installation.

I agree with your thinking, however note that the two batteries you suggested as examples are G3 traction battery assemblies, hence they are not suitable for G2 Prius as "plug and play".

 

Thanks for pointing this out. I know they are not identical, but I am unclear exactly what is involved in using a G3 pack in a G2 Prius. IIRC the modules are identical.

Please enlighten.

 

I believe that the physical dimensions of the G3 modules might be slightly smaller. Electrically they are similar, 7.2V nominal voltage, six cells per module.

The G3 traction battery ECU is probably not compatible with the G2.

 

Does this mean then that the pack can be used as is, albeit perhaps with some tinkering needed to fasten it down ? I assume the G2 battery ECU is recycled.

My original thought was to pull the modules out of the G3 pack and exchange them into the G2 pack, but maybe that is not advisable if they have room to expand ?

 

That is a reasonable thought. The question is whether the G3 modules have the same thickness as G2, or not. I am not aware that anyone has tried to install G3 modules into a G2 traction battery case.

I believe the G3 has the traction battery ECU mounted on the right side of the traction battery case (vs. left on the G2.) The wiring harness connectors are probably different. It probably will take some effort to install a G3 case into a G2 vehicle.

 

Thank you Patrick for posting the link to ishopper-2013's auction. I did see where it is listed on Ebay as the 250/950 rates. I also see that when you read the whole auction page that it reveals HIGH VOLTAGE SOLUTIONZ as the company name and again states "free shipping".

As I stated before, I too am skeptical of the seller and their practice of business. It would be better if the seller would not have so many different platforms as it appears that it could very well be a scam as many here are suspecting.

I do appreciate the additional information.

Ron