Who to choose for Refurbished HV battery

I've come close. I bought an old, used TV years ago from a private party, only to find that no reception was possible when I got home. The fellow refused to refund my money so I splattered it all over his driveway. I did think about throwing it through his front window but I didn't want to hit anybody inside. It was very satisfying to see him run away *fast* when he realized my intentions.

Just about worth the $25.

 

I agree with this.
After many years of casually keeping an eye on threads concerning HV battery replacement and different approaches, my opinion has solidified.
I do believe there are reputable rebuilders that are earnestly trying to create and offer a good product. But finding one, that also has the infrastructure to offer solid warranty support, seems challenging. Just too many stories of early failures, coupled with drawn out warranty support battles.
I only wish Toyota would extend their warranty on a new battery purchase. For what can be around a $3000 dollar investment, Toyota only gives you a 1 year warranty. Given that I do think they are reliable, I don't see why Toyota couldn't bump that warranty up a few years.
What lures a lot of people to questionable refurbished batteries, is lower cost coupled with longer warranties ( of questionable value ).

 

personally, i think toyota should offer a lower cost option. i don't buy the theory that it's the same as a tranny or engine for a gasser. especially for out of warranty 8/100 owners.
$3500-$4000. is just too much money. instead of random, cross your fingers goodwill help, they should offer a prorated battery based on years/miles over warranty.
in the same way they ended engineer's business, they would do the same to fly by nite battery rebuilders and save people a lot of grief.
and not only that, it would help sell more new prius to people concerned about battery replacement cost. and they wouldn't be reading all the horror stories here.

 

That would really hurt the sales of new priis. All the cars would then last 400,000 miles and nobody would need to upgrade

 

i would. besides, if that were the case, it would be worth spending the money now.

 

I measured the cells as removed yesterday Measured this morning)
1 - 7.84 16 - 7.83 31 - 7.68*
2 - 7.88 17 - 7.83 32 - 7.83
3 - 7.86 18 - 7.81 33 - 7.85
4 - 7.84 19 - 7.83 34 - 7.85
5 - 7.89 20 - 7.84 35 - 7.89
8 - 7.82 21 - 7.65* 36 - 7.90
9 - 7.90 22 - 7.82 37 - 7.89
10 - 7.83 23 - 7.83 38 - 7.88
11 - 7.83 24 - 7.91
12 - 7.82 25 - 7.83
13 - 7.83 26 - 7.82
14 - 7.81 27 - 7.85
15 - 7.83 28 - 7.82
I measured these this morning and marked the ones I think are weak with red above. My Guess is two better cells would make this a good battery for a GEN I with GEN II cells, but I am no expert. The way I see it is that Prius Rebuilders has about a 10.5 % failure rate on selecting cells for their rebuilds. With 38 cells they are almost guaranteed to have bad cells in their products with little or no after build testing. A very bad bet for their customers. I replaced two of them already and there are two to go as I figure it.
At least these are the numbers from a running battery just removed. At 7.1 volts the cells will fault and throw the P3006 code. (I think)
The cells I had replaced measured below 6.8 volts.
Any takers?

 

I think Electric Me summed up things nicely...

I've been working on hybrids for over a decade and been a part of the hybrid community that long as well.
It has been an interesting to watch how the battery rebuilding business has matured.
Rebuilding battery packs to where they can be reliable long-term, is not an easy thing to do.

The best fix costs the most: New battery pack with new cells.

Next up, refurbished battery.
For refurbished you should either deal with
1) an established, local mechanic face-to-face (random dude on craigslist does not count)
2) a company that has great distribution methods in case there is ever a warranty issue. Shipping is expensive for such a large item.

Find yourself a competent, trustworthy, mechanic now, Before you need your battery replaced.

 

This is a fair summary except for the cost. It should read highest upfront cost. The rebuilds are usually more expensive as $/month over the expected life of the replacement.

The best value by far is buying a new, unused, OEM traction battery available for around $2000 and installing DIY. If the car craps out within the next 36 months, you have a lightly used battery worth upwards of $1000 to sale on the secondary market. That works out to $2000 for a worry free battery good for ~ 10 years, or $1000 if bad luck cuts the car's life short.

 

Good point. Highest upfront cost.

 

Eric,

If I buy a used battery on Ebay e.g., how do I dispose of the old battery I take out of the car ?
Does Toyota have a way for private people to send them the battery for recycling ? Would I collect the core credit ?

 

Most reputable places will have you pay a core fee ($500 - $1,200)
They usually will want your old core back.

Batteries have a notice on them stating that you should contact Toyota regarding disposing/recycling.

You can also contact your local salvage yard and see if it is worth anything to them.

Lastly, you could always check with one of the larger recyclers (like ReTriev Technologies) to see if they will take it.

 

^^ Thanks
I found this battery recycling Tele # for Toyota through Google:
(800) 331-4331

... which is a general Tel # that was useless. The CSR said "call your local dealership." Hah!

Is the Tel # on the pack different ?

 

I'm looking at a gen 1 pack and it is the same CA number.
I would talk to the local dealer.
Usually those guys don't pay you anything for it.

There are some recylcers up in Boulder and Denver if you ever get up that way. (Boulder Hybrid. Mile Hybrid Automotive)

 

I digged a little further:

1. End owners are referred to the dealership and should not expect to pay, but should not expect any money for the returned battery.
2. Junk yards, or other 'registered' (?certified) entities are referred to the TPA Tele # at 877 572 4347. I think the stream for these batteries then goes through local recyclers who may pay for the old battery since eventually Toyota pays for receipt of the dead battery.

Sounds like a big YMMV that the people in the know profit from.

 

I would have paid the $2000 for a new battery if I knew where to get one!
As it is I have more than that in the POS from Prius Rebuilders, Mark Sokol, Falcon Hybrid Solutions, and Abe Sokol.
One does not want to think tht\at there are people who represent themselves as legitimate suppliers who are as un trustworthy as these guys are.
I checked and Googled and found one person who was negative, but I thought that anyone can make a mistake and if they take care of it the OK. Little did I know at that time just how many times this has happened with them.
Poor quality control, poor customer service and poor delivery and do not keep their word.
The only recourse is to make certain that other potential customers know about them.
Now just where can I get a new battery for $2000 if I wanted / needed one?
The only price I could get was closer to $3500. Thus the temptation to try the rebuilt.
I would probably bought a Reinvolt, but they would only ship tp a qualified installer which would have also cost more.
Prius Rebuilders was a very bad choice to save a few bucks. I suggest anyone looking for a battery look elsewhere. Perhaps a new battery? The worry there is a 13 year old car being recapitalized for more than it's resale value.

 

Click Here.

 

It still looks like a major problem with shipping and core charges. IF picked up at the counter it looks like around $2600 plus tax.
If shipped for ~ $2050 then around $200 shipping. Still the $1350 core charge.
To get the battery in hand it looks like is is still over $3500 with the core refund later.
This is what drives the desperate to the unscrupulous re-builders perhaps like Falcon Hybrid Soultions / Prius Rebuilders.
If quality control was proper this might be the answer for the end of life decisions for a 13 year old car that is still in pretty good shape.
But if the cells are force charged and selected from old failed batteries you are just trading one worn out set for a much more expensive set of unknown quality and life.
My experience with Falcon Hybrid Solutions / Prius Rebuilders is that they have a cell failure rate of around 10.5% which almost insure that you will get a battery that will have a very short life. Perhaps if you get an extended warranty they might do a better job, but I doubt it. Others have returned their POS battery three times and then demanded a refund which I don't know that they ever got.
A very poor company with a bad product, almost non-existent product support and very slow service and the constantly speak incorrectly as to how long it will take them to perform. I hate to call it lying, but the reader can make up their own mind.
They are probably so slow to ship because they have to rework each battery they sell several times to either get a good one delivered or for the customer to give up.
They missed with just 4 cells on my battery. If someone needed a set for a GEN II or had two good cells (GEN II) to go with the 36 good ones I have you could put together a fairly good pack.

 

No. Read the OP again.

 

I was just going by this:

As of today, the table in OP shows $2070 as price available from "Toyota Parts Cheap" and from "San Bern Toyota".
"Toyota Parts Cheap" is a web-page run by someone at Mossy Toyota in San Diego.
I woke up at 8am and called the Toy Parts Cheap #, but no one answered, so I called Mossy Toyota.
They quoted me 2588.67. I said their web page showed $2070. The guy said that's the internet price. I said I want the internet price. The guy said I should talk to the guy who ran the web-page - who wasn't there today.
I called the TPC # again (about 9:15am) and they answered! I spoke to another guy who said I couldn't pickup battery, it would have to be shipped to me. He said shipping would cost so much - because the battery was considered "hazardous material" - that shipping costs practically equal savings of purchasing from TPC. Let me repeat, if you buy from TPC you, you MUST pay shipping - according to the person I spoke to. In other words, nobody can obtain a battery from TPC for $2070.
Maybe there's some internal quarrel at Mossy Toyota, and if you call and speak to the right person, god will smile on you and you'll save $518 - but don't count on it, as I did.

So, I called "Toyota of San Bernadino" and spoke with parts-dept, and was quoted $2588. I said there was a web-page that indicated their price was $2070. The guy said that was their internet price and I should go to the web-page of "LoveToyotaParts" (run by Toyota of San Bernadino). He said I must place the purchase through the web-page. He also said that the battery would have to be a special order and might be available in four days. The LTP web-page that summarizes purchase, forces you to add a shipping-cost of $200 - there's no in-store-pickup option. If you make a purchase through that web-page, you will be charged $200 shipping.

I ended-up purchasing a battery for the MSRP of 2588, because I needed a battery today.
Even if I could wait to have a battery "shipped", I wouldn't, because of added risk of damage occurring between dealer and my house.

From my perspective, the prices in the OP should be verified long before they are relied-upon.
Specific instructions describing how to obtain posted-price would have been a huge help.

#48Wonky, Mar 22, 2015
Last edited: Mar 22, 2015

What is the core charge?
It is academic for me anyway since I have a "new" from Toyota battery from a wreck now.. I need to find a buyer for the "extra parts" I have from the low quality unit I got from Prius Rebuilders / Falcon Hybrid Solutions.
That was a BIG MISTAKE!
However if someone else does quality control on their POS then what is left should be pretty good judging from the as removed voltage measurements. Needs 2 cells for a GEN I or you have spares if you use these to replace the cells in an old GEN II battery.

 

You have to remember, you're buying a battery for a Gen I which has 38 modules. The prices in the OP are for Gen II batteries which only have 28 modules and therefore are cheaper and cost less to ship. That could have something to do with the price difference.