I've noticed a decline in the performance of my 2012 Prius V’s hybrid battery. To address the issue, a friend in China connected me with a battery manufacturing factory that specializes in lithium-ion batteries. Instead of replacing the original Ni-MH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) battery with the same type, we decided to go for a lithium-ion upgrade. This option offers better energy density, a longer lifespan, and improved overall efficiency for my Prius. Their NMC battery modules are fully compatible with the original Prius ones—each module is 7.2V 6.5Ah. My Prius V uses 28 of these modules, and I’m planning to replace all of them. The total cost is only around USD 1,400, which is significantly more affordable than the official replacement parts. Should I go ahead with the replacement? My Prius currently averages about 7L/100km in fuel consumption, and I believe that could improve with a new hybrid battery.
DO NOT DO IT! Do not install Lithium-Ion batteries into a Prius that was designed to use NiMH batteries. The BMS system in your Prius was designed for the NiMH battery. The Prius BMS will NOT work well with a Lithium-Ion battery. A company in the USA tried doing this with LiFePo4 batteries and failed. The company is now selling Na-Ion batteries. Do a search on this forum for "Project Lithium."
a very bad idea. unfortunately, good replacements aren't cheap. what do you mean by 'a decline in performance'? has it thrown any trouble codes? a lot of different things can contribute to that.
@Brian1954 Why didnt you just tell him all about project lithium , why tell him to go search when you already mentioned it? Plenty of project lithium batteries on the road still with no issues by the way.
Probably for the same sort of reason that when I want to learn about some unfamiliar company, say foo.com, I will often start with a search like this: foo.com -site:foo.com I start by getting an idea what information about foo.com is available without being from foo.com. If that makes a good-enough impression I'll go back and remove the -site qualifier and read what foo.com wants to say about themselves.
I've been following the discussions here regarding lithium-ion battery implementations in Priuses and understand the valid concerns many of you have about safety and reliability. These conversations highlight a critical need for robust and proven solutions. Our team has developed a lithium-ion battery system specifically designed for the Prius that directly addresses these challenges. This system has been rigorously tested and is currently in operation in over 5,000 vehicles worldwide for more than three years, demonstrating its reliability and performance in real-world conditions. A key innovation in our design is its seamless integration with the original Prius BMS, coupled with advanced self-balancing capabilities. Our clients have observed significant improvements in energy density, charge/discharge rates, and fuel economy when comparing our battery to the original NiMH units. Our advanced circuitry ensures optimal performance and longevity. We are confident that our solution can help shift the perception of lithium-ion in Priuses towards a more positive outlook. We invite individuals with a technical background to connect with us. We would be pleased to discuss providing sample battery modules for independent testing and evaluation. Let's collaborate to advance the capabilities and reliability of Prius battery technology. InnRG Power Solution, check us out at innrgpower or google us on facebook.
Send me a PM and I'll evaluate your product. Edit: You probably can't send PMs due to your low post count... so I just sent you a PM that you can reply to. I see blinking LEDs inside your blades, which is a good sign there's an actual BMS doing something inside each blade. I'm curious to learn how your system achieves supervisory control to tell the OEM BSU to disable assist/regen if a cell gets too empty/full, respectively? I would expect to see a dedicated third terminal coming out of each blade that the OEM BMS wire harness would connect to. There are theoretically ways to achieve supervisory control without that third terminal, but it would require high current FETs inside each module. Maybe your BMS has a per-blade series FET that opens into a higher parallel resistance if something goes wrong? Guess we'll see when I tear your blade down. I'm excited to see if the Toyota community will finally have a properly engineered 3rd party lithium battery.
