Hybrid battery cooling mod

Always parking in the shade and only driving during the coolest parts of the day will make a huge difference in not just your comfort but the longevity of your vehicle. Worst thing you can do is be a 40-hour a week worker zombie who lets their car bake in a parking all day 5 days a week and then drives home in that overheated car for an hour or more in bumper to bumper gridlock traffic. Doing that for decades will not only shorten your own lifespan, but the lifespan of your vehicle too.

Also a Sodium-Ion battery pack will always have way more amps available on really hot days to power your AC system. Whereas your OEM battery pack on a super hot day will show less amps available and computers will send less power to the AC, so you and your battery pack run hotter.

 

What about a lithium pack, the one from innrg solutions? I know lithiums dont like high heat either.

 

wow..........

 

I chuckled a bit at that, but hey everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

 

It's more than just opinions, it's actually proven and accepted knowledge by more than just me. Which part of my statement do you think is wrong?

 

I dont think what youre saying is wrong, but if I have to do all that to own a prius or any EV, I might as well put it in a climate controlled glass case and not even use it.

 

I should of clarified that its a lifestyle choice... If you live somewhere where you can easily handle ever hotter and hotter temperatures and have enough flexibility in your schedule to avoid the worst of it. Both your own life and your car's life will last longer...

 

yep... overcharging and heating issues common with Prius can very quickly destroy high density lithium, which can't handle it. What's more, once high density NMC/Lithium starts burning it creates its own oxygen so instead of a failure with low density cells that make smoke and melt stuff you get a fire that's super hard to put out that might destroy your car entirely... Here's the SaltyHybrid.com version of what I just said: Dangerous NCM Lithium Battery Alert for Toyota Prius Owners - NexPower Energy

 

It sounds pretty conflicting when it says even sodium ion batteries are not safe but yet they sell them....so whats the deal? I get the whole lithium risk with heat and fire, but they sell the very same battery technology that page warns about...

I would love to upgrade my aged battery to something that would enhance the vehicle overall (mainly fuel efficiency)

 

Sorry, i edited this because I realized we were drifting off topic

 

I'm mostly here for the purpose of drifting off topic in helpful ways.

 

So, is the sodium battery safe and is there ever going to be a safe lithium alternative? Assuming someone develops a compatible charge controller or a mechanism of the sort, would that lead to the development of a more energy dense battery?

 

Yes, the Sodium Ion Hybrid battery from Jack, is safe.
I've had the Sodium Ion Hybrid battery in my Prius since September 2024, and it's great!
No issues.
Lithium can be very dangerous, that's why companies are getting away from them.
Slowly, because there's a lot out there and it will take time.
Sodium Ion is what they are moving too. It is much safer.

 

This is getting off topic, but a safe version for Lithium-Ion hybrid battery is being developed right now. It is not ready for sale yet. See this thread
https://priuschat.com/index.php?posts/3456457

 

The video from Salty Hybrid's competitor is correct in most respects, but wrongly claims that all aftermarket batteries avalable are not safe because he's planning to sell a new battery ECU design for Gen3 Prius, which will increase supervisory control and monitoring of all battery cells, which is essential for Lithium because they can't handle too much heat, too much cold and too much charging and can burn your car to the ground if they aren't shut down soon as a cell starts to fail.

Whereas Toyota's Nickel Metal Hydride and more modern sodium-ion can safely handle that. Lithium Iron Phosphate on the other hand is lower density than Lithium-ion and safer and there's near 4K of those packs on the road, but their lifespan isn't as reliable due to the explained Lithium weaknesses, which is why the company switched to Sodium-Ion.

The root of the problem is Toyota Battery management monitors 12 cells as one block and using Lithium-Ion (aka: NCM / NMC) requires all cells to be monitored individually, which is what the competitor is designing. When that's available for sale you'll have very little limit to how many batteries you can put in your Prius and it will allow for a near EV conversion of Prius.

In the meantime, Sodium-Ion has proven reliable for three years of torture testing with Toyota's existing BMS...

 

Please explain how this is right?

Also a Sodium-Ion battery pack will always have way more amps available on really hot days to power your AC system. Whereas your OEM battery pack on a super hot day will show less amps available and computers will send less power to the AC, so you and your battery pack run hotter.

 

Oo im going to stack the trunk with cells to the max

 

As Brian pointed out, a retrofit lithium battery and a safe and robust bms is being developed by an engineer who did the same thing for the Honda Insight hybrid.

This is one of the most amazing 180's ever from a guy who defended "Jack's" lithium retrofit before, during and after the product failed quickly, burned and was found to use a simple analog interface to trick Toyota's nimh bms when out of range sensors would have otherwise coded. A "secret" and ultimately hobbiest interface that was never designed for critical and comprehensive lithium cell monitoring.

That company and sales reps like Priuscamper would call users liars or would accuse them of bad installations of their lithium retrofit. This went on for years. Until the day their Sodium version with less capacity was available for an almost new upgrade charge to existing and disappointed lithium customers. There still is no advanced interface for their aftermarket design and lifespan is unknown but is unlikely to be 10-15 years typical of well engineered Toyota designs.

It is interesting to note, most gen3 Prii sold overseas had lithium and a proper controller. The lithium battery was installed in the front console between the seats allowing a third row configuration in the overseas Prius v/Alpha/+. It was good enough to be sold overseas until 2021 with the exact same gen3 engine we have. Which by then had revised pistons and rings, a revised head gasket and intakes. With no history of low hv battery lifespans or a battery smoking up the cabin.

By gen4, lithium packs were available in US Toyota hybrids.

Finally the idea that a nimh battery will limit the ac in hot situations is news to me and everyone else who lives in hot climates. One of the premier features of a Toyota hybrid beginning in 2004 was its fully electric high voltage variable capacity ac which was capable of full capacity in 110f stopped traffic with the engine off. Aided by a dynamic metering txv, dual speed radiator/condenser fans, gen3's neural network ac controls, temperature, solar and humidity sensors, the gen3 ac system was an amazing and reliable engineering achievement.

Even if the hv battery discharges in traffic, the engine starts and maintains full electrical capacity while charging the hv battery. Sure, a higher capacity lithium battery will carry the loads longer with the engine off, provide better mpg, slightly more power but why spend thousands for one of the aftermarket solutions just to have it fail in 1/5th the time? At least until a well engineered version is available.

 

Toyota Prius V INNRG OptiCell Lithium-Ion Module 28 – Welcome

What about these? I see that it says they have an individual BMS in each module. I had asked about these earlier. Says 70 C discharge rate? I may purchase to contribute to the community if nobody has any experience with them. I may even do a tear down or take a peak inside one.

 

I need to stop talking then . Also I salute you for your service to these vehicles.