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Review and Advice needed for Made in China Traction Battery Modules

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Prius ZVW30, Jul 9, 2018.

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  1. Prius ZVW30

    Prius ZVW30 New Member

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    I came across my neighbourhood garage who is offering $2399 or USD1769 for a complete pack of 28 New Modules which is came from China which is a good deal to me and that is almost 40% less then the price quoted by my Toyota Dealer. Cheaper by the price, they also comes with 1 year warranty at unlimited mileage. Having been driving with bad traction battery for 6 months i really keen on trying out the China's Battery. But before that i need some good reviews\advice before i made any decision.
     

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    #1 Prius ZVW30, Jul 9, 2018
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  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Well you’ll run into problems immediately because it appears that the Chinese battery is NiCd. The Prius uses NiMH which is a different chemistry. NiCd is a cheaper battery hence the lower cost. (Lower energy density compared to NiMH)
     
    #2 Tideland Prius, Jul 9, 2018
    Salamander_King and Leadfoot J. McCoalroller like this.
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    The primary myth in the Prius hybrid battery racket is a bad HV battery can't be serviced. The truth is that they very easily can be serviced and there are 28 Battery modules in these cars that are wired in a series in most Prius, so it only takes one of those batteries to go bad for the whole pack to be bad.

    But it's very easy to pull the battery out and load test all 28 cells and replace the bad cells and currently the market is flooded with fully tested and reliably used battery modules and entrepreneurs on Craig's list have a booming business doing this repair work. So the prices on repairs and matching replacement modules are plummeting. Just bought one module from a supplier on ebay with the best reputation of Hybrid repairs over the years for $31 and free shipping.

    Then add to that, higher quality aftermarket bus bars to connect the batteries together in a way that creates less corrosion, as well as doing regular battery reconditioning via Prolong Hybrid Batter Conditioning system (via @jeff652 ) to maximize performance and limit how often future modules go bad and before you know it you got another 200K miles out of your car and never had to spend more than $1K keeping the hybrid battery healthy.
     
    #3 PriusCamper, Jul 9, 2018
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  4. Prius ZVW30

    Prius ZVW30 New Member

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    Guys, i took the deal.
    -1st hour after installation, drive around some light industrial area with moderate traffic. During the constant start stop and go the throttle response feels good again. Notice the battery indicator doesn't drop as rapid as before i guess this is a common sign after new battery. Lets give it some time to run in while I'm still observing the car behavior after traction battery swap.
     
    #4 Prius ZVW30, Jul 14, 2018
    Tideland Prius likes this.
  5. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Keep us updated!
     
    #5 Tideland Prius, Jul 16, 2018
  6. B5er

    B5er Junior Member

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    How is the performance of the battery pack so far? any updates for us?
     
    #6 B5er, Aug 12, 2020
  7. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    Don't hold your breath, OP last checked in one year and 36 weeks ago.

    GOOD LUCK!
     
    #7 fotomoto, Aug 12, 2020
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