I recently owned a 2000 Prius 1st Gen with a damaged HV battery. It turned out that one cell almost exploded (the side of the battery melted). Obviously, corrosion and voltage distortion on the BMS caused the problem. I replaced that cell with one from a 3rd Gen Prius (all cells balanced, of course), and the battery works. However, I noticed that the other cells weren't very good either, so I started considering an alternative. I noticed that you can buy a complete Li-ion battery from a 5th Gen Toyota RAV4 for ridiculously cheap (at least in my country). Prices start at $300. I'm wondering if it would be possible to build a battery pack using these cells for a 1st Gen Prius. Theoretically, I would need 76 Li-ion cells, which would require buying two RAV4 batteries, but it's still much cheaper than replacing all the stock NIMH batteries. I wonder if this would even work.
You got to know the base voltage of rav 4 Prius is like 200 220 Dc volts . You should be able to Google the RAV4 I don't if that makes it plug in or
In theory you can't do what you're suggesting because you will need a much more elaborate BMS than the stock NiMH battery ECU provides. There was a guy who started selling Li replacement modules that ran on the stock battery ECU and he nearly bankrupted himself when all that batteries start to fail after not even two years. Then there is the potential fire hazard when the battery has a thermal runaway form poor battery management. You need to consider that there is no putting out a Li ion fire, you just got to let it burn while trying to avoid the hazardous toxin fumes. There was another member here who was looking into developing a Li-ion battery BMS (@mudder) who you could Start a Conversation with to see where he is at and whether his solution can work for you.
I agree. I agree. I'm working on my replacement Toyota BMS project full time right now. Initial support is for Prius Gen3, Prius V, Lexus CT 200h, and related. FYI: I'm not publicly documenting my progress like I did while developing my similar Honda product... ...but behind the scenes there's lots going on, and lots that I would love to talk about but choose not to for reasons. At some point my product will just start existing, but don't expect to hear too many specifics before then.
