Pack lifetime, NiMH vs. Lithium?

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Technical Discussion' started by pasadena_commut, May 9, 2026 at 10:02 PM.

  1. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Have the OEM lithium packs been around long enough to compare pack lifetime against the OEM NiMH ones? This would be the mean (or median) time until pack failure for the two types. (Other differences may be significant but are not the point of this thread.)

    I believe the 4th generation is the first where this comparison is possible. Our car is a gen2, and there was no OEM lithium option. The aftermarket lithium option was not as long lived as the OEM NiMH, but neither were most of the aftermarket NiMH, so that isn't much of a predictor for the OEM lithium.
     
  2. Rmay635703

    Rmay635703 Senior Member

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    Gen 3 Euro 3 row models
    2016+ Eco models

    so 10+ years for some
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    degradation of lithium in Bev's has some good long term testing. they have shown very little over long periods of time and mileage.
    2012 plug in prius has lithium and very few complaints
     
  4. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Very implementation dependent. Consider the first generation Leaf. Those packs were not fluid cooled and they did not hold up well at all. The Gen4 Prius can swap NiMH (for cold climates) and Lithium (elsewhere), so I'm assuming that both are cooled the same way. Air or fluid, presumably air. Air cooling is adequate for NiMH (based on historical pack lifetimes), it might not be for Lithium. It might be that NiMH packs would last longer if they were fluid cooled. Hard to do the experiment as neither the modules nor the pack are designed for it (at least for Gen2, Gen3, and I assume Gen4, since those modules fit the earlier packs.)