A123 Systems / Hymotion = factory closed?

Care to share examples of the "dark news"?

 

The only thing I know is that they are going to or have stopped selling the Hymotion battery for the Prius. They will still do warranty work until the last one is out of warranty. Then there is a place that is refurbishing the batteries. Your local installer will still be able to replace the battery as long as they can get them. Thats if your installer still wants to mess with it.

As far as A123 goes I think they wont last long. The wont sell their cells to the public and their "Made in USA" pouch cells are acutally made in China but have "Made in USA" stamped on them. You can actually buy the 20Ah (Actually more like 18Ah ) pouch cells from China right now for as low as about a $1 an Ah.

Their business model of only selling to OEM's is what's eventually going to kill them.

 

Add in the fact that it seemed that A123 was in every new EV headline a few years ago - the Volt, the Chrysler EV that got canned, etc, but seemed to get almost none of the actual business when suppliers were decided.

If memory serves me, the only production car that they are providing batteries for is the Fisker and we all know how well that is going. On a side note - they are at least making some of the Karma - I was driving on the PA Turnpike last weekend and saw a car carrier with 4 of them loaded up and heading west.

 

I believe that A123 is the supplier for the GM Spark
How Much Will GM’s Spark EV Help A123 Systems? $AONE | Solar Feeds

 

A123 cells are in BMW ActiveHybrids as well.

 

FWIW, AONE's stock was hammered today, falling 0.59/share or 23.89% to $1.88/share. One can browse thru the headlines at AONE: Summary for A123 Systems, Inc.- Yahoo! Finance.

I'm still curious about the OP's supposed "dark news" that would've had to have come out on 2/8/12 or before...

 

I have seen two variations of the A123 20ah pouch cells. One made in USA and the other made in Korea. You can buy them on EBay. I have recently Installed in my Prius and they perform well.

72P A123 20ah Batteries Perfect ones | eBay

I do not think that these are the cells used by Hymotion but they can be used instead.

My installation of these A123 20ah pouch cells can be seen here:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-p...laning-canview-bms-conversion-lithium-43.html

 

a123 are nice cells .. u hope they keep in existence

 

I called my local guy who used to install for them (Fountain Valley, CA). He said that CARB was not pleased with the tailpipe emissions over their 100 mile test. He said that a Honda Civic (non-hybrid) produced less tailpipe emissions (lower MPG, of course) because the Prius's engine starts a stops during the test would spike the emissions readings.

Oh well. I wonder if PICC is suffering the same sin.

 

thats sounds like a load of C$&R&a#P
and where talking about A123 systems shutting down not if the NON hybrid is cleaner then a hybrid. hahah what a joke.

 

http://boston.citybizlist.com/7/2012/2/14/A123-Boosts-Compensation-as-Stock-Bottoms-Out--cbl.aspx

Salary increases, huh?

How about an increase in the service they provide to their Hymotion customers?

 

A123 is in sad shape. They may follow Enerdel down the drain, and Enerdel built one of the best prismatic cells around. The American car manufactures aren't throwing their business to other American run companies.It's all about cost not the best quality, but I'm sure a good replacement can be found.

 

Swing, Do you know why your connector overheated? Can it still be used, or, is it ruined?

 

Hi Swing,
You will find that they both got hot. The problem is almost always in the female end and then the heat melts both sides.

The female end has some springiness designed into the wiping contacts. I have had even heavy duty cords with 12awg wire with poorly designed female contacts.

The problem is that the spring force is designed to put some force onto the wipe area during insertion. This force gives a positive contact and low contact resistance. If the contact resistance goes up even a little then that is the point of heating. That heat then anneals the female contact and you loose the spring force. Then it all gets worse.

You need to have a female contact that makes a bend and loops back a significant distance in order to have a robust spring force. But this costs money, so most molded plugs only have stamped flat parts for the wipe area.

Go buy a 20a rated female plug that you can open up and look at the way the spring force is done.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Also on the female end the wire that is close to the plug breaks. Its because of the plugging and unplugging of the cable and that stress combined with the cable bending down will cause the wires to break and cause a bad connection. This bad connection is hight resistance which causes heat. I had this issue.

Simple solution is to replace the female plug end on the cable. Check the connection during the middle or near the end of charge for heat every few months. When it starts getting hot just cut back the cable and replace the female connector.

An upgrade for the near future is to install an EVSE port. Few hundred dollars worth of parts and you have a better connector and something that's compatible with EVSE charging equipment. I plan on doing this in the next year or two.

 

This is where the Hymotion packs are currently being serviced/refurbished:

Sybesmas Electronics, Electronic Repair

Don't drive there, hoping for service, though. Service requires that the pack be removed from your car, and they don't do that.

So, you have to go to one of A123's "Green Chip" Toyota dealers, and those are dropping like flies.