Is there a wait time for Toyota Dealer HV batteries-How much are they now?

For many batteries in various products, the core is zero. This is laptops, lawnmowers, leafblowers, portable audio systems, and weed whackers.

It's interesting, what would be the economics if the core charge was equal to, or greater than, a new part? What if it was, say, $1,600.00 part with a $3,000.00 core charge?

 

Core charge is made so it is painful enough to get you to you return the core.
This helps keeps modules from getting dumped into the environment.

 

Exactly. It’s more about being able to say they are recycling the packs than anything else. If you actually dig in and find out what happens to the packs you will find they get melted down into lower scrap nickel. There is no current technology to recover any metals other than Nickel.

 

A Dorman pack, because it is brightly painted, is rarely if ever accepted as a valid core.

A refurbished pack, one with mismatched modules and all sorts of things going on inside is usually accepted. We have heard stories of dealers reading for serial number sequences and denying it. But you just drive across town and get your core back there.

While it is possible for some people to get the $1650 price on a new pack, more often than not you don't. Until you get to purchase one and have it loaded in your car, things can change. I've heard of some seriously shady stories by dealers. They were selling them for much more not long ago and people were OK with that. So a lower price can just mean more money for them, same charge to the customer. And most Prius owners don't read PriusChat so they get away with it all the time. The few honest dealers out there willing to actually sell the pack at the new lower Toyota MSRP are heros.