Lithium battery upgrade for older hybrid vehicles

[spiderbypass]

I have a 2012 Toyota Prius V that purchased about 18 months ago with about 165000 miles from a truly excellent owner with regards to maintenance. I drive at least 130 miles daily and currently have 225000 miles on the vehicle… I began looking around at different hybrid battery options for potential replacement and ran across this website…

Toyota hybrid battery upgrade pack

Upgrade Toyota Lexus hybrid NiMH battery with Nexcell Lithium battery pack

projectlithium.com

The pricing of these new lithium batteries is on par for refurbished hybrid batteries and about 1200 dollars cheaper give or take for a new nickel metal battery replacement.,. I am curious about people’s thoughts or impressions of this option or have any experience with this extremely new company relatively speaking… also-I did ask a few mechanics who reportedly specialize in hybrid vehicles and the small sample size I contacted would only replace a hybrid battery from there resources or directly from Toyota… I would wonder how to go about asking or finding a mechanic to perform this installation… a preemptive thank you for anyone who has thoughts and opinions on this matter.

 

[RhondaHonda]

That seems pretty reasonable. Is your current battery bearing its end of life?

 

[Rmay635703]

Did you ask on priuschat where those are being hawked by the reseller?

 

[spiderbypass]

Did you ask on priuschat where those are being hawked by the reseller?

They are situated in California so would require shipping to house. Mostly positive reviews from Prius chats… main dilemma is finding place to install it… other more conservative option is going to place greentec batteries that has a fairly local garage and they install a new nickel metal hybrid battery-battery is 2600 or so but not sure how much installation would be for it. Again-Bought this vehicle for 6000 and while it has 225000 miles-it has been well cared for and would like to try different type of battery which seems like has overall benefits compared to nickel metal replacements…if they were local and had installation shop would just go for it-but the process of having something shipped from such a distance reportedly takes about ten days after putting order in-then what it needs something else-don’t like the long distance thing and was hoping someone may have had experience on here with the company…

 

[GrumpyCat]

My concern is how NiMH requires a different charging strategy than lithium.

OTOH the Japanese and European V had lithium direct from Toyota. I'd be curious as to what else changed to facilitate that.

 

[nthach]

My concern is how NiMH requires a different charging strategy than lithium.

OTOH the Japanese and European V had lithium direct from Toyota. I'd be curious as to what else changed to facilitate that.

There’s an ECU in the HV battery assembly. The drop-in Project Lithium uses the existing battery ECU.

 

[Snagglefoot]

One testimonial said he can now get 3 miles in the EV mode. The batteries in the Prius are mainly for storing energy from braking and for accelerating from a stop.
For that you only need a small amount of battery capacity, so the cost would have to be low to consider a conversion. I guess the old batteries are less capable for storing a charge but the question is, will a $2000 plus investment in a new battery recoup the money in better gas mileage on a old Prius? What gas mileage do you get in the city right now and what gas mileage will you get if you invest in the new battery.

 

[simple_gifts]

it has been well cared for and would like to try different type of battery which seems like has overall benefits compared to nickel metal replacements…

Keep in mind Toyota still uses nickel batteries in the AWD version with the assumption that they perform better in colder climates where AWD purchasers would live Not sure if this is true for the 2023 prius

 

[spiderbypass]

I did contact the more practical option today-place called Greentecauto.com. They offer new reportedly improved nickel metal hybride battery for 2550 plus 150 for installation… Did ask them if they would install the lithium option and unsurprisingly they said no.. although they were aware of the company that I mentioned to them…I think if I was mechanically inclined and/or knew a trusted mechanic-which can still look for-that would be willing to put the lithium battery in-then would consider even more… I also think need to get a ballpark estimate of battery capacity left now… I have only owned the vehicle for less than two years so it is difficult to detect differences with vehicle now like could if owned it a longer time. That being said-the Prius V is a slow vehicle-so not sure if could even detect noticeable difference.. I have taken a good hit last few months on gas mileage was getting 37-38 consistently and now it is realistically around 31-32… the tricky thing is I do feel the new Michelin Cross Climate-2 tires have negatively impacted gas mileage as well. I think with a vehicle that is underpowered-the rolling resistance of the tire has greater impact compared to vehicles with higher horsepower or even a TDI gold I owned previously which gave consistent gas mileage throughout the 250 thousand miles regardless of tires in the vehicle.

 

[GrumpyCat]

There’s an ECU in the HV battery assembly. The drop-in Project Lithium uses the existing battery ECU.

So what do they do to get all the claimed benefits of lithium but the car doesn't know it is not NiMH?

Something smells here. Get a NiMH battery, don't go trying to change things that are not broken.

 

[nthach]

So what do they do to get all the claimed benefits of lithium but the car doesn't know it is not NiMH?

Something smells here. Get a NiMH battery, don't go trying to change things that are not broken.

That I don’t know. The Nexcell Li-Ion “blades”, uses pouch cells and there’s a BMS in each module.

There’s reports of premature failures on PriusChat and Project Lithium/Dr. Prius offers a reconditioning service. It doesn’t look as easy as using a RC car charger on the factory NiMH modules.

The “improved” new NiMH as well as the cylindrical ones are also from Nexcell, Chinese made of course.

When people were modding the Gen 2 Prii to be “plug-ins”, Hymotion battery packs and chargers were used. Hymotions was a product of Enerdel, now A123 Systems and they had a moderately high failure rate as they got older. Hybrid/battery-electric buses are using A123 batteries(if not BYD, Saft or Panasonic) and they also have issues.

 

[97prizm]

I have a 2012 Toyota Prius V that purchased about 18 months ago with about 165000 miles from a truly excellent owner with regards to maintenance. I drive at least 130 miles daily and currently have 225000 miles on the vehicle… I began looking around at different hybrid battery options for potential replacement and ran across this website…

Toyota hybrid battery upgrade pack

Upgrade Toyota Lexus hybrid NiMH battery with Nexcell Lithium battery pack

projectlithium.com

The pricing of these new lithium batteries is on par for refurbished hybrid batteries and about 1200 dollars cheaper give or take for a new nickel metal battery replacement.,. I am curious about people’s thoughts or impressions of this option or have any experience with this extremely new company relatively speaking… also-I did ask a few mechanics who reportedly specialize in hybrid vehicles and the small sample size I contacted would only replace a hybrid battery from there resources or directly from Toyota… I would wonder how to go about asking or finding a mechanic to perform this installation… a preemptive thank you for anyone who has thoughts and opinions on this matter.

There is a guy in boulder Colorado who specializes in this sort of thing. He's been repairing and replacing bad hybrid batteries for years. I'd look at a specialist. They should be able to give you some informed feedback.

 

[zzyzzx]

I would wonder how to go about asking or finding a mechanic to perform this installation…

Is YouTube broken? I would think that this is an easy enough to DIY.

 

[carviewsonic]

My daughter drives a 2011 Honda CRZ hybrid which has a nickel metal battery. I would only replace with an OEM spec nickel metal battery if the original ever fails. The required charging and usage strategies could be a lot different for a lithium battery. I wouldn't want to mess with that, e.g. possible lithium battery fire or damage to other expensive components. I don't know enough about hybrids to start modding hybrid components.

 

[spiderbypass]

There is a guy in boulder Colorado who specializes in this sort of thing. He's been repairing and replacing bad hybrid batteries for years. I'd look at a specialist. They should be able to give you some informed feedback.

That has been an initial dilemma as the few mechanics that I have contacted who actively advertise as specialists in hybrid batteries-have thus far either supplied their own batteries like greentecauto.com and others have their own sources of batteries.. Have asked about 8 different mechanics and all have said a solid no with regards to installing the project lithium battery…and of course the more people say no-I am having project lithium battery dreams lol and want it more and more…

 

[spiderbypass]

Is YouTube broken? I would think that this is an easy enough to DIY.

A philosopher named Harry Callahan once said “a man’s got to know his limitations.”