What happens when hybrid batteries die.
- Thread starter leeaspell
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Bought wife's prius with a bad cell in its hybrid battery. Tons of warning lights came on in the dash, including a big red triangle.
While the battery was bad, it still had enough oomph to start the gas engine, which ran all the time, and didn't shut down at stops. Car was much slower to get up to speed. Had no ABS, traction control, or air conditioning.
The car's diagnostics were very very good and could pin down which cell (technically a "module") was kaput. I disassembled the battery and replaced the module with a good condition used one from ebay. The battery control computer has wire probes that lead to each individual cell so it knows how things are going in there.
Car's had 25k since then and still gets 50 MPG in the summer.
How your Fusion will behave depends on its engineering, of course. My "other" prius, a shade junkier, ate one coil pack out of 4 and then shut down the gas engine vs running with it misfiring. I had 1/2 mile on the electric motor before it coasted to a stop, inconsolable.
While the battery was bad, it still had enough oomph to start the gas engine, which ran all the time, and didn't shut down at stops. Car was much slower to get up to speed. Had no ABS, traction control, or air conditioning.
The car's diagnostics were very very good and could pin down which cell (technically a "module") was kaput. I disassembled the battery and replaced the module with a good condition used one from ebay. The battery control computer has wire probes that lead to each individual cell so it knows how things are going in there.
Car's had 25k since then and still gets 50 MPG in the summer.
How your Fusion will behave depends on its engineering, of course. My "other" prius, a shade junkier, ate one coil pack out of 4 and then shut down the gas engine vs running with it misfiring. I had 1/2 mile on the electric motor before it coasted to a stop, inconsolable.
I randomly picked a 2010 Prius and looked up a replacement batter at Rock Auto. It was $1200 US after returning your core.
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If its been a good battery it goes to the big battery heaven in the sky.......just kidding....don't know!
They will still drive but be much weaker for most.
I had a customers civic hybrid I was doing the 100k service on. When I went for the test drive I thought I broke something as it was just awful slow. Slower than a 3cyl Geo Metro. Pulled codes and saw it had a dead hybrid battery.
So should still drive but may be a lot slower. Like dangerously slow.
I had a customers civic hybrid I was doing the 100k service on. When I went for the test drive I thought I broke something as it was just awful slow. Slower than a 3cyl Geo Metro. Pulled codes and saw it had a dead hybrid battery.
So should still drive but may be a lot slower. Like dangerously slow.
You could just pick up a used battery pack. They're around $500 plus shipping on eBay. On the Prius, there's a lot more DIY out there, some just replace the bad cells and it's not that much for a couple of cells so a repair is only a few hundred.
Prius discussion is pretty much useless since this is a Ford.
FWIW I have never sold a battery for a Fusion Hybrid. I have sold an Escape Hybrid battery but that was for one damaged in a collision. That one was around $12k 8-9 years ago.
Originally Posted by HangFire
Prius discussion is pretty much useless since this is a Ford.
Perhaps your opinion. I pointed out the batteries in hybrid cars can be replaced. The Ford in question will not need a new battery for 10 years . Does that make the discussion useless?
Prius discussion is pretty much useless since this is a Ford.
Perhaps your opinion. I pointed out the batteries in hybrid cars can be replaced. The Ford in question will not need a new battery for 10 years . Does that make the discussion useless?
Originally Posted by HangFire
Prius discussion is pretty much useless since this is a Ford.
The basic concept is about the same, just like talking about catalytic converters or O2 sensors.
It's probably too new for many to have gone bad which is why nobody is selling the cells separately on eBay. The Prius has been out long enough that people break up the battery pack and sell off the good modules so it'd probably be cheaper in the future than they are now.
Prius discussion is pretty much useless since this is a Ford.
The basic concept is about the same, just like talking about catalytic converters or O2 sensors.
It's probably too new for many to have gone bad which is why nobody is selling the cells separately on eBay. The Prius has been out long enough that people break up the battery pack and sell off the good modules so it'd probably be cheaper in the future than they are now.
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by jongies3
Best thing you can do when one goes bad is dump it and get a new car, they're stupid expensive once the batteries start having issues.
kind of like when your automatic tranny fails?
Some people treat it like a computer with a virus. Someone told me that when their computer was infected with a virus, they just threw the whole computer away rather than try fixing it.
Originally Posted by jongies3
Best thing you can do when one goes bad is dump it and get a new car, they're stupid expensive once the batteries start having issues.
kind of like when your automatic tranny fails?
Some people treat it like a computer with a virus. Someone told me that when their computer was infected with a virus, they just threw the whole computer away rather than try fixing it.
Just be sure to properly send the dead cell out for recycling. There are about 14 to 35 pounds of Cobalt in the average EV / Hybrid battery pack.
About 67~80 % of the world's Cobalt supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (aka DRC) ... actually basically just one Province of the DRC ... and you can't economically build an EV or Hybrid battery cell without that mineral, at least not today. It's a critical component of the safety factor in a Lithium cell; we can reduce the Cobalt and increase the Nickel content, but each increment makes the battery less stable and more prone to extreme temperature fires.So the going is slow.
It's the very existence of mineral weatlth that drives the armed conflicts and civil wars there (which have been ongoing, more or less, for decades, and for the same reasons), not to mention child labour (the Cobalt is a byproduct of Copper and Nickel mining, and children are often exploited to recover the Cobalt that ends up in the tailings of the Copper and Nickel mines) or the use of child soldiers (heard of the Lord's Army? Guess where they operate).
What, that wasn't in the brochure at the dealer? Funny that way.
The Cobalt in your EV battery pack is recyclable, so save a life and insure it gets to the recycler when you're done with it.
About 67~80 % of the world's Cobalt supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (aka DRC) ... actually basically just one Province of the DRC ... and you can't economically build an EV or Hybrid battery cell without that mineral, at least not today. It's a critical component of the safety factor in a Lithium cell; we can reduce the Cobalt and increase the Nickel content, but each increment makes the battery less stable and more prone to extreme temperature fires.So the going is slow.
It's the very existence of mineral weatlth that drives the armed conflicts and civil wars there (which have been ongoing, more or less, for decades, and for the same reasons), not to mention child labour (the Cobalt is a byproduct of Copper and Nickel mining, and children are often exploited to recover the Cobalt that ends up in the tailings of the Copper and Nickel mines) or the use of child soldiers (heard of the Lord's Army? Guess where they operate).
What, that wasn't in the brochure at the dealer? Funny that way.
The Cobalt in your EV battery pack is recyclable, so save a life and insure it gets to the recycler when you're done with it.
Johhny2Bad,
good thoughts.
Have been looking at what the battery recycling industry in Europe is doing...they are getting these metals out of the battery...the lithium becomes a concrete additive.
That's bonkers...there's not enough lithium to make the world of EVs first time over...then it's a one off shot.
good thoughts.
Have been looking at what the battery recycling industry in Europe is doing...they are getting these metals out of the battery...the lithium becomes a concrete additive.
That's bonkers...there's not enough lithium to make the world of EVs first time over...then it's a one off shot.
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
We have discussed … I'd probably drop $800 on a used one and then spend a few months looking for a replacement vehicle … even if it would default to ICE … that Atkinson cycle engine is not set up for low end performance …
And would need to find the best way to recycle the bad battery …
And would need to find the best way to recycle the bad battery …
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by jongies3
Best thing you can do when one goes bad is dump it and get a new car, they're stupid expensive once the batteries start having issues.
kind of like when your automatic tranny fails?
Some people treat it like a computer with a virus. Someone told me that when their computer was infected with a virus, they just threw the whole computer away rather than try fixing it.
a lot of mis-informed people as far as hybird cars. The batteries have been very reliable and not as expensive to replace as first feared.
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by jongies3
Best thing you can do when one goes bad is dump it and get a new car, they're stupid expensive once the batteries start having issues.
kind of like when your automatic tranny fails?
Some people treat it like a computer with a virus. Someone told me that when their computer was infected with a virus, they just threw the whole computer away rather than try fixing it.
a lot of mis-informed people as far as hybird cars. The batteries have been very reliable and not as expensive to replace as first feared.
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