Hybrid Battery replacements, anyone using aftermarket refurbished units
We have seen a huge uptick in Hybrid and EV battery service and are doing some electric conversions as well. Do any of you have experience with battery re-conditioners for the Nickel batteries or refurbished replacement batteries. I am not confident in the aftermarket batteries but at some point a company has to start doing a quality job. I would love to hear of your experiences.
We have used Greentec and had no problems. Greentecauto.com
I work at a The Hybrid Shop franchise and we see about a half a dozen bad greentecs every year. We do on average a battery every week, last month we happened to do 9.
I have never used Greentec as listed above. However, I have used others and have had nothing but problems. Oem seems to be the way to go especially with Toyota products. I guess it depends on how important being comeback free is to you. My shop is very small so a comeback is a major problem, especially on something labor consuming. You could certainly argue on taking a chance. The one thing is…
Thanks, that is the situation I am in. Above all I do not want a comeback, not just due to cost but more important to me is reputation.
We install a couple hybrid batteries a week. We have seen multiple in warranty failures of greentec, dorman, the local rebuilders, etc. With the age of all the used modules being what it is, I explain it to clients like this: "If a rebuilt battery was $500 it might be worth the gamble. The battery in your car made it 15 years right? Just spend the $2500 (our installed price) for a NEW TOYOTA…
Do you order the OEM batteries from dealer or another source?
To me posting a discussion about prices on a forum will just end up in a mess. Glad to talk about it you can email me … and I can tell you what we pay for what etc.
Where do you get you batteries from? When I look up a Toyota battery they list for 3650. and cost me 3300.. That was for a 2002. The 2013 Prius Two was 4000. @ a cost of 3500.
To me posting a discussion about prices on a forum will just end up in a mess. Glad to talk about it you can email me … and I can tell you what we pay for what etc.
Hi, I have quite a lot of experience with repair and reconditioning. We are never taught that these batteries need maintenance which is why we are really only getting half of the life out of them. When we recondition we free up more battery capacity hence more useable energy. Not all batteries are good candidates for reconditioning and some need replacement. But many can be reconditioned early…
What is your definition of "Reconditioning" and what is your procedure. Thank you.
Reconditioning is cycling the battery outside of its normal range to clear out memory loss. My cycle consists of 4 charges and 3 discharge cycles. I use the Prolong Thunderbolt Pro which also tests each module for integrity. They are fantastic machines.
My concern with this is that Toyota has now extended the warranty to 10 years and 150,000 miles on all their hybrids. Any conditioning process from what I know of voids the manufacturers warranty. I don't want to try to get Toyota to warranty a hybrid battery that has had the case taken apart to install a grid charger. I own the prolong chargers and essentially we just use them when the hybrid…
I agree with Travis 100%. If the price difference between brand new OE and reman was larger it would make more sense. A lot of people are attracted to the 3, 4 or even 5 years warranties the aftermarket rebuilders offer. If installed correctly a genuine Toyota pack will easily last 10 years. Offering your customer a 3 year warranty on a Toyota pack is pretty low risk.
True, a new pack will undoubtedly be a great fix but think of this. Why does the battery fail? If you could offer your customer a solution to their problem before it fails don’t you think that they would want it? Reconditioning is not a one and done deal you need to do it every 6 months which means you get to see repeated business every 6 months as those customers come in for a battery refresh…
I am the Director of the … Automotive Technology Program. We offer advanced classes on a range of subjects, including hybrid and electric vehicles. Students learn the methods of rebalancing high voltage battery systems. We use equipment through Future Tech Auto. You can find that equipment on the non-profit site - Advanced Vehicle Training Group NW…
What would one charge to do the maintenance? I am curious if the battery is being dismantled once to have an easy-access connector installed to mate with the maintenance charger, or is the battery being partially dismantled every time for maintenance? I completely agree with what you are saying on maintaining the battery to wipe memory by the way, I am just more curious on the return on…
It’s not a huge investments the thunderbolt pro is 8500 initially and you can charge your customers about $600 for the install of the harness and reconditioning process. It’s up to you how much you want to charge but I would work it like this. $595 for install and harness with free reconditioning every 6 months. This gives you time to check the customers car and do maintenance or upsell for…
Obviously your market research is based on large cities with high Prius population which might make your figures work if aggressively pushed. In smaller communities that we live in with low number of of hybrids, that is not quite feasible. "Doubling the expected life of the battery" is a claim that cannot be easily substantiated. Additionally when a battery come with a 10 year warranty from the…
I see your point but the thing is people find the option attractive even if they don’t end up keeping the vehicle that long. It’s just like getting unlimited data for your phone so we all need it? No, but we want the feeling of knowing we won’t ever go over. It’s practical enough to do in any area that has a hybrid gathering. It’s structuring your business to be able to take it On and show the…
As you will find on the avtgnw.org web site, needed equipment is more than a charger. HV battery testing includes battery stress testing. Then a Battery Discharge Unit to look at Power and Energy data, then a charger. You need to have a balanced battery at the end to last years ahead. You may want to connect with Joe at Second Life Battery.
The Hybrid Shop batteries seem to be doing great. We have very minimal defects and the warranty if I remember correctly is either 2 or 3 years.
Stick with OEM. Everything else is smoke and mirrors(despite claims to the contrary) The reconditioning spiel has been around for over 10 years. Ive yet to see it prove out consistently. OEM batteries on the other hand,consistently provide 7-10 years of life. Ive replaced at least a few hundred in my career and have never,not once, had an issue when the replacement was OEM.
About an hour ago I got a text from a customer that had a stop vehicle now hybrid system failure message on their 2012 Prius c out in the middle of nowhere in Oregon. I said go to Napa or AutoZone and get it scanned and I will help you figure out what we need to do. P0A80. "I had a rebuilt battery installed in Arizona 14 months ago" It's just not worth it. Keep on kicking the can down the…
Thanks for all the input!! I’ve been working on the Ferrari and Maserati platform the last 15 years and although they do have some Hybrid stuff I am still getting caught up on real world.
When those car companies start making hybrids there aren't going to be very many cars but I bet they're going to be a fucking basket case and super expensive to fix that sounds like a great market. If I wasn't a Toyota guy I would be gearing up for the Volkswagen Audi hybrids that are going to be coming. They're going to be such great cars for auto shop owners!
I played around with battery balance charger/tester and would test every cell individually and get the condition of each cell and then group the good ones together from different batteries to make one good one. It took a lot of time and then battery might only last for another year and maybe why so many rebuilds only have a year warranty. I found it best to stay from rebuilds and only go with…