dorman remanufactured hybrid battery packs

[davidbr13]

just read about this in the rock auto newsletter. I have no experience with these, and they seem to be a new product, but thought it could be useful to some on this forum. Its the first article.

RockAuto November Newsletter

[mort]

from green car reports (Aug 1, 2012)

Toyota MSRP: 2009-present Toyota Prius (3rd generation) - $3,939 minus $1,350 "core credit" ... a 3rd-generation Prius battery pack has labor of 1.6 hours.

$3939 new vs $2451.79 remanufactured.

-mort

[Daox]

Your quote says 3939 minus 1350, so $2589 new vs $2484 remanufactured?

Its not like Prius' trash their packs like the Hondas anyways... It doesn't look like rockauto has anything for a first gen insight.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by Daox

Your quote says 3939 minus 1350, so $2589 new vs $2484 remanufactured?

I think the core credit on the reman takes it down to $1368, so its about $1000 less (after shipping both ways). Also, the Gen2 is $3,649 from Toyota according to that site (Gen2 is '04-'09), so the difference is even less.

I would like to refurbish my own pack if/when the time comes, but its nice to know that I could place it for about $1500 if I don't have the time.

[mort]

Originally Posted by Daox

Your quote says 3939 minus 1350, so $2589 new vs $2484 remanufactured?(

Huh?
Why not include the $1083 core returned by RockAuto too?
$1368 remanufactured vs $2589 from Toyota.
-mort

[sheepdog 44]

I find it disappointing that hybrid car batteries are still so expensive. They're at over $1,000 a kwh, when lithium cells can be had for half that. For the same price as a new pack from Toyota, you could get about 5kwh of lithium cells.

[user removed]

Having read about failures in remanufactured packs, I remember the projected 30 year life expectancy when the packs were new. Obviously that was fiction unless you consider the claim was probably under some "ideal" conditions which will never be the case in reality.

If it came to refurbishing your own or paying someone else to refurbish their own, it would seem like the solution would be to source new batteries, but then the price would probably be astronomical, or have the equipment ot refurbish them yourself and own that equipment as a community pool to minimize the personal cost.

regards
Mech

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by sheepdog 44

I find it disappointing that hybrid car batteries are still so expensive. They're at over $1,000 a kwh, when lithium cells can be had for half that. For the same price as a new pack from Toyota, you could get about 5kwh of lithium cells.

But when you are buying a Prius battery pack you are not just buying the cells, you are buying all of the plugs (refurbished have upgraded parts) and other electronics that are in there, you are also paying for the labor to have a skilled person pull the metal case apart, trouble shoot and remove and replace the guts then test it all.