Where can the OE main battery be bought for a decent price

Replacement hybrid battery pack prices used to be just barely under $2k, but not anymore... Good news is a far superior sodium-ion is available at saltyhybrid.com for $1900.

As for putting this much money into the car, consider that any new battery pack you buy can later be used in a different Prius or Prius V up to year 2015. It also gives you years to keep an eye out for a great price on a Prius that has a bad battery so your wife eventually gets a nicer newer Prius when the '08 gets the next bad thing wrong with it.

 

Start online to look for prices of the OEM hybrid battery. Look at dealerships that you are willing to drive to. Some dealerships do not give spare part prices online. In that case, you will need to call the dealership.

How long do you plan on keeping the car?

One option is to buy a complete hybrid battery assembly from a junkyard near you or at a place online like LKQ. I would seriously look hard at that option. The newer the battery, the better. Look at prices of a Gen 4 that had NiMh battery.

Another option is to buy a refurbished battery from places Greentech, Greenbean, etc.

 

Jkman was already screwed by the NexPower NexCell lithium battery. Do you think he would buy the Sodium-Ion battery from the same company that screwed him??? You can't be serious.

 

If OP was a customer previously he'll likely qualify for the out-of warranty replacement program and can get a pack for $1100.

What's more, sodium-Ion is a proven product for getting close to four years in cars on the road everyday all over the world with large scale vendor distribution via Greenbean/LKQ, Hybrid Geek, My New Battery and others. The factory is shipping 500 units a month with production continuing to rise and there's been no issues with reliability with Sodium-ion.

But if you want to live in the past regarding a discontinued products from 6 years ago I'll give you a ride in my daily driver, which has one of the first prototype packs from October 2020 and it still runs great.

 

The production version of the NexPower sodium-ion battery has only been available for sale for a little less than two years.

Can you please answer the question of why NexPower continued selling the Lithium-Ion version, knowing it had problems? When exactly did NexPower know there was a problem with it?

EDIT:

Are you saying that there have been zero warranty claims so far for the sodium-ion version since they were released for sale on July 4th, 2024?

We publicity didn't hear of any problems for the first two years of sale of the Lithium-Ion version either.

 

FWIW; you may be able to find an untouched OEM core, in a junk yard - so you don't eat the entire $1.3K core charge.

Good Luck....

 

Prototype Testing with Sodium-Ion cells in Prius began in late 2023 and those torture tested pack are still on the road... That was V1 currently at V3 with V4 coming out next year. The product is constantly being refined to build on existing reliability and performance.

As for Lithium-Ion, Nexpower has never sold those because they aren't safe.

As for LiFeP04 Nexpower did use those when company first started because they're a lower density and won't set the car on fire if they fail. Factory production of those packs was shut down as soon a generous full replacement warranty pushed the business to the brink of insolvency/shutting down.

 

I am pretty sure you can buy a Genuine OEM battery pack on the Toyota Parts direct from dealership site. The have 25% coupons every 3 months.

 

Priuscamper stands to make another commission. Simple as that.

 

For what it's worth. My friend has a 2012 Highlander Hybrid. I told him to go with Green Bean probably 5 years ago. I think he paid $1800 for a lifetime warranty and a $100 service charge for each battery swap. His first battery lasted 4 years. He is on his 2nd battery with no issues. I could be off on the trip charge but it's right around $100 for them to come out and swap the battery. I think he had to wait 3 weeks for them to source a battery. He's probably a year into the replacement battery.

 

I apologize to the OP for hijacking his thread.

In post #5 you wrote:

In post #8 you wrote:

Lets assume that late 2023 means November or December 2023. So the NexPower prototype sodium-ion battery has been tested for 2 years and 7 or 8 months. NOT the "close to four years" that you wrote in post #1. Details matter!

Yes you are correct. I should have written LiFePo4 battery instead of lithium-ion battery. Details matter! Jack referred to his battery as "Project Lithium".

Lithium-ion batteries are safe. They are used in cell phones, tablets, laptops, cars for many years. You just need a properly designed BMS.

 

You're wasting everyones time if you don't even understand the basics of the difference between high density Lithium-ion (produces its own oxygen in a fire) and low density LiFePo4, Sodium-Ion and NiMH.

To be clear Lithium-Ion is only safe if all cells are being monitored and the system shuts down if irregular data comes from a cell. If you don't have this monitoring and a cell goes bad a fire can start that will burn the whole car to the ground.

Whereas if LiFePo4, Sodium-Ion and NiMH has a bad cell it can cause the pack to fail with maybe some heat and some fumes & small amount of smoke but it won't burn the whole car to the ground. The original design of NiMH packs for Prius concluded that it didn't need to monitor every single cell and it would be safe enough to monitor cells in groups of 12. Likewise, Sodium-Ion and LiFePo4 can use this existing monitoring of cells in batches of 12 and it will be safe enough.

However, a hard lesson was learned that lead to the discontinuing of LiFePo4 cells because they are too sensitive to both high and low temperatures experienced in some vehicles, as well as sensitive to overcharging events when the OEM BMS system has signal processing errors that create an overcharging scenario. This is something NiMH and Sodium-Ion can handle but LiFePo4 and Lithium-Ion can't handle and will become damaged.

 

I haven't made a commission selling a pack since end of 2023... The business no longer sells to individuals and DIY because DIY people tend to do really dumb things that are huge time and money suck. These days you have to have a certified installer put your pack in or convince the owner that you're competent enough to be certified. The only reason I'm saying anything is because I personally believe in the products they sell and they've been the best thing that's happened to the overall performance of my Priuses since I first owned a Prius in 2012.

 

And yet, you and your twin were on here every day shouting down ANYONE who had anything negative to say about those batteries. EVERY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and you yell and scream about dealerships all the time. YOU are no differrent. Once a liar, always a liar. Wouldn't trust you if you told me the sky was blue.

 

look for a battery pack from a wrecked 2025 Mazda CX50. It uses 34 of the latest NiMH modules. (the hybrid drive was supplied by Toyota and is identical to the RAV 4 NiMH battery)
I've bought 3 of these packs over the last several weeks. All were less than $1k. One had 12k miles, one had 2k miles and one had 6k miles.
I also have a post in the gen 2 forum with some links for brand new ones from mazda. Seem to be a much better price than Toyota. (<1500) and the 6 extra modules could be kept or sold on ebay for $75 each or so.

 

In post #13 you wrote:

Why do you think that I don't know the difference between the battery chemistries? In post #12 I wrote:

Even Jack says lithium-ion, not LiFePo4, on his FAQ page on his website:
Q: no more lithium-ion? what happened to the Project Lithium ?

A: The lithium project failed due to lack of durability. Several methods were discovered that could accelerate the degradation of the lithium cell. These methods include:

1. Extreme heat and cold environment (over 140F, under 30F degree)

2. Keeping the gear in neutral for long periods, which drains the battery completely and damage the lithium cells.

3. Corrosion in the wire harness or a loose nut at the terminal, leading to an imbalance in voltage readings and triggering the computer to overcharge the battery in an attempt to balance the pack.

Maybe you should talk to Jack about correcting his webpage.


In post #13 you wrote:

I agree with what you wrote. That is why I wrote the following in post #12 before you made post #13.

 

Thanks for proving that you'll continue to argue even when there's nothing to argue about... You're literally going to nitpick your own stupidity so much that you're willing to engage in a circular argument with yourself rather than actually help OP, which is the purpose of this website. Putting you on my ignore list so I no longer have to have my time wasted by losers losing so hard when it comes to actually helping OP, which makes me want to puke all this awful you are back up on you! You're truly wretched and don't care about helping people only swinging your little teeny tiny cyber sword around.

 

I made post #3 to help the OP, just like you made post #2 to help the OP. My "nitpicking" started because you wrote inaccurate things in post #5 that I called out in post #6 and #12. I guess you do not like that I pointed out those inaccuracies. When someone writes something that is not accurate or that I disagree with, I will write about it. I made this post for the benefit of the other people reading this thread, since you will never see it because I am now on your ignore list.