How can i install li-ion batterys on my prius

without that, how will we know if they will work long term?

 

There's specific load and voltage testing that can be done to extrapolate the life service of a battery cell. I remember one that was done on an early prototype Sodium cell after someone put 2 or 300k miles on it. I think there was a Youtube video of it. Pretty decent service life when compared against OEM Nickel.

 

why didn't that work for the lithium ion?

 

The same test? I'm pretty sure he did one of those similar tests on a Gen 2 Lithium pack that had 200k+ miles from a customer in Utah or Idaho who ran it into the ground and the results were still amazing. Also different chemistry obviously, different lifespan due to the energy density between the two. The analogy of a Sprinter versus a Marathon runner comes to mind when comparing Lithium/Sodium Ion packs, and Sodium= Marathon runner.

 

so it didn't work for the li-on, but will work for sodium

 

Is that a statement? Just a little research will answer any questions.

 

thanks, that's what I figured

 

That doesn't sound like a good faith question or debate. But I digress a bit. To answer from my knowledge, yes..it IS working for Sodium, better than any versions of NexPower, or other Chinese based Lithium models that are/were on the market that could have trouble if not installed correctly or when unknown unchecked corrosion is the culprit. To my knowledge, 3 large nationwide companies have vetted said Sodium Ion products available on the market and seen and also conducted their own independent product safety and road testing in order to qualify those statements of safety and reliability. It reminds me of the old "Firestone tires had a few blowouts and tread separations back in the late 90's, so they ALL must be bad even to this day based on a small amount of data sampled and media running with a story". Imagine if no entrepreneur that created a great useful product ever had any set backs or failed at least once? This is what drives greatness and incentive in creating something better, improved and greater.

 

agreed, but there must have been enough bad li=onstage that they had to stop honoring the warranty

 

NexPower never stopped "Honoring" the original warranty. In case you didn't know or weren't aware, their original warranty was 2 years with unlimited mileage. Most of the Lithium packs (that had the most clear issues) were purchased between 2021 and possibly Late 2022, so their actual warranties were up already well over 2 years ago. With that said, from what I understand from personal friends' testimonies who in the South and lots of humidity here, is that Jack still (pre Sodium rollout) was warrantying the V1-V2 Lithium's well after the 2 year period just to do people a solid and maintain his reputation as best as he could.

This practice became economically unfeasible at a certain point because he must have been bleeding investment capital and profit to fix design flaws and get customers fresh cells/whole packs under the original warranty during those times mentioned. Shortly thereafter I noticed he was already well into and likely done with a silent beta test on Sodium Ion and was about to roll these out to the public after the testing was done that Summer. His new "warranty" was (without debating the premise or reasoning) that customers IF still under the 2 year time frame on their V2 or 2.5 (maybe even V1 if they were needing it), would have to pay an "upgrade" fee to Sodium which would solve their problem. Come to find out after an email was answered that that fee was basically to cover Tariff/Air Shipping at the time when he had no inventory but every 2 weeks and the customer needed to expedite it to get their car running. This wasn't in my estimation any type of money grab or backtracking on a company warranty, it was the only thing he could do.

The free market when run by ethical people (who make/made) mistakes is what keeps this going and better products coming to market. If you still don't think NexPower's new success with the Sodium Ion is valid, that's up to you and whatever echo chamber you may stay in all day and rehash the past. I concur with the Firestone statement made earlier, that's a perfect example of this in action. I'd be more afraid of a company or entrepreneur that DIDN'T make any design mistakes in the beginning and corrected them. Course correction in this case worked solidly.

 

I remember watching this video (maybe last year or two ago) as well. I was astonished at how many miles the Gen 2 guy put on those Lithiums thinking, well, if they ran that long and hard with no issues and still have several years of life left based on the load testing that's your money's worth right there. Why even ask for more?

 

And how can one be sure that the new battery will be more reliable?

 

There has been a prototype or 3 (no failures 300k plus mileage) for at least 3 years being daily road tested. I think as much as the Lithiums got bad press here for verifiable reasons, I think if by now the Sodium Ion units were failing or catching fire you would 100% know about it given the past history of the company. I'm sure there are a few individuals here monitoring this VERY closely and would be posting something about it.

 

prototypes are one thing, and mass production another. how long have they been on the market?

 

Right, so if the prototypes (and I am sure you understand the terminology there) in multiple high daily usage cars that were getting abused and driven extremely hard made it 300k miles just think of how much more advanced and aligned the subsequent versions would be as they entered the public marketplace for consumption. The rollout of the public version was either 2023 or early 2024, maybe someone else can verify that. Do you have any idea how many packs have been sold in just 2026 alone? Again, would like to see anyone's data on any Sodium Ion failures at this point. I don't think outside the complete failure of installation by a shade tree mechanic you are going to find that.

 

The public release for sale of the NexPower Energy sodium-ion battery was July 4, 2024. See this linked thread, https://priuschat.com/index.php?posts/3462803

The first version available was the two-piece design, which used cylindrical sodium-ion cells. That design had problems and was discontinued (see this link https://priuschat.com/index.php?posts/3557893). The sodium-ion GT modules version became available in the fourth quarter of 2024.

 

Ok good 2024..so 2 years of flawless duty so far. Good to know. The 2 piece Cylindrical design was 1 of 2 Prototypes (blade style GT and non). The cylindrical version test model was one of those that had verified 300k courier mileage on it from my research. What verified problems with that version can you document with a link?