Ghost in the machine - the computer is lying

classic symptoms of a bad hybrid battery, not unexpected after 16 years.

you can try opening it up and cleaning any corrosion, but those old cells aren't long for this world

 

This is exactly what I had in my '09 when the battery was failing miserably . Replaced with a new battery and all that mess went away and don't know about all the computer versus MFD versus Android phone data have no idea didn't spend a lot of time testing The battery was close to 16 years old or whatever it was and in my mind time to get a new one We did and everything went away and that was the end of that didn't spend a lot of time mulling over it.

 

Doing a full charge and balance of the hybrid battery pack with a high voltage trickle charger is essential after an older Prius has been sitting for 10 days or more. Of course Toyota Stealerships are greedy and would rather rip you off for a small fortune for a new battery pack rather than ensure your pack stays as healthy as possible for as long as possible.

Maxx Volts and Hybrid Automotive sells these chargers but they are a bit expensive. Or you can make your own for a $100: Build Hybrid Battery Maintenance Gear For Under $100 | PriusChat

Of course this is just the first step to learning the proper care and feeding of your old battery pack... You may have to do some deep cycling several times to restore capacity in the cells and you may have to replace a module.

If you enjoy working on cars and learning how they work this may take some time, but very low cost.

If you don't work on cars then you need to throw a big chunk of money at it.

 

Don't be confused. When the car's HV control ECU makes the judgment of whether to announce a P0A80, it is looking at more data than just the voltage reading snapshots you are looking at. It's doing computations on things like the relationship between the voltage and the current, and the behavior of both over time. You can't really second-guess it by just looking at a screenful of voltage readings.

It's been saying P0A80, and you've been saying "hmm, based on my Torque Pro screenshots I don't think you really mean that", and it's been saying "no, really I do."

 

More to the point, when the hybrid back is only sending or receiving a small amount of amps the voltage in the Torque app look fine, but when you're sending a super big charge to the pack by braking hard on the freeway, or draining the pack by accelerating hard the weaker cells can't keep up and the "voltage difference" between blocks gets up over 1 volt and you get a red triangle.

In general Torque app is garbage and the PIDs you're using are outdated... Try Dr. Prius app instead... It gives real time graphical data of all blocks in an exaggerated way, as well as a "voltage difference" number in real time, as in much faster refresh rates than Torque app.

And what's great about Dr. Prius app is that all the revenue generated from it was reinvested into the creation of a lithium upgrade pack that you're likely going to end up using if you're committed to your Prius long into the future. Also if you purchase with my affiliate link when they're back in stock in June, I'll give you unlimited tech support: https://projectlithium.com/?ref=9qLPw

 

The mfd is only showing a graphical representation of total voltage. Almost any battery can show appropriate voltage after it had a charging voltage applied to it. The real test is how long can it hold the voltage under load. A bad battery discharges fast. The overall amp hour capacity of a worn battery is small.

Often a car with a weak hv battery can't stay in ev mode using ac at a stop light. The car can feel abnormally underpowered with a soc of 32.5% as in the last pic. Once it charges up again, it will feel normal but not for long.

Regardless of what the reconditioning guys say, a battery is a limited lifetime device. You have many batteries combined in series, so some eek out a little more time by replacing the weakest modules. Often again and again. New cells are the next best thing to a new engine. Sometimes better.

 

You could probably get an entertaining year or two of comparing readouts and clearing P0A80s on the side of the road, then swapping cells and balancing the pack on weekends.

If it were me, I'd look at the calendar and say "Gosh, 16 years was great, thanks battery pack!" then go get a new one.

 

Yeah usually one buys a battery gets it installed and then you never see them again online until the break accumulator. Or the battery starts to fail again or they get the dreaded catalytic converter code ...they're out of here.

 

You could probably get an entertaining year or two of comparing readouts and clearing P0A80s on the side of the road, then swapping cells and balancing the pack on weekends.

If it were me, I'd look at the calendar and say "Gosh, 16 years was great, thanks battery pack!" then go get a new one.

It will become difficult to buy gasoline before it becomes easy to buy electric cars.
Well said sir!

So I've been on PC for awhile and this is probably the best post I've read to date...ever.
Thanks for that! Content delivery tone and word count=amazing.

 

This guy has tens of thousands in lab grade testing equipment and sells the best replacement modules: https://2ndlifebattery.com/contact-us/

 

That's of course if you think the fossil fool industry is actually taking seriously all the promises their captured minions in government are making for the 2030-50's, but truth is they aren't... Oil productions subsidies are at record levels: Governments Spent Record $1 Trillion Subsidizing Fossil Fuels Last Year - Yale E360 because as always there's no consequences for corporations not telling the truth, as long as their ads make you feel like you aren't being lied to the truth doesn't matter.

 

the batteries typically last beyond the cars life expectancy. but for people who can never let go, yeah, that might be a problem

 

I sure hope the fossil fool industry is sending you paychecks to make false claims like this. I'm sure they'd be happy to pay you to promote this level of dishonesty.

Truth is even the most expensive Tesla replacement battery is under $20K... And I got a reference for that: https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/how-often-do-tesla-batteries-need-to-be-replaced

Where's your reference/link?

Also beyond the $60K claim... There was a lecture in Portland this weekend that I wish I could of attended:

"...economically dealing with retired EV batteries is an important topic. It is estimated that the first huge wave of EV battery retirement will hit in 2025, and more retired batteries will be available each year thereafter. On the other hand, renewable energy, such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind, also enjoy a high rate of penetration. To buffer the volatile nature of the energy output of renewable energy systems, battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are frequently incorporated to balance out the variability in power generation, efficiently manage the dynamics of demand and supply, mitigate the potential failure of the grid due to over generation, provide power during a power outage, and enable cost savings by shifting the peak use and reduce demand charge. However, the high cost of new batteries in renewable and grid storage systems is a major concern for potential home and business owners." https://ieee-sustech.org/program/keynotes/#mi

 

I think a little perspective on hv battery costs versus engines vs junking the car is worthwhile.

Back in 2008 my mid trim Prius cost $25k out the door but a hv battery back then was $4,500. About 18% if it failed. Which they rarely did in the first ten years. Today you can have new cells installed for $2,250, 50% of the new replacement costs from 15 years ago. Or you can diy for $1650 using Toyota cells. About a third of the original cost. An engine rebuilt by Toyota is typically $8k. I would rather replace the battery.

Even today we can buy a new EV for less than $45k. They don't have a transaxle or engine, and permanent magnet motors are essentially bulletproof. $15k-$20k for a battery ten or fifteen years from now sounds reasonable.

Tesla and Toyota will soon have their own battery factories which will drive the battery prices down at least 50% again. Of course they will be joined by China, Europe and the rest of the domestics who will build their own battery factories. Manufacturers design and build engines today and will do the same with batteries.

Most of a given model's production never make 200,000 miles before being retired. Only 1.2% of all cars are still on the road at 200k miles. Prius happens to be the front running car in this metric with 3.9% still on the road at 200,000.

There is little doubt electric cars will far exceed 3.9% at 200k and high mile evs will have saved their owners $20k or more in operating costs.

It does not mean engines and hybrids will go away. I will keep at least one of them but an ev is sure to be my 25k mile per year "commuter" (local vehicle) in the future. Probably when Toyota catches up.

Electrification is here to stay because it makes sense. Dollars and cents. People doubted Edison, Bell and Henry Ford. Edison electrified America when doubters could not see the vision or understand the technology. One Bell gave us the phone, another gave us the transistor. Ford made mass production viable while ensuring his workers made more than others and could buy a car. These people made America great before it was a meaningless slogan. We have been there for well over a century. Electric cars are just the next step. Who knows Musk, may join the list when our kids reflect on change fifty years from now as they rocket to China in two hours.