Old Prius battery experiences
I've got an FEH with a big ol' NiMH battery that's about 2.5 years old and a EV drivetrain that has the guts of a Prius Type I. Since older Prius batteries are similar to mine, what are users experience with older, high-mileage batteries? Have drivers experienced a decline is performance/efficiency that's noticeable to the driver? (that is, without a multi-meter and bench experiments!)
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Re: Old Prius battery experiences
Originally Posted by FeelTheVolts
(Post 158121)
I've got an FEH with a big ol' NiMH battery that's about 2.5 years old and a EV drivetrain that has the guts of a Prius Type I. Since older Prius batteries are similar to mine, what are users experience with older, high-mileage batteries? Have drivers experienced a decline is performance/efficiency that's noticeable to the driver? (that is, without a multi-meter and bench experiments!)
JeffD |
Re: Old Prius battery experiences
I would recommend reading the Dept of Energy studies:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehicles...d_library.html What they found was after 160,000 miles, the Prius batteries had gone from 6.5 Ahr to 2.5 Ahr. Yet even with this decline in capacity, the vehicles were still getting nearly the same mileage at the end as at the beginning of the tests: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehicles...ife_test_1.pdf I've got four from another Prius salvage and they all measured 3.3 Ahr. This weekend, I'll pickup up a failed battery pack, two know failed cell assemblies, and will begin testing those cells. I'll also do a failure analysis of the two failed packs. Bob Wilson |
Re: Old Prius battery experiences
What have you done with your "pile" of Prius Hybrid Batteries? Are you going to rig two of them together in your vehicle in an attempt to get longer EV?:lightbulb
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Re: Old Prius battery experiences
Following example shows 349,531 Miles with the original HV battery.
http://john1701a.com/prius/owners/jesse4.htm Ken@Japan |
Re: Old Prius battery experiences
Originally Posted by Billyk
(Post 163587)
What have you done with your "pile" of Prius Hybrid Batteries? Are you going to rig two of them together in your vehicle in an attempt to get longer EV?
http://hiwaay.net/%7Ebzwilson/prius/pri_batt_300.jpg This chart shows the effect of replacing the lost water from two NHW11 battery modules and successive discharge-charge cycles. As you can see, I'm taking used battery modules at 2.2 Ahr and with water replacement and reconditioning discharge-charge cycles bringing their capacity up to a little over 6.5 Ahr. Here are few more photos showing some of what I'm doing: http://hiwaay.net/%7Ebzwilson/prius/pri_batt_260.jpg http://hiwaay.net/%7Ebzwilson/prius/pri_batt_250.jpg http://hiwaay.net/%7Ebzwilson/prius/pri_batt_240.jpg http://hiwaay.net/%7Ebzwilson/prius/pri_batt_200.jpg My thinking is if we can refurbish our worn out battery modules for $5 in parts and water, for ~$200 plus labor, we'll be able to significantly extend the life of our hybrids. It looks like about $100-300 in special tools and a well written instruction manual, any reasonably skilled, 'do it yourself' mechanic can refurbish their own 2001-03 Prius battery. Best of all, this approach puts a permanent service plug in each battery module so annual or bi-annual water replacement will keep these batteries running until the wheels fall off. BTW, the battery recharger, if done right, can also work as a plug-in lite. What this means is in the evening, the 2001-03 battery can be safely tickle-charged to 80% SOC and at the same time, the health and status of the individual modules checked. This will give the owner-operator a 'boost' during the next day's warm-up and an early indication of marginal modules. So what'ca think? Right priorities? Did I mention I have one NHW20 battery module and it looks like a well designed system will also work for the 2004-current Prius. Bob Wilson |
Re: Old Prius battery experiences
Plug in lite? Poor Mans plug in? Wow! We want to learn more. Keep us updated.
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Re: Old Prius battery experiences
Originally Posted by bwilson4web
(Post 163598)
Right now my interest is in module refurbishment...
...My thinking is if we can refurbish our worn out battery modules for $5 in parts and water, for ~$200 plus labor, we'll be able to significantly extend the life of our hybrids. It looks like about $100-300 in special tools and a well written instruction manual, any reasonably skilled, 'do it yourself' mechanic can refurbish their own 2001-03 Prius battery. Best of all, this approach puts a permanent service plug in each battery module so annual or bi-annual water replacement will keep these batteries running until the wheels fall off. BTW, the battery recharger, if done right, can also work as a plug-in lite. What this means is in the evening, the 2001-03 battery can be safely tickle-charged to 80% SOC and at the same time, the health and status of the individual modules checked. This will give the owner-operator a 'boost' during the next day's warm-up and an early indication of marginal modules. So what'ca think? Right priorities? ... ...Bob Wilson Bob, are you thinking entry here -- have you worked on supply chain, markets and venture capital? ... want to? |
Re: Old Prius battery experiences
Hi folks,
There are still a lot of puzzles to figure out before we go too far on this. Also, my guide has been a number of patents that need to be acknowledged and terms worked out. But these preliminary experiments are promising. Some of the challenges that remain:
FYI, the "plug-in lite" works on the principle that there is a maximum charge that would cause the control computer to see the traction battery as "at 80%." This means the control laws would try to use that extra charge to bring the battery closer to 60% and hopefully, do this by doing more EV and less ICE assisted warm-up. The nice thing is we are simply using the reserve capacity already in the battery so we start off each day with a peak charge. Done correctly, the "plug-in lite" charger also monitors the health and status of each module during the 'top off' charge. It might also do some battery temperature management to try and keep the battery pack "not too cold" and "not too hot." Interesting stuff. Bob Wilson |
Re: Old Prius battery experiences
Great work on the battery refurbishing.
Any progress on the failure analysis of the failed battery? Thanks Andrew |
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