Toyota Buys up all the old Prius Batteries?

[Puppyjump]

I heard a blurb on the radio today that Toyota buys old Prius batteries for $200.

Anyone know details?

Singularly they are too weak to make an effective EV, but several of them combined, bought from junkyards, might make an effective pack.

$200 seems pretty cheap, though, so it may be possible to buy the batteries at a higher cost if the junkyard won't sell them to Toyota for $200.

 

[dogman dan]

No doubt, Toyota doesn't want to get blamed if they end up in a landfill, so they buy em back to recycle, and possibly to study them too.

 

[rkosiorek]

i doubt if Toyota ever sees them. at junkyards the packs go for $600 to $900 each. on ebay they sell for $500 or so.

individual cells go for about 50 bucks a piece.

you would have to be very "special" indeed to sell one to Toyota for only $200.00

rick

 

[swbluto]

i doubt if Toyota ever sees them. at junkyards the packs go for $600 to $900 each. on ebay they sell for $500 or so.

individual cells go for about 50 bucks a piece.

you would have to be very "special" indeed to sell one to Toyota for only $200.00

rick

Or uninformed. If I was an ordinary car consumer, if my battery went "belly up", the first thing I probably wouldn't think is... "This is sellable because it's broken!". And through ignorance of batteries and the battery market(Which, hey, would I be shopping in the battery market being an ordinary car consumer?), it'd be easy to see why an offer for money from Toyota might seem appealing. Give it to the recycling plant and pay some unknown fee to have it recycled or get paid by Toyota? The choice is clear. :wink:

 

[dnmun]

hybrid cars are in junkyards because they were wrecked, not because the battery is dead.

there are also battery packs from the GM hybrid trucks and from the ford hybrid too, as well as toyota and honda. they all get wrecked.

 

[swbluto]

hybrid cars are in junkyards because they were wrecked, not because the battery is dead.

there are also battery packs from the GM hybrid trucks and from the ford hybrid too, as well as toyota and honda. they all get wrecked.

Toyota buys old Prius batteries for $200.

When he mentions "old Prius batteries", I don't automatically jump to the inference of batteries in a junkyard from crashes, I tend to think of original Prius owners who've had their car for some time and the batteries have degraded in capacity.

 

[knightmb]

hybrid cars are in junkyards because they were wrecked, not because the battery is dead.

there are also battery packs from the GM hybrid trucks and from the ford hybrid too, as well as toyota and honda. they all get wrecked.

Toyota buys old Prius batteries for $200.

When he mentions "old Prius batteries", I don't automatically jump to the inference of batteries in a junkyard from crashes, I tend to think of original Prius owners who've had their car for some time and the batteries have degraded in capacity.

That's what I was thinking too. The Prius came out worldwide in 2001, so if you bought it that long ago, the batteries would be near the end of the 10 year life? I can't remember how long the battery pack was quoted to last, will have to dig around for it.

The next 2010 model Prius is suppose to start using the lithium-ion batteries in a plug-in hybrid model, but we'll see if Toyota actually delivers on that. If they do, expect the membership here to triple in size, LOL.

 

[dnmun]

my point was and is that cars in junkyards are there because they are wrecked. nobody would junk a prius because the batteries wore out. that's not junkyard fodder.

from the DOD profiles, i doubt if they wear out so quick, even though i think the honda batteries rarely lasted through 150k miles but that was a different system.

this would be interesting to follow, maybe if there is enuff demand someone will provide a replacement pack to compete with toyota parts. or rebuild kits with new cells.

that's why i was thinking the GM Yukon/silverado hybrid pack may be more available. nowhere else for the junkyard to sell it because the category of user is so different, jmho. likewise with the ford hybrid. the saturns have a problem with leakers and are all in recall i think. maybe the replacements would be a good bet from a junkyard.

 

[swbluto]

my point was and is that cars in junkyards are there because they are wrecked. nobody would junk a prius because the batteries wore out. that's not junkyard fodder.

Genius.

 

[dnmun]

bluto, not sure why you think you need to take cheap asshole shots at me, but i have been in junkyards a lot, and never saw an unwrecked car. maybe you have some experience that way from recycling used parts off dead cars in junkyards, but i sincerely doubt it.

so if you could just make your point about how the batteries in a junkyard are defective because they are there, i would be glad to listen, but insults don't make a logical argument.

 

[swbluto]

I've just noticed a lot of your observations in this thread are pretty self-evident - Yeah, I expect junked cars in junk yards thus wrecked cars. If you want to call observations of reality as markings of an asshole, so than I may be marked.

Anyways, I really shouldn't bother with trivialities like this. Sorry if it feels I bothered you. I'll just be sure to ignore any seemingly redundant and/or irrelevant statements and/or sufficiently tangential mentions in the future.

 

[dnmun]

well sure, it might seem irrelevant to you, and anyone could point out your ignorance of physics in your statements too, but how does that help make this a better place? so i avoid that myself. grow up.

 

[swbluto]

Is this what I get to forget when I grow as old as you?