HYBRID SH​OP OF THE TRIAD

Here at HYBRID SHOP OF THE TRIAD, we have qualified and specially trained technicians who believe in offering our customers the opportunity to have their hybrid and electric cars serviced, reconditioned, and repaired to better quality standards and at better prices than the manufacturer's dealership shops. We offer (OEM) original equipment by the manufacturer parts, and we are proud to stand behind our labor and parts with a two year/ 24,000 mile warranty.

Our reconditioned batteries undergo a complete restoration process that goes beyond just replacing one or two modules. We only use THORNAUT NEW CELL AND RENEWED REPLACEMENT BATTERY packs that have been electrically and chemically balanced and road tested for optimal performance and durability. Our method of reconditioning can restore a hybrid battery to 95% of its total capacity when brand new. We have found that just replacing one module as described in the referenced article causes a high rate of hybrid battery failure in a very short period of time.

HYBRID SHOP OF THE TRIAD'S certified technicians have been professionally trained and use the most technologically advanced equipment to balance and restore your battery pack through reconditioning and / or NEW CELL replacement (if necessary due to damage, excessive corrosion or leakage, etc.) at a fraction of the Toyota dealer shop price.

Using the THORNAUT NEW CELL AND battery reconditioning service, we are able to reduce the carbon footprint caused by the manufacture of new batteries, reduce the amount of waste in our landfills by reconditioning and reusing the viable modules, and battery reconditioning costs our customers on average about one-fourth the manufacturer's price for replacing the battery pack at the local dealership.  

Why would I want to recondition my hybrid battery pack?

BY JOHN FULLER AUTO | HYBRID TECHNOLOGY

"...For a hybrid car owner, on the other hand, the battery is an integral (and complex) part of the vehicle's operation, equally as important (and expensive) as the transmission. In fact, it's not just one battery but an entire pack of battery modules. The battery pack in most hybrid cars provides at least some of the power needed to propel the vehicle forward -- it gives its power to the electric motor at lower speeds. Without the battery pack, drivers wouldn't be able to get the kind of fuel efficiency and low emissions hybrid cars aim for in the first place....

Currently, nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries are an expensive part of a hybrid car's makeup and cost about $3,000 to replace. But past rumors about faulty batteries in hybrid cars have turned out to be largely false. Most hybrid car manufacturers guarantee their batteries for the life of the car, which is typically between 80,000 to 100,000 miles..10 years, sometimes even longer. That means if anything actually does happens to the battery within the warranty period, the company will replace the battery for no extra charge.

If a hybrid car experiences a battery failure outside of that guarantee, however, the owner is on his or her own when it comes to battery replacement. But that replacement may not be necessary in every case. Toyota has developed a way to extend the life of the Prius battery beyond the company's guarantee by reconditioning. So, what is battery pack reconditioning, anyway, and how much does it cost?

...drivers have documented at least two 2001 Toyota Prius models, the earliest Prius model to hit North American roads, lasting for more than 200,000 miles (321,869 kilometers) without a battery pack replacement. That's more than twice the manufacturer's warranty period [source: HybridExperience.com].

In the rare case that a driver encounters a problem with the battery pack before the hybrid reaches 10 years or 100,000 miles Toyota will replace the pack with a brand-new one. Instead of scrapping the old pack, however, they hang on to it. This is because battery packs built for the Prius consist of 28 separate modules, and any problem in a battery pack is most likely due to one of those modules, not all of them.

Toyota also has a main recycling center that collects battery packs from scrap yards. So, although Toyota can't replace the battery pack when the warranty has run out on a Prius, it can recommend reconditioning the battery pack as a cheaper alternative to outright replacement. If anything goes wrong in a unit after 100,000 miles ..., Toyota can locate which one of the 28 modules is causing problems and replace that individual module. By harvesting from the older, recycled battery packs they've collected, technicians can find a matching module that has a similar chemistry and age as the other 27 modules and recondition the battery by replacing only the faulty module."

For more on this article, and links to more hybrid info, please visit

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/hybrid-technology/recondition-hybrid-battery-pack2.htm

Sources

• CostHelper.com. "How much does a car battery cost?" November 2006 (April 27, 2009) http://www.costhelper.com/cost/cars/car-battery.html
• Hybrid Car Review. "Recondition Your Hybrid Battery to Help it Last Longer." Sept. 24, 2007. (April 27, 2009) http://hybridreview.blogspot.com/2007/09/recondition-your-hybrid-battery-to-help.html
• HybridExperience.com. "Reliability." (April 27, 2009) http://hybridexperience.com/content/view/60/67/
• TheAutoChannel.com. "Toyota: Reconditioning Can Extend Hybrid Battery Life." (April 27, 2009) http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2007/09/23/063663.html