Toyota Prius - Project Lithium Hybrid Battery Conversion - First 500 Miles

Link to buy a Nexcell (Project Lithium) Pack for your Toyota Hybrid: projectlithium...
In this video I discuss my initial impressions of the Nexcell Lithium Hybrid Battery Pack that I recently installed in my 2010 prius. I also run the Lithium pack through two tests as well as look at my real world efficiency increase.
As a disclaimer and full disclosure, I did receive this pack at a discounted price to conduct this review.
Link to EV range test: • Prius Gen4 EV range te...

[@HEVTech1]

Hi everyone! Project Lithium JUST received a new shipment of battery packs and is now (10/17 @8pm CST) IN STOCK for the Gen 3 Prius. They have been out of stock for the past few weeks as they have been in high demand. If you are interested in one of these Lithium Packs, you can place your order here - projectlithium.com/products/prius-lithium-replacement-pack/?ref=3OGx2

[@yi-lingchien3908]

Just ordered, can’t wait to receive my pack!

[@hedgehogthesonic3181]

@@yi-lingchien3908 Did you received it? how it went if you did?

[@frodiesel0]

Too bad they don't make one for my two camry hybrids!!! Love your videos keep it up.

[@guywhoknows]

You won't be pulling 21kw from a 1.2kw battery. The nmhi is a 6 amp (peaked) battery most around 4.5ah. The Lith packs are 35 amps... The computer runs them between 80 and 30% as well hence the results.

[@ericpowers7704]

Nice to see these tests. Especially with the accompanying data. Great job. In the video the test compares an 11 year old Nickel battery with 96,000 miles on against a New lithium battery with 0 miles on it. Any chance you can get a New nickel OEM pack to use as a comparison? The video definitely shows that the New battery is better than the Used battery. But a more apples to apples comparison would be a New lithium battery compared to a New nickel battery. Good to know a New lithum battery is better than an 11 year old nickel battery. But inquiring minds want to know how it compares to a New OEM nickel battery. 🙂

[@gustavosiblesz5881]

X2

[@marktaylor8315]

X4. This is what I came here to say. I'd like to see a comparison with a new NiMh pack, and a long term test to see how the Lithiums are doing after a couple of years.

[@ericpowers7704]

@@marktaylor8315 I know the company has been testing them for a while now. I image they have some longer term test data. Looking forward to seeing what they can share.

[@Chemike21]

exactly what I was about to point out.

[@da_Luv_U]

Really the only advantage is being able to drive longer using the electric motor

[@sqttube]

Please do a Toyota Lithium vs Toyota NiMH on the newest NON plugin Prius. Thank you so much for what you do for the community.

[@fashizzlemanizzle4808]

That’s exactly what this is….. the Prius he drives isn’t a plug-in electric, it’s a hybrid with a battery pack.

[@BillyBob-fd5ht]

put a heater pad for winter

[@Chemike21]

I avg about 55 mpg just on the regular nimh bat. I have 50 psi in my tires though.

[@albert15986]

how old is your battery? and have you done any battery conditioning/Balancing?

[@Chemike21]

@@albert15986 idk how old the bat is. I'm assuming it's the original. I bought the car with 200k miles already on it. It's at 283k now, running strong. The mpgs go down with temp changes. Also I found that tire pressure makes a big difference.

[@808zhu]

Did you consider cleaning off the terminals and bus bars and running a battery performance test on the old NiMH? I'd be curious to see a before and after on the Dr. Prius app.

[@marktaylor8315]

If the bars are undisturbed then cleaning would make very little difference, probably immeasurably small. The current conduction surfaces are not oxidized very much at all.

[@hedgehogthesonic3181]

The Prius can still charge it? what about battery different chemistry?

[@HEVTech1]

The nominal voltage and overall specs of the lithium pack fall within the parameters of the hybrid battery ECU so no codes are thrown. The only difference the car or driver see are the advantages of the LIFEPO4 chemistry.

[@hedgehogthesonic3181]

@@HEVTech1 I see, that's really good. Also may i ask you how is your Prius doing since you replaced the batteries with the LIFEPO4 ones? how many miles has it traveled since?

[@HEVTech1]

@@hedgehogthesonic3181 when I filmed this video I had about 500 miles on the pack. Seeing about a 12% increase in mpg which has been awesome. I'm planning to do some math for what that will mean to the longevity of the engine in a future video.

[@hedgehogthesonic3181]

@@HEVTech1 I see, that's quite a significant increase. So, is the new pack still working fine?

[@HEVTech1]

@@hedgehogthesonic3181 working great so far. I'll continue to post updates every month or so.

[@gustavosiblesz5881]

How much kWh is the project lithium battery pack? i cant seem to find that. I know the stock one is like 1.3 kWh. I know it can be calculated. But not sure how.

[@HEVTech1]

In the unboxing video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJjbc4qtj61_ldk you can see that one module is 105.6Wh x 14 total modules = 1.478kWh.

[@JerryZheng-yl2jg]

Hi mate. I have an Toyota Estima (Previa) Hybrid 2009 which has two different votages for the battery cells. Would you mind to let me know how to convert it to lithium please?

[@yosixxx]

I get 55 in my camry hybrid with the lithium battery. That's with 80% highway driving.

[@byroncasignia8465]

Congratulations, which year is your camry?

[@yosixxx]

@@byroncasignia8465 2018

[@byroncasignia8465]

@@yosixxx and can you tell what was your mpg before? Thanks

[@hoonetic]

Hey guys! Any updates on how the Lithium battery packs are doing after driving through Winter?

[@HEVTech1]

Video upcoming - just waiting until I get to the 5k mile marker. Initial observations are good 🙂

[@eduardomatos8405]

Can this battery become dangerous if I go down a long hill that charges the battery? I live in tropical weather, so temperatures are always around 80-90 degrees F. It's my only concern. Does it improve acceleration in any way?

[@russelld5838]

Being that's it's now the end of February, how has this handled the cold winter? Being from Wisconsin this is something I think about too.

[@chasintn]

I’m just curious why there hasn’t been any updates on progress and no new videos on this upgrade since 10/17/21?

[@HEVTech1]

Just posted a 6000 mile update. I wanted to get through winter and a sizeable number of miles. I also admittedly didn't have the free time to shoot an update. Thanks for watching!

[@akashvanvaria2009]

Please make a comparison video for different driving modes

[@808zhu]

Thanks for the thorough rundown. 👍

[@Moto7357]

I am assuming that the NIHM battery is old and the lithium is new. Does that affect the results of this test? In other words, if it was a new NIHM battery with its results be better?

[@Belktronix]

did you do the cell swap yourself? or complete pack swap?

[@HEVTech1]

The pack I purchased from projectlithium.com/?ref=3OGx2 and it was a complete swap with the NiMH pack

[@saleemafzal614]

Hi, In addition to of my earlier comment both battery chemistries need different charging modes of charging like CC and CV mode. How car computer manages it , as the existing Battery ECU is made for NiMH type batteries. Li batteries are charged in CC Mode till it reached 80% of SOC and then put on CV mode till it reaches full charge.

[@prawnstar502]

why isnt dielectric grease used on the connections to prevent rust?!?

[@danielbaik7455]

Thank you for very infomative video. I live in Chicago and i am worry about cold weather with lithium battery. Do you think it is good with Minus F degree?

[@gregdrmax]

Be interesting to see a report with a “new” nickel pack🤷

[@kevinhughes9801]

Good job thanks for sharing

[@HEVTech1]

Thanks for watching!

[@joseramonherreramendoza9260]

Looking much to see how it behaves in hot weathers over time... but is i can see in the sticker label in the modules it saying Lithium Ion instead of Lithium Iron phosfate ☝️🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@HEVTech1]

The project lithium website is consistent in calling out LIFEPO4 as the chemistry used. I honestly think it was mislabeled.

[@saleemafzal614]

Hi, I have one question, what % of SOC and SOD for Lithium Battery is kept by car system computer. Say for NiMH if it is kept between 30-70% ( Kindly correct it if it is not correct ), as Lithium has different voltages so how come the car computer readjust the both states. As per you data kindly show the difference between SOC and SOD for both type of batteries. Or there is some manual adjustment ( Based on Battery voltage ) which one can adjust based on type of batteries. Your early reply will be appreciated.

[@ByteFilm]

It keeps the SOC between 40-60% at least on my 2006 Lexus

[@riceburner4747]

Heating system isnt the same as gen4's. We have cooling lines going to our cats. Granted, if it's sub zero out as long as u run ur heater, its drawing from ur battery causing heat along w/heating ur interior, would that help?

[@HEVTech1]

I wasn't aware the Gen 4s had a significantly different cooling system. The heat to the cabin in the Gen 3s comes from the engine coolant. I suspect that if I keep the cabin nice and warm in the winter the pack will stay within normal temp ranges but we will see. That is the only suspected advantage of the NiMH chemistry with the Prius - I am excited to test it soon.

[@sqttube]

Great result with the LFP battery. But that is no surprise as lithium is head and shoulder better than NiMH. While this aftermarket LFP is great, it's also far from perfect because of the lack of balancing.

[@HEVTech1]

Module balancing is automatically done as regenerative braking is used. Each module has a BMS inside that assists in keeping the modules' voltages in check.

[@sqttube]

@@HEVTech1 Only balancing within each module, NOT across modules.

[@HEVTech1]

@@sqttube correct though that isn't something the NiMH battery ever did either.

[@marcofreitas5321]

Looks nice. Let's see what mpg you can get from it ! Also, if you notice a better acceleration, but being a Toyota hybrid you can't expect too much on EV mode, except if it's a 2021 Yaris hybrid for example.

[@HEVTech1]

I realize I only made one comment on the acceleration in the video. It is generally a subtle increase in acceleration but its definitely noticeable. Remember that my pack was "healthy" and not worn out/needing replaced so the perceived acceleration increase could be more for someone needing a replacement due to worn out modules.