Hi i just bought a 2008 Honda civic hybrid. Its mechanically in good shape, 170k kilometres, i got it for $2000 Canadian.


But the hybrid battery is dead. After doing alot of research, I want to explore replacing all of the cells myself.


I found a seller on Alibaba that's giving me 11 pairs for $1050 usd shipped. There are 2 other similar offers, and they claim they will capacity match the cells.


Are there any reliable sources for buying just brand new cells?


Thanks in advance.

 

No. Most of what is on Alibaba is the cast-offs of the two companies that produce sticks for the battery builders. It's hit or miss, and any warranty they offer is usually vapor when it comes time to collect as they will frequently blame the BCM for mismanaging and causing the stick to fail.

 

Keith thanks for the response Keith! Any idea if this is at all possible then? Buying cells?

 

Buying modules is as easy as you have discovered. Buying modules from a reliable source that actually tests them and gives you a reasonable warranty is essentially impossible. The HCH2 further complicates things due to their 12 cell modules.

Battery building isn't trivial, and pretty much all DIY jobs are sub-standard. While there's motivation in saving money, you're already talking about numbers > $1,000. IMHO, go with a builder. Yes, you'll pay more, but you'll have peace of mind.

If you go that route, I recommend Bumblebee.

 

I appreciate the thoughts!

I just think this is really easy for me. I studied electrical engineering for 3 years and have done more complex projects.

Im feeling that for the cost of a remanufactured battery, brand new cells even if they're sub par are a better value? A new pack doesn't seem available for less than $1500, i can do alot with the $500 saved.

Anyone else have an opinion on this?

 

If you are going to build a battery from cells, I would buy way more cells than you need. If you have electrical engineering knowledge, then you should be able to stress test each cell and gauge it's performance. Then you can use the best cells in the pack. This is basically what Bumblebee and others do, they do their own Quality testing of all the cells they get and only use the good ones.

Cells made in China, even the ones Bumblebee uses, are never going to be as good as the original cells. The original cells were "Eneloop", a technology developed by Sanyo and later Panasonic. They no longer make Eneloop cells in the D size. You will likely get about a 30% of the lifespan out of your QA'd battery pack than you would out of a new OEM pack.

 

Eneloop refers specifically to the low self-discharge (SD) NiMH consumer cell product line. The Sanyo NiMH cells used in the HCH2, G2 Insight, early Fusion hybrids and all FEH/MMH packs are high drain, moderate SD "industrial" cells that preceded the Eneloop product line by 5+ years.

You are otherwise correct that they are Sanyo products and they were acquired by Panasonic. That event triggered Panasonic to divest themselves of the joint venture with Toyota (reducing their stake to 20%) that produced all Prius cells and Honda "D" cells through 2005 (Panasonic EV Energy, now Primearth EV Energy).

IMHO, the Sanyo cells are far more temperature sensitive than Panasonic, which explains how the same cells are in both the best (FEH) and worst (HCH2) hybrid battery packs ever made.

 

Really appreciate the discussion folks.

I think im going to decide to buy this. Would appreciate some reassurance. The seller has offered it to me so that it's getting shipped to me for $1000 USD.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F26 4442224350

He has proof that it has only 46k miles (not km) of use, which seems better than gambling on building my own, half the cost of a new one, and should give me another 60k miles/100k kms?

 

Sounds like a good option. There's no perfect answer unfortunately and every option has some risk, no amount of reassurance will make that go away! But good luck on it for sure , and if the battery is dead on arrival at the very least you can file an ebay dispute and likely get your money back.

 

Based on my personal experience with one "CA2" pack and the feedback of a battery builder with far more experience with "CA2" packs, the claim that CA2 are the most reliable packs is completely unsupported.

That said, assuming the pack is only 4-5 years old with that kind of mileage on it, and if the 46K mile claim is accurate, one should expect a reasonable amount of life from it.

HOWEVER, prior to installation, I recommend a single grid charge/discharge (96V)/charge cycle to ensure the battery is in the optimal condition.