Cheaper Toyota hybrid batteries promised

An Australian company is promising thousands of Toyota Prius and Toyota Camry Hybrid owners will soon have access to replacement batteries up to 40 per cent cheaper than new.

Melbourne-based Injectronics is making the claim for its new remanufacturing and battery swap process, which it says is an Australian-first.

The project was unveiled publicly this week, when a $103,000 federal government grant was also confirmed.

Part of IM Group, Injectronics is a supplier of new and remanufactured automotive electronic components, as well as a repairer of electronic and mechatronic parts.

It says there is a market remanufacturing nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries found in almost all Toyota hybrids.

Injectronics says they can develop faults after eight to 10 years, become slow to charge or stop performing at an effective level.

Toyota Australia, which says it is unaware of the Injectronics project, offers an eight-year/160,000km warranty on older batteries and since 2019 has upped that to 10 years and unlimited kilometres.

Injectronics has developed a battery swap scheme, where automotive workshops can order a refurbished pack to be delivered within 24 hours.

Injectronics swaps the old battery pack for new, tests the cells at its laboratory, fixes the failed ones and then stores the cells for installation in a pack destined for future sale.

It hasn’t yet settled on the final price of its remanufactured battery packs, but estimates they will be 60 to 80 per cent of new ones. The packs are guaranteed to come with full as-new performance and are protected by a two-year warranty.

The final price will depend on the level of training and safeguards required for the swapping process.

Taxi fleets are expected to be a major initial customer for the remanufactured battery packs.

According to pricing supplied by Toyota Australia, most Prius and Camry replacement batteries cost less than $3000 plus GST.

Currently, only battery pack repair – rather than remanufactured replacement – is offered in Australia as an alternative to a new hybrid battery pack.

Injectronics estimates the number of batteries potentially requiring replacement will climb from about 16,000 in 2021 to around 23,000 annually in 2024. With hybrid sales topping 60,000 in 2020, the potential future market is significant.

As cells age and potential performance dips, Injectronics is considering developing a business to convert them for home battery storage. It is also planning battery export to New Zealand.

Beyond the lower price for customers, the new scheme also has environmental benefits, as it salvages battery cells and their toxic materials that could otherwise be consigned to landfill.

Toyota Australia does already have a recycling scheme which it says removes all toxic elements and keeps more than 98 per cent of battery material out of landfill.

“A project of this type creates a circular economy, putting to an end the single-use nature of hybrid batteries, is environmentally friendly in its approach and will save hybrid vehicle owners a considerable sum when their battery fails to work as expected,” Injectronics executive general manager Gino Ricciuti said.

Injectronics plans to expand beyond the Prius and Camry to other Toyota hybrid models.

Ricciuti also nominated Honda as a possible target for the NiMH battery swap business, but that’s a tiny market compared to Toyota.

More intriguing and potentially more lucrative long term is an investigation into the viability of remanufacturing lithium-ion batteries as used in the vast majority of plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles.

Toyota is also transitioning its hybrids to lithium-ion, starting with the incoming Camry update.

“We are in a position here we are going to employ a mad guru and start that research,” said Ricciuti. “We are probably going to partner with some universities to really explore this.

“We don’t even know if it can be done. It’s a moon shot. It’s going in without any expectations of anything.

“Part of it could be we get to a point where we say it can’t be done. No-one in the world has done lithium-ion [remanufacturing]. We may even partner with overseas people.”