Short answer: a brand-new hybrid battery pack costs $976 to $2,510 depending on voltage and chemistry — the small 144 V packs for Aqua, Prius C and Yaris sit at the bottom, and the 288 V packs for RX400h, RX450h and the GM two-mode trucks sit at the top. A main dealer will only sell a complete OEM assembly and is always the most expensive route; a refurbished pack is cheaper but its life is unpredictable.
What pushes the price up or down
- Voltage and module count. A 20-module pack uses two-thirds the cells of a 30-module pack. This is the single biggest factor.
- Cell format. Cylindrical 7.2 V modules and prismatic 9.6 V modules cost different amounts to build, so two packs at the same voltage can differ in price.
- Chemistry. Li-ion packs use higher-energy cells and sit above the Ni-MH equivalent on most models — but not all.
- Mixed-format packs. Some 244.8 V vans use a mix of 9.6 V and 14.4 V blocks, which costs more than 34 identical 7.2 V modules.
- Freight and duties. Batteries ship as Class 9 dangerous goods. Selected routes are DDP — duties and taxes included — which is already in the price you see.
The three routes, honestly compared
| Main dealer (OEM assembly) | Refurbished / rebuilt | New replacement pack | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | A complete factory assembly | Used cells, re-tested and re-assembled | Brand-new cells, factory-matched |
| Price | Set by the dealer — always the highest of the three | Usually the cheapest upfront | $976 – $2,510 depending on the pack |
| Cell matching | Factory matched | Mixed ageing curves from different donor packs | Capacity, IR and OCV graded, ΔV < 5 mV |
| Expected life | Full service life | Unpredictable — failures reported within 3–12 months | >6,000 cycles at 80% DOD |
| Warranty | Dealer terms | 30–90 days, if any | 3 years / 100,000 km |
| Lead time | Often weeks, sometimes back-ordered | Days | 3 business days for in-stock packs |
There is no single “right” answer. A car that is being sold next month and a car that a family plans to keep for five years should not get the same pack.
The costs that are not in the pack price
- Installation. A hybrid workshop will charge labour on top — typically one to two hours for a pack swap. It is a high-voltage job and not a driveway task.
- Disposal of the old pack. Some workshops charge to take it away; some will buy the scrap value back.
- Diagnosis. If nobody has read the codes yet, expect a diagnostic charge before anyone can tell you whether you need a pack at all.
- Duties and taxes. On non-DDP routes the import bill arrives separately, after the pack has shipped.
Before you ask anyone for a price
Have these three things ready and every quote you get will be more accurate:
- The VIN — not just the model and year. The same model year can carry two different packs.
- The fault code — P0A80, P0A7F or something else entirely. Not every code means a new battery. P0A80 can be caused by a blocked cooling fan on a perfectly healthy pack.
- Where the car is — country and postcode, so freight and duties can be quoted rather than guessed.
Frequently asked questions
Why is a 288 V pack so much more than a 144 V pack?
It contains roughly twice the cells. A 144 V pack is 20 modules; a 288 V pack is 30 to 40 modules, and the prismatic-format 288 V packs use larger blocks that cost more to build.
Is a refurbished pack ever the right choice?
For a car being sold within a year, it can be. The risk is that the cells come from different donor packs with different ageing histories — the pack works until the weakest module drifts, which is often within a year.
Do I pay duties on top?
On DDP routes, no — duties and taxes are included in the delivered price. On other routes they are billed separately at import.
Can I just replace the failed module instead of the whole pack?
Sometimes, if one module is clearly below the rest and the pack is otherwise even. On a high-mileage pack the replacement module tends to follow the rest down within a year, so a complete pack is usually the better value. Our warranty also covers module-level replacement rather than whole-pack swaps.
Get a price for your car
Send the VIN and the code you are seeing. We reply with the confirmed fitment, the chemistry options and the delivered price — no obligation.