[Deb-Red05]

I just got a new 8 amp IMA battery installed in my 2005 CVT Insight (mileage 178K). I live 20 miles east of Seattle and discovered a company called Greentec Auto about 30 miles south. I was going to go to Bumblebee Batteries in Portland, OR but decided to go here instead.

Here's their page for generation-1 Insight battery options. They do mobile installs across the country, but since I live close I drove there and paid $150 for them to install it. My husband followed me and we stopped after 30 minutes to do a quick charge of the 12V battery. It was really struggling to do its job.

8 amp IMA (new not refurb) - $1795
Install at their location (not mobile) - $150
3-year warranty - included
TOTAL + 10% tax - $2139

The original IMA battery died at 165K out of warranty but my local Honda dealership replaced it for free (shocker). Unfortunately, it barely lasted 10K miles. I'm now at 178K and looking forward to several more years of use.

I was so excited on the drive home to see 55 mpg on the tripmeter. I haven't seen that since before the original IMA died. The replacement Honda refurb lost 10mpg and I never got more than 45 mpg out of it.

I'll report in 6 months to see how it's going.

 

[eq1]

I wonder if the battery vendors are actually selling bona fide 8 amp-hour packs these days, as it seems like they all advertise the sale of both 6.5 amp-hour ones and 8 amp-hour ones, and they do it with more aplomb then they used to, when they were most likely selling only ~6.5 amp-hour packs (i.e. the quote '8 amp-hour' packs used to be only about 6.5 amp-hours, if even that)... Seems strange that cells with different capacities would be manufactured and offered for a different price - I mean, How much more could XX grams of active material possibly cost?. Seems like the hassle of manufacturing the same cell with only a small difference in the amount of material wouldn't be worth it...

 

[striider]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Good to know there are still options out there to keep these cars in tip-top shape

 

[ericbecky]

Thanks for being willing to check in with updates.
That is a great way to help the Insight community.

You say the replacement battery from Honda only lasted about 10k miles. Approximately how many years/months did it last?

 

[hdbueller]

I just got a new 8 amp IMA battery installed in my 2005 CVT Insight (mileage 178K). I live 20 miles east of Seattle and discovered a company called Greentec Auto about 30 miles south. I was going to go to Bumblebee Batteries in Portland, OR but decided to go here instead.

Here's their page for generation-1 Insight battery options. They do mobile installs across the country, but since I live close I drove there and paid $150 for them to install it. My husband followed me and we stopped after 30 minutes to do a quick charge of the 12V battery. It was really struggling to do its job.

8 amp IMA (new not refurb) - $1795
Install at their location (not mobile) - $150
3-year warranty - included
TOTAL + 10% tax - $2139

The original IMA battery died at 165K out of warranty but my local Honda dealership replaced it for free (shocker). Unfortunately, it barely lasted 10K miles. I'm now at 178K and looking forward to several more years of use.

I was so excited on the drive home to see 55 mpg on the tripmeter. I haven't seen that since before the original IMA died. The replacement Honda refurb lost 10mpg and I never got more than 45 mpg out of it.

I'll report in 6 months to see how it's going.

I also bought an 8.0 battery from Greentec in Kansas City for my 2004 MT at 200,00 miles. I have had mine for 6+ months and have been very happy with it so far. I have put about 30,000 miles on it since May when I had it installed. It does very well and my mileage is at the 60 mpg point most of the time.

 

[Deb-Red05]

Excellent to hear you're happy with your new IMA. Thanks for letting me know. I'm excited that I can now climb hills with gusto.

 

[samwichse]

I have had mine for 6+ months and have been very happy with it so far. I have put about 30,000 miles on it since May when I had it installed.

Geez, where do you drive that far, that often that you're on pace to put 60k/year on it???

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

Glad to hear your experiences with Greentec were positive. Back in the day (talking around 2014) I tried using them to replace the battery in an HCH. I live in Austin so they sent a remote installer who simply could not get the job done - whether it was bad cells, bad installation, or bad installer the replacement never worked. After several weeks and iterations I took it to a local shop who had experience with hybrids who pointed out numerous problems in the new cells and how they were installed. I told Greentec to send someone to put my old battery back in, and this time they sent a different installer who seemed to have a clue and magically everything started working again. If they'd sent that guy the first time I still might be driving that car.

The fact that Greentec is still in business six years later tells me my experience was the exception rather than the rule. Congratulations on your "new" car!

 

[Deb-Red05]

I told Greentec to send someone to put my old battery back in, and this time they sent a different installer who seemed to have a clue and magically everything started working again. If they'd sent that guy the first time I still might be driving that car.

Yikes, that's a very bad experience and yes, I hope that Greentec is much better now at training their installers. When you said you had Greentech put your own battery back, did they fix what was wrong with the first install, or did they actually swap out the new IMA for your old one? I'd hope that they fixed the problems with the new IMA.

Most good businesses learn over time that the installer is the person who represents them to the customer, and if that person blows it, the entire business is branded bad.

When I got mine installed, they agreed to do it on Saturday though they're only open M-F. I would have done it during the week if they said, no but they didn't. The installer said he recently did a Gen1 Insight from an owner in Portland. I wondered if that person knew that Bumblebee Batteries was right around the corner.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

They'd tried three different batteries at that point, I was tired of driving around on only the gasoline engine and had them put back the old one that (sort of) worked. The back office people were great but the installer couldn't deliver.

 

[atikovi]

Geez, where do you drive that far, that often that you're on pace to put 60k/year on it???

Not too unusual. I have a 2015 hybrid of another make with 158K and that was when I bought it in April.

 

[hdbueller]

Geez, where do you drive that far, that often that you're on pace to put 60k/year on it???

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

I was doing sales and covered the entire state of Missouri,western Illinois, and eastern Kansas. 1,000 miles a week was normal with 1500 not unusual..... I put in 89k miles total last year between my Insight and my bike.....
FYI, my Greentec battery is still performing fine at the 1 year mark.....

 

[GeekinPinkNC]

Any update...2 years in?