Fellow unicorn owners - has anyone tested the brand new lithium-phosphate battery packs (Nexcell) for the 4th gen GS along with other Toyota/Lexus models that are advertised on https://projectlithium.com/products/...pack-20-blocks ? The benefits seem obvious over the OEM NiMH pack but wanted to see if there's some real-life experience with them, hoping that someone from US has maybe tried this already and can share their experience

 

That's quite interesting. Thanks for sharing the link @ratobuza . Battery degradation would be a bit concern for me as the lithium battery pack would be constantly charging and discharging thousands of times.

I would be a bit cautious before taking the leap as well and I would personally look to the Prius community who seem to already be testing this "upgrade" out:
~ im2bz2p345

 

I would be highly considering it when the OEM battery gives out.
Battery degradation is a big negative, but Battery tech has advanced a lot since 2013. And the cpu would keep it within moderate charge range
I would like to do more research but this is still a distant future project

 

Why would I want to pay the same amount as the original battery which lasts 15 years? To a battery with only 2 years of warranty?

 

Same reason people modify their cars for more power or performance at the cost of reliability.

That said I would do more research and like to see some real world experience. See if the performance gain is even worth it?

 

Agreed this needs to be scrutinized a bit more but the benefits seem tangible - more acceleration/power due to probably double charge and discharge current and more electric range/coasting when load is minimal yielding better fuel efficiency. I believe the electrical powertrain is seriously over engineered for the NiMh battery and could easily support the LiFePo4 modules - think about our 200hp MG2 vs the 38-40hp battery pack

 

I'm doing this as soon as my OEM battery pack wears out. With LiFePo4 batteries, degradation is not remotely a concern for the remaining life of the vehicle, and with the 22% higher capacity and massively increased SOC range you would be subjecting it to far fewer cycles per mile. If the cells in these modules are made by any reasonably high-quality supplier, reliability shouldn't be any concern whatsoever. I'm also planning to see if I can find a shop that can increase the ECU power limit since these batteries will be able to provide 90hp (stock is around 40hp) continuous and even more in short bursts. To illustrate what our cars are actually capable of with lithium batteries, here's some pack-level and vehicle-level specs:
Peak power (engine + electric motor) capability: 286 + 197 = 483hp (from 338), 43% increase
Max capacity = 16V * 7Ah * 20 = 2.24kWh (from 1.872kWh), 22% increase
Real (usable) capacity (aka electric range) = 0.8 * 2.24 = 1.792kWh (from 0.4 * 1.872 = 0.7488kWh), 139% increase
Battery weight = 22kg (from 47.6kg), 47% decrease
So realistically, you'd be able to do 480hp launches (with an ECU update) and more than double your EV range, assuming all of Nexpower's specs are correct.

 

That Lithium technology battery pack upgrade sounds like it would be wonderful, but the problem I see is - where would a person go to have the OE traction battery swapped-out for this high-performance traction battery? And likewise, where would a person go to have someone with the know-how to modify the OE ECU to take advantage of the increased power?

 

I'm planning to DIY the battery swap (I found a battery system disassembly guide) and have a tuning shop figure out the ECU upgrade. Chrisfix did a video on this type of job and it looks fairly straightforward if you have an impact driver and a Saturday to work with. Just have to swap in 20 new modules for the 40 existing modules. (New ones are twice as wide)

 

The Hybrid ECU is tamper proof. You’ll not get more power.

 

Have you specifispecifically went out of your way and contacted numerous tuning shops? Or did u just read that on CL.. lol
i have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. And once again. I'd like to do more research

however a simple google searches show some are available, mainly in the UK, and wouldn't be surprised if they went all out in Japan.
Even the Toyota prius has had remapping done and documented.
It's just a lot more complicated. Maybe you're right, but not until iv dug through all avenues

 

Good luck. Try not to get ripped off by so called ‘tuners’.

 

Sorry if this is old news I just found this.

Maybe it's worth it's own forum but here's a YouTuber that swapped the motor of an E65 BMW for a lexus GS450 transmission(electric drive unit only).
Not sure on the details of his build other than he locked the Input shaft of the transmission giving the ability for MG1 and MG2 to power the drive shaft.
and I'm sure he's running a higher voltage.

That being said there is definitely a lot more locked potential within our vehicles. He isn't the only one, a few people have obtained gs450 transmissions for electric conversions. Unfortunately they're not the best video creators 😂 dry *** videos.
But it's there. The ECU isn't a locked untouchable mystery. People are working it.

Looking forward to seeing what can be done
1) https://youtube.com/c/Evbmw

+

2)

EV Conversion Basic Components: Lexus GS450h - YouTube

^this individual is just showing the major components for a Lexus electric conversion but at 9min 45seconds - 10min30 seconds mentions somebody has reverse engineered the Lexus ECU to work

 

Thanks for sharing this. It's awesome to see how capable that transmission really is. I think the issue most of us will have before we can do anything like this is going to be wearing out the OEM batteries. I haven't seen a single user on the 4GS forum with a pack failure, and I'm expecting a minimum of 200k miles on mine. I'm excited to do the swap when the time comes, but it'll probably be a while before anyone here tries it.

 

There is someone with a 3GSh that drove the car to 280k+ miles with the original hybrid battery and if it wasn't for an accident thought it could go to 300k miles. So that oem hybrid battery pack will last longer than you will own the car. Also the reason Lexus uses NiMH battery pack is because it has proven to be the most reliable battery, will outlast any lithium ion battery. Lexus is all about reliability and longevity. IMO "upgrading" to this lithium ion battery is a complete waste of money. Just drive the car as is until Lexus comes out with an all electric car with solid state battery(game changer).