Successful pilot program shows Bosch Car Service associates how to repair high-voltage NiMH batteries

Karlsruhe and Plochingen, Germany – With a new repair set for high-voltage batteries, Bosch offers a reasonably priced and resource-conserving way of restoring the nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) module in the traction battery of selected Toyota and Lexus hydrid models. For the first time, this opens up the business of repairing high-voltage batteries to independent workshops as well. At the Bosch Service Training Center in Plochingen near Stuttgart, workshop associates from ten Bosch Car Service operations successfully passed a two-day pilot course that taught them how to use the new repair set to restore NiMH high-voltage batteries. To take part in the course, participants had to have attained high-voltage training level 3. High-voltage experts from across Germany were invited to take part in the pilot, which means that all regions now have a Bosch Car Service operation that can offer the new repair service.

Feedback from the participants was positive, with the result that the pilot program will be followed by further NiMH high-voltage battery repair courses in November this year. The courses can be booked online at the Bosch Automotive Campus. The courses will initially be open to operations in Germany, where the Federal Motor Transport Authority has already granted the Bosch repair set a general operating license. As it is expected that the Austrian authorities will follow Germany’s lead and grant an operating license, the repair courses will also be open to Bosch Car Services from Austria.

Theory and practice in small groups

The two-day course in the repair of NiMH high-voltage batteries is taught at the Bosch Service Training Center in groups no bigger than twelve, and comprises a theoretical and a practical module. The course starts with the fundamentals of nickel-metal hydride modules and the structure of high-voltage batteries. It also teaches how to handle, store, and recycle them safely, as well as how to deal with warranty claims. For the practical module, the high-voltage experts move to the workshop, where they familiarize themselves with the procedure for using the high-voltage battery repair set and learn how to use it in practice. Once the battery status has been diagnosed, the complete high-voltage battery is removed. Then the repair set is used to replace all the old battery modules with new nickel-metal hydride ones. All the remaining components of the battery system, such as housing, blower, and electronics, are left in place. Finally, the high-voltage battery is re-installed and the vehicle restarted.

A refresher course in handling high-voltage batteries

The NiMH high-voltage battery repair course also satisfies the requirements of the practical module of the refresher course that high-voltage level 3 experts have to take. They only have to supplement this with a theory module – via a webcast at the Bosch Automotive Campus, for example. The DGUV (German social accident insurance) calls for regular refresher courses, and recommends that they be taken every four years. In line with this recommendation, four years after workshop associates have trained as high-voltage experts at the Bosch Service Training Center, Bosch sends them a reminder that a refresher course is due.