Contact a scrapyard or wrecking yard that has junk hybrids, tell them you're high school students, and ask if they'd be willing to sponsor your project with a free Prius battery.
Honestly, for 5mph... you might get that off of two 12v junk car batteries for $20 core charge at NAPA. Just ask them to leave two aside for you that still test to have okay voltage. Save your $1800. Depends if you need the higher voltage (you won't to go 5mph, but, you might for the controller to wake up and be okay with what it thinks is a dead battery).
Honestly, for 5mph... you might get that off of two 12v junk car batteries for $20 core charge at NAPA. Just ask them to leave two aside for you that still test to have okay voltage. Save your $1800. Depends if you need the higher voltage (you won't to go 5mph, but, you might for the controller to wake up and be okay with what it thinks is a dead battery).
