Hybrid Battery dying - What are my options?

Thanks all for the responses! I wasn't expecting so many, so quickly.

After I lay out the whole story with info the pertains to the issue. If I don't answer your questions/comment in it, I'll try to chime in to what everyone has said at the end:

While driving it from CO through the Rockies and throughout California, the Prius was driving fine. Speeds of 80+ happened as expected on steep inclines, declines, and flat/horizontal roads in both hot and chilly climates.

Noting here that the Hybrid fan on the edge of the back seat seems to run often. (not realizing that this wasn't normal)

It wasn't until the 6th of 7th planned day in Cali, while driving down a steep, winding road, above Berkeley when I was "forced to pull over." By forced, I mean my intuition told me I should pull over as indicated by the errors on the dash and screen as well as the shudder of the vehicle. Pulled into a shaded area off of the busy road and checked under the hood. No odd smells, leaks, or anything except that I could not see any fluid in the coolant tank.

Assuming that might be the only thing wrong with it, I found a Shell Auto Repair place less than 2 miles away. Waited a little while longer to let the engine cool down and drove to the repair shop. At this point the only error showing up was the red ! car on the display. The Shell tech took a look at the coolant, filled it up, recommended I get a new serpentine belt soon and sent me on my way. I don't recall seeing the red ! car on the display any longer.

Thinking that's all it was, got on the Interstate (I-680) and within a mile of getting into 4pm traffic, the same lights on the dash, lights on the display, and the shudder of the car had me pulling over again. This time, I had it towed to the Toyota dealership closest to where I was staying. I chose the dealership instead of a hybrid repair shop because the AAA tow truck guy recommended it with a few logical reason why including the potential for warranty work + open on Saturdays.

Their tech said that the problem was due to the failing water pump and dying/old aux battery. I had them do the serpentine belt as well since the Shell guy recommended it too. They noted that the hybrid battery is on its way out the door but cannot offer the warranty work without seeing, I believe he said, the P7000 error first. The tech said that since the car originate in California + the problems started in California (now on record) the replacement of the hybrid battery will still be under warranty in a non-CARB state (as long as it's within the 150k/10yr limits). The serviceman also said that he did some research and confirmed that to be the case as well.

The serviceman even made some suggestions on what could cause the "P7000" to come up = exactly how I was driving it when the error lights 1st appeared. I can't find any info online for the p7000 error however, I do have p3000 logged in the work they had done. p3000 is HV Battery Malfunction.

Driving the vehicle afterward was fine in city traffic (stop and go / hills or flat). Got back on the road to head home to Colorado on Sunday and found that the HV battery seemed to drain more than before, but seemed ok enough to keep driving. It wasn't until Monday afternoon when my girlfriend and I got on the road on I-70 from having lunch in Grand Junction that there was a sluggish performance in acceleration, sometimes a jerking reaction, and the car could not maintain even the speed limit heading East to Denver. If I didn't pull over to let the battery charge it would continually drain to the single purple bar. What usually takes about 4 hours to drive between GJ and Denver, took us 8 hours.

The day after getting back to Denver, on mostly flat / rolling hills of I-70, at speeds of 65 the battery drained from about 3/4 full down to 1 purple. Local stop and go driving does seem to charge the battery back up. However, I won't drive it to work anymore since I'm on the highway for 8 miles.

@SageBrush I'm not mechanically enclined, however I do desktop support for a living. If you feel that my computer skills and ability to watch youtube videos on the process could transfer over to swapping out the HV Battery, I'd strongly consider a DIY battery swap out.

Thanks for that write-up on CARB warranties @wjtracy - reading that was the last thing I read before posting this thread.
I'll connect with @3prongpaul at Boulder Hybrids this weekend. Thanks!

I'll consider your offer as well @ericbecky for the battery.

Thanks all for the responses!

Chris

 

While I understand that can happen, it currently drains to one bar from 3/4s full in about 2 miles on the highway.
It also did not drain, ever, to one bar the 1st 6 days of driving at the same level of road conditions on this 4,000+ mile trip.