JamesSmith66

James Smith here. I run HV battery work at Illinois Hybrid Batteries, and Prius is what I do most days. Been at it long enough to know the quirks of every Prius on the road.
The moment a Prius owner walks in, I usually know the story before they finish telling it. Fuel economy tanked. Cooling fan whining from the back seat like a hairdryer. The triangle light won't go away. Those are the three I see most, and they all point to the same thing: the traction battery pack is on its way out.
My shop handles full pack replacements on-site, and for folks stuck farther out in Illinois I come to the driveway. No dealer markup, no swap-and-pray. I pull the old pack, bench-test the modules, and either rebuild with matched cells or install a verified remanufactured unit. You drive off with the fuel numbers you remember from 40,000 miles ago.
Prius is a smart car. It's also stubborn about the battery. Ignore the early signs and you end up pushing it onto a tow truck. Catch it at the first symptom and the fix stays cheap.
If you drive a Prius and something feels off, call before the warning escalates. That's usually the difference between a battery repair and a battery replacement.