Driving on a bad hybrid battery

Can you not afford a new/reconditioned battery at this time? and no, you cannot drive on a dead battery.

You may want to post the exact trouble codes the dealer pulled up.

 

You can drive for a while and now that the computer "knows" that there is a problem, your Prius will minimize the use of your traction battery (little help in acceleration from the electric motors, lower MPG, loss of AC, ... ) to ensure that it will continue to maintain sufficient capacity to restart the engine when required. At some point the engine will fail to start and you will need a tow.

I was able to get a refurbished HV battery (Re-Involt supplied and Toyota dealer installed) installed for under $2000 (Inflation has hit in the last few weeks so the price may be a bit higher now) recently at 194k miles in my 2004 Prius. So if your dealer cannot get a new battery (typically $3300 installed) you should talk to them about getting a refurb that is done by an experienced vendor. A refub done properly has a rebalanced set of 28 7.2 volt modules and should last almost as long as a new battery (200 to 250k miles on average, shorter in hot climes, longer if high miles/year).

JeffD