Prius Hybrid Battery Sluggish

Hi everyone,

I bought a Gen 2 2007 Prius (Base Model) last September with about 73k miles on it. It seemed like a good deal from all the posts I read about it! It has been functioning pretty smoothly, however recently I have noticed that the hybrid battery is a bit sluggish to come on! It drops to the last bar before actually coming back up again! At those times, I feel a slight kick from the engine, and then things go on smoothly again! However, if I leave the car for 2-3 days without driving, the hybrid charge doesn't seriously depreciate!

Recently, my driving habits have changed, insofar as I have started making more frequent 100-200 miles trips! Is the hybrid battery reeling from the effects of that?
Or is this a telltale sign of a failing hybrid battery and should I be concerned at the moment? Is there anything I can do preemptively to correct for this issue before there is a major failure?

I will be happy to provide more details! Thank you!

 

Update: I found out that the blower motor was almost bent out of shape and had to be replaced because of about 60 acorns being stuck in there! It was making a loud rattling noise when I took it to the shop! I'm wondering if that had an effect on the AC's cooling capacity which in turn drained the battery faster! Thoughts?