Driving on bad hybrid battery

Some of you know I've been driving with a bad hybrid battery. The first time the check hybrid system light came on was last July at around 195k miles. Error code from a Toyota dealer and also my mechanic, as I wanted a second opinion, was P0A80. I decided to just drive my Prius until the battery totally died and then junk it as it was not worth it for me spending close $4000 for a new battery. I also almost ordered the battery reconditioning kit from seeing the ads here but decided against it. Now it's been almost 10 months and 15k miles later, the car is still driving well with mileage back up to 50+ as I don't have to use the heater anymore. The other day I was at 67 mpg for 75 miles. Not bad.
The battery is definitely not good as it discharges faster than before, but at this rate, if I can drive another 15k miles, I think other parts will go bad before the battery completely dies. I'm sure I'll get stranded somewhere sometime, but so far so good. Just wanted to share my experience.

 

Posting picture of the dealer print out. Then about 2 months ago light came on again but turned it off with the OBD2 scanner. Next pics are mpg couple of weeks ago and total mileage.

 

Well, no rush to change the battery. The car is driving fine so far especially on the highway. All 10 times when the check hybrid system light came on was when driving less than at 45 mph. Will be interesting to see how it handles the summer heat with ac going at full blast. The road here is so bad, I’m sure something else will go wrong before the battery dies completely.

 

No, I didn’t know they came out and recharged the battery. I did get hold of a company where they will come out and replaced the battery with refurb but only gave 18k or year and a half warranty for $2k+. I’m almost past that already so I’ll just see what happens. Just the curiosity will keep me to keep on driving, I think.

 

Yep, new. I did have to change wheel bearing on both front for $1200. Ouch. Other than that oil change around every 15k miles, and on my 3rd set of tires. And had inverter software update and sudden acceleration software update a few years ago. Love the car other than passenger side low beam bulb is real pain to replace. Everything else including the wipers are original.

 

The chs light came on again last week. It was about 3000miles before that. Anyway, the temp was about 95 degrees and I had the AC at full blast driving slowly around the parking lot looking to park. I guess the ICE couldn’t charge the battery fast enough with the AC at full blast. Reset the error code and has been fine for about 200 miles since. The rate of charge and discharge haven’t changed since the warning light first came on about a year ago. Hmmm...

 

I kinda want to see how many miles I can get out of it without doing anything to the battery at this point. And I think I know exactly what situation the chs light comes on: basically 2 situations and both when I’m really taxing the battery and not giving enough time to recharge.
I use OBD2 scanner to rest the chs light. I will be hitting 211,000 miles in a day or two so about 16k miles since the dealer told me I need new traction battery.

 

I’m pretty sure it’s the battery. Now that I’m using AC, my energy level bars are like a roller coaster. I think the battery’s days are numbered. The car has now a very slight but noticeable jerk as well when I’m accelerating. Then a few seconds later, I lose a bar on the energy meter. Ah well, all good things must come to an end, eventually. Just went over 211,000 miles a couple of days ago though.

 

Just looked it up at Toyota website. Much obliged.