Battery drain while parked or car in storage

[SSF3]

Depending on which model 3 you have and how far you have to drive to and from the airport, you shouldn’t have a problem leaving it at the airport. It just depends if you want to leave sentry mode on or off. From my experience, with sentry mode on, it drains about 1 mile per hour. So you can decide if you can or should leave on, but if keeping it off, you will be fine.

 

[dave999z]

I just left mine in my work parking garage for two weeks, ~ 80% charge, sentry mode off, did not check app while away. Lost maybe 5% over the whole 2 weeks.

 

[JPUConn]

My 3 spends many weeks unplugged at the airport parking garage with sentry mode on. I arrive around 80% SOC Monday AM and on Thursday evening sentry has taken it down to 45-50%. For longer trips I’ve noticed sentry use less daily after day 3 (about 10% per day first 3 days then slows from there).

Sentry shuts off at 20% and there’s a supercharger 10 miles from the airport I’m parked at so I’m not too concerned.

 

[Kennymb5384]

I just got back from a 4 day trip, and I left my car here in Seattle (average 40-50) degrees. My car was at 70% when I dropped it off, and about 45% when I picked it up. I did not turn Sentry mode off.

 

[Velcade]

You'll be fine. The airport is very close to a Tesla Charging station too.

 

[Kennymb5384]

You can also check local parking garage companies. The one I parked at had chargers available as well. They asked me if I wanted them to charge my car, but I knew it would be fine to pick up without it, and I have a Supercharging station 15 min away.

 

[Ol'Blue]

Log out of any extra apps you use beyond the Tesla app. They tend to keep the car from going to sleep. They are improving, but the less apps logging your car, the less battery drain along with sentry standby and sentry.

I wouldn’t worry otherwise, there’s an article somewhere of someone going away for 60 days and coming back with lots of battery.

 

[statisticsmike]

As the others have said you'll likely be fine with sentry disabled. Just be aware that your cold-soaked battery won't supercharge well. I parked at JFK for 9 days last winter with temps in the low 20s and I barely drew 18 kW from a supercharger even after warming up on the 40 mile drive. That said, the feature of pre-conditioning the battery en route to superchargers has been introduced since then, so hopefully that will help.

 

[PremiumPackage]

DIA has EV charging on-site: Battery Charging | Denver International Airport

Even if you don't leave the car in one of those spots, 30-60 min at one of the L2 stations should get you enough

 

[Mauisdad]

I'm feeling anxious about leaving my car for a week at Christmas (cold in Denver), can anyone please assure me if I leave it with about 80% charge (what it would take to get there from a full charge) will I have enough to get home?

I would consider turning off sentry mOde and make sure the interior cabin temp is off.

 

[Schmidt21]

I'm feeling anxious about leaving my car for a week at Christmas (cold in Denver), can anyone please assure me if I leave it with about 80% charge (what it would take to get there from a full charge) will I have enough to get home?

Hopefully this helps and would still charge 100%, I leave mine all the time for week(s) in various weather conditions and no issues. Just know sometimes the bays get full Battery Charging | Denver International Airport

 

[fujidust]

For what it’s worth, I’d look into the cost of Uber/Lyft and leave your M3 safe at home.

I've resorted to doing this and it's proved to be much faster, and much more efficient in many ways.

 

[AlanRobock]

Fine airport parking has a lot of Tesla chargers that are free and the airport garage has a few chargers available, but the airport parking will be packed at Christmas.

Turn off sentry mode and you'll be fine even unplugged, there's a supercharger like 8 miles from the terminal.

I second Fine Airport parking. I left my car for a week there this summer, and there were plenty of available chargers, and it is indoors. They drive you to the airport for free, and it is pretty close. Yes, and even if there are no chargers, your car will be fine. Just make a reservation there, but you can't reserve the chargers.

 

[Michael Fortin]

I'm feeling anxious about leaving my car for a week at Christmas (cold in Denver), can anyone please assure me if I leave it with about 80% charge (what it would take to get there from a full charge) will I have enough to get home?

This might be a helpful video

 

[Kiwiadventure]

Where I park at Auckland airport NZ they will charge my 3 free the day before I pick my 3 up.

 

[Exsangus]

Many hotels now have level 2 charging and even Tesla destination charging; I often use a hotel like this (a Holiday Inn) when I travel. They charge a pretty low fee (8-9 dollars per day) for parking, offer airport shuttle service, and as long as you stay the night when you get back, you can plug in and charge when you get back. Sometimes they will even offer to have you park one stall over, and plug you in when the space isn’t being used by another EV.

 

[frnkblk]

Ideally there would be more airport parking spaces with plain 110 VAC/20A outlets ... that would free up Level 2 parking spots and allow EV's not only to stay topped up, but to charge over a multi-day period.

 

[Superspectral]

Turn off sentry mode and make sure you don't have summon on "standby" mode. Both eat battery. Last year I left my car at the airport unplugged and lost maybe 10% over 3 weeks. But you have to have all of those modes off so your car can go into deep sleep mode. I definitely want to have at least 25% left to get home. Tesla needs a "put car in stasis" button for long term parking.

 

[LochTes]

Have you looked into the availability of parking that offers charging? You may be able to find a charger at a larger airport. If nothing else maybe level 1.

There is a private FastPark lot in Milwaukee that offers 120v outlets in back. Use your own charger. They said to just leave car plugged in while I was gone. Very slow to charge but hit 85% and held it before I returned. Look for that near you.

 

[Ghanziang]

I usually park near where DIA has their level 2 chargers. They are almost always full, with plug in hybrids. My last trip was a row of model 3s. As I walked past, I got flashed by almost all of them. So it is very easy to trigger sentry mode.