Bring for vacation? or leave at home?

[Kaz93]

Hey!

In two weeks, the wife and I will be going on vacation and i am wondering how I should go about charging my MY. We will be gone for a week and have the option to bring the MY or bring our other car. I can either leave the MY at home and on the charger or, I can bring the car and not be able to plug in every night. My concern is that, i normally plug in every night because I heard that it is best for the car to always be plugged in. Am I over thinking this? the charging at the resort would be non-existent but I could supercharge if we drive somewhere close by. The weather of the location will 100+ and i am thinking of arriving with a SoC of 50% ish.. I heard that this SoC was best for high heat weather. If we decide to go anywhere while on vacation, we could charge up or if the battery drains do the same. Any input on bringing the car and SoC if we do ? or is it best left at home on the charger to help the battery. I ask this question because I feel that charging habits have the biggest input on battery and with 6000+ miles on the car I still show 328 miles on 100 %, so I believe that I am doing something right. Thanks for the input!

-Kaz

 

[JimBob 909]

Kaz93: I have no qualms about using our MS for road trips and not plugging in at night. I leave the car plugged in while at home, but away I just charge when needed. At 12,000 miles I show 253@70%=360@100%, which I think is rated range. Went to Sedona for a week and loved the smooth quiet ride.

 

[Pianewman]

Kaz93: You're overthinking this. Resting SOC at 100% for long periods is an issue. Anything between 30-80% isn't an issue. Also, battery drain while sitting isn't an issue. Sentry mode does draw, as well as Cabin Overheat protection, but in 100f, at a resort, I'd keep both of them on.

I don't know how far your destination is from the closest Supercharger, but I'd charge to 100% prior to arrival, and then you won't have any range anxiety issues if you want to take the car out...up to whatever range your car is capable of.

You're in California. You can spit in any direction and hit a Supercharger. Enjoy the convenience that the rest of us don't have!

 

[jcanoe]

The resort is presumably private property. I would not leave Sentry Mode active as this causes the Model Y to remain awake all of the time and uses much more power, i.e. almost 10X more power, than when the Model Y goes into sleep mode.

Cabin Overheat protection, over time, uses quite a bit of energy, i.e. over a period of 8 hours I estimate that Cabin Overheat Protection used more than 6kWh while my Model Y was parked in the sun in 90F temperatures. Cabin Overheat Protection only remains active for 12 hours after you park. You would have to unlock, re-lock the Model Y to reset the 12 hour clock. (You can set Cabin Overheat Protection to only run the HVAC fan and not the AC, this will use much less energy.)

If you turn off Sentry Mode, after the first 12 hours (when Cabin Overheat Protection is no longer active) the Model Y will only lose ~1% per day.

It is 2021; who goes to a resort that does not have at least a few Level 2 charging stations for the guests to use?

Bring your Tesla J1772 charging adapter. You might find there is a Level 2 charging station nearby the resort. Google Maps can locate charging stations near your location. Also download the PlugShare app onto your phone.

If the resort is more than 100 miles from home then use A Better Route Planner (ABRP) to plan your trip. ABRP is available on the web and also as a phone app.

A Better Route Planner: A Better Routeplanner

 

[Pianewman]

Thanks for clarification, jcanoe. Excellent advice.

 

[ZilWin]

I am taking my M3 cross country next month to the east coast. I do not have charge capability at my condo in SC but I am not concerned. I'll be using the local SC 5 miles away to top off for the 2 weeks I'll be there. The rest of trip is SC all the way.
I do not necessarily plug my car in all the time I am at home anyway.

 

[Rocky_H]

I can bring the car and not be able to plug in every night. My concern is that, i normally plug in every night because I heard that it is best for the car to always be plugged in. Am I over thinking this?

Being concerned about not being able to plug in EVERY night is overthinking it by far, absolutely. If you were going to be talking about several weeks or a few months, this might be something worth discussing.

As @Pianewman was mentioning, if you're talking about some sort of middle-ish state of charge that isn't extremely high or low, sitting for some days or weeks isn't any issue at all.

My wife and I are going next month on a 1,800 mile vacation trip, and will probably be using AirBNBs most of the time, so not really too concerned with absolutely trying to pick places with overnight charging. As long as we are in a city that has a Supercharger, we can always get it up to at least a medium state of charge, and then it's fine if it needs to sit for a couple nights.