Can I leave my car outside year round?

[traxion]

I'm looking to buy a tesla model y and own it year-round but there's one potential problem: I don't have a garage. I also live in Minnesota where temps get pretty cold. My plan is to charge it after every other drive and I only plan to drive it maybe 3 times a week. I also plan to monitor its battery each day to make sure it's on the upper end of battery life.

I'm fine with it losing a few miles and having to recharge it and have read up on pre-conditioning it or on really cold days that go into the negatives keeping it charged. I can do all of this. My primary worry/question is: will it degrade/hurt the battery to have it out in the cold? My resale timeline will be roughly 3-4 years. In that time I plan to move to an apartment with a heated garage or may move to SF depending on my job. Will it be able to get through this year without degradation?

 

[thecavalry]

What kind of charger do you have access to?

 

[traxion]

What kind of charger do you have access to?

My landlord may install a charger outside of their garage, but until they've agreed to that my plan was to charge at a nearby supercharging station. There's a few about 5 miles from me

 

[traxion]

I also would have sentry mode turned off in some cases to save battery

 

[Fred42]

I'm looking to buy a tesla model y and own it year-round but there's one potential problem: I don't have a garage. I also live in Minnesota where temps get pretty cold. My plan is to charge it after every other drive and I only plan to drive it maybe 3 times a week. I also plan to monitor its battery each day to make sure it's on the upper end of battery life.

I'm fine with it losing a few miles and having to recharge it and have read up on pre-conditioning it or on really cold days that go into the negatives keeping it charged. I can do all of this. My primary worry/question is: will it degrade/hurt the battery to have it out in the cold? My resale timeline will be roughly 3-4 years. In that time I plan to move to an apartment with a heated garage or may move to SF depending on my job. Will it be able to get through this year without degradation?

You'll probably be OK but it would be better to have a home charger especially for real cold weather. You don't need a heated garage although any garage would help avoid extreme temps.

 

[traxion]

You'll probably be OK but it would be better to have a home charger especially for real cold weather. You don't need a heated garage although any garage would help avoid extreme temps.

Hear ya on the charger. I hope my landlord installs it. This is the right one, right?: Wall Connector

So no worry about battery degradation? If I resell in 3-4 years will it be at a similar value as if it was in a garage or will it have noticeably less range?

 

[Sophias_dad]

It'll be fine. No concerns at all, except for already planning to sell it after 3-4 years. I mean sure, sometimes things happen and you need a different vehicle, but with the maintenance-freeness and lack of stuff to break on a Tesla, it isn't like it gets notably more expensive to maintain in year 5 than year 2, unlike ICE vehicles. Or maybe you are just expecting EV variety to get better over time.

In any case, outdoors is essentially the same as in an unheated garage with added snow. Your only extra concern would be the charging aspect, Have you checked the pricing of the supercharger, because it can be considerably higher than home charging. Do you have access to a plug at the apartment, even a 120V? Depending on your commute length, it may be just fine.

 

[Zythryn]

In any case, outdoors is essentially the same as in an unheated garage with added snow.

This is not true in Minnesota.
A well built unheated garage tends to keep an ambient temperature much higher than outdoors in the winter. This is especially true if the garage slab is connected to the house/apartment slab.
Our unheated garage never drops below about 20 degrees (F).

To the OP, I would suggest you will be fine with a bit of extra care.
If/when we have a cold snap (sub -15 degrees) for 24 hours or longer, you will want to warm the car up daily at a supercharger (or at a friends house with level 2 charging).

In general, batteries prefer cold temps. But will temporarily loose some capacity which will return in the spring.

Check the Tesla manual carefully for their recommendations about cold.

 

[jcanoe]

Cold temperatures won't potentially damage the battery until the temperature falls to below -22F (-30C) for more than 24 hours.

Charging using 120V can be extremely slow, ineffective at very lower temperatures as most of the power available from the charging session (1.44kW for 120V and 12A) will be used to warm the battery with very little power available to add charge to the battery. Instead of 120V charging ask the landlord to install a 240V charging circuit. It could be any of 240V and 20A up to 60A; any 240V charging circuit will be far better when charging at cold temperatures due to more power being available.

Even when plugged in the Tesla vehicle will not warm the battery pack unless actively charging or while preconditioning before driving. You would want to leave the Tesla vehicle plugged in with the maximum charging level set to 70% to 80% depending on how far you travel when you do decide to drive.

The Tesla Model Y Owner's Manual states: For better long-term performance, avoid exposing Model Y to ambient temperatures above 140° F (60° C) or below -22° F (-30° C) for more than 24 hours at a time.

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_y_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf

 

[GtiMart]

Plenty of people here in Quebec, Canada have Teslas, and they are very popular in the Nordic countries. IF they would degrade that much, it wouldn't be the case. Extreme heat has proven to be worse on battery longevity than cold. The car will heat the battery when needed for charging, will reduce regen (i.e. charging) when the battery's too cold... essentially, no harmful operation will happen when the battery is too cold to do it.

 

[traxion]

Thanks y'all-- Any idea where I can find some winter tires the same price as the gemini package? I went with the performance model but need winter tires for the next few months.

 

[ATPMSD]

I have an MS and this is from the manual:

“For better long-term performance, avoid exposing Model S to ambient temperatures above 140° F (60° C) or below -22° F (-30° C) for more than 24 hours at a time.”

However, I suggest the Canadian contingent likely has the best advice.

 

[pl8dlikafiddle]

It’s not the outdoor temps that’ll degrade your battery…

You mentioned you’ll be using supercharging if your landlord does not install a wall connector. This will be inconvenient and sour your experience, and there’s a potential for higher battery degradation when using strictly DC charging only for 3-4yrs.

Just something to chew on.

 

[hpartsch]

Supercharging may be fairly slow and potentially quite more expensive than you may be expected due to the extended charge time/heating of the battery required... How long is your commute? Are you willing to sit around a supercharger after work, multiple times a week? Especially with your extreme cold temperatures, this may make your experience very unpleasant. The amount of range loss is significant in the cold (consider 30-50% less range) and especially if you do a few short drives and I'm talking about the range loss I see in the 30-40F degree temperature range...

Your car will keep its battery warm when the temperature gets low. You may end up charging more than you think/using much more energy than you calculated...

 

[ATPMSD]

Might want to check if there are any public L2 chargers around your destination. 8-hours on one of those will add “about” 40 kWh to the battery and, at the typical 5 kW rate, it will not harm the battery. May or may nor be cost effective.

 

[EmbersDC]

I have a friend who parks his Tesla outside. He's had it for four years now. No issues. Washington DC area.

 

[Corndart]

It'll be fine. No concerns at all, except for already planning to sell it after 3-4 years. I mean sure, sometimes things happen and you need a different vehicle, but with the maintenance-freeness and lack of stuff to break on a Tesla, it isn't like it gets notably more expensive to maintain in year 5 than year 2, unlike ICE vehicles. Or maybe you are just expecting EV variety to get better over time.

In any case, outdoors is essentially the same as in an unheated garage with added snow. Your only extra concern would be the charging aspect, Have you checked the pricing of the supercharger, because it can be considerably higher than home charging. Do you have access to a plug at the apartment, even a 120V? Depending on your commute length, it may be just fine.

Making some assumptions on logistics here but would be very careful about advising use of the 120v / mobile charger, outside, year round in a climate like MN.

IF the outlet were well protected / inside a garage and only the business end of the interface to the vehicle were exposed then all is well. Otherwise, you're asking for trouble IMHO.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Making some assumptions on logistics here but would be very careful about advising use of the 120v / mobile charger, outside, year round in a climate like MN.

IF the outlet were well protected / inside a garage and only the business end of the interface to the vehicle were exposed then all is well. Otherwise, you're asking for trouble IMHO.

I agree it is not great, but its also not great to supercharge every few days. It depends on OP's mileage needs as well. As long as the 120V charger is plugged in immediately after a drive, it'll charge even in cold weather. I'd also want to rig something up so the UMC body isn't just laying on the ground exposed.

 

[Corndart]

I agree it is not great, but its also not great to supercharge every few days. It depends on OP's mileage needs as well. As long as the 120V charger is plugged in immediately after a drive, it'll charge even in cold weather. I'd also want to rig something up so the UMC body isn't just laying on the ground exposed.

I don't have my car yet so am not certain but can't you limit the charging rate in your vehicle, even at a SC station?

 

[jcanoe]

I don't have my car yet so am not certain but can't you limit the charging rate in your vehicle, even at a SC station?

No; you can't set the maximum charging amperage when Supercharging. You can set the maximum amperage when charging at 120V or 240V (up to the maximum established by the Tesla Mobile Connector or 3rd party EVSE for the circuit.) This is rarely needed except in cases where you know that the charging circuit is shared with other loads and would trip the circuit breaker.