Can't leave car at airport... battery dies

[ozweepay]

I've found a few threads on this scattered around the Internet, but not good solution.

On Christmas day (less than 72 hours ago) I parked my Model S at DIA (Denver Int'l Airport) in cold weather... about 25F. Knowing the car's batter would discharge while I was away, I did a range charge at home (270 miles on my 85D), and had 220+ miles in the battery when I parked it.

Now, three days later, my app is telling me the car has 40 miles of range remaining. That's not enough for me to get home. And by the time I return to the car (next Sunday morning) it will likely be much lower... perhaps even low enough that I need assistance.

This has happened to me a few times now, and I don't know what to do. What could possibly be draining the battery so much so quickly? It seems to be a problem many other people have had...

This has to be the last time I leave my car at the airport for more than 1-2 days... I keep getting stranded.

 

[shokunin]

Same thing happened to me but I parked at Burbank airport on 12/23 with about 40+ miles of range left, I was only going to be gone for 55 hours came back on christmas day to 5 miles of range, WTF? I've never had that much range loss in 2 days. Tesla pushed out a major software update that essentially prevented my car from sleeping as well as having major vampire drain.

I came back with the car displaying the "schedule update" message.

Luckily the new Burbank supercharger is only 2.5 miles from the airport. I drove very slowly and coasted as much as possible to the supercharger. Arrived with 1 mile left. Whew..

 

[David29]

Very odd. Bjorn Nyland has posted videos in which he makes a 30 day annual visit home to Thailand from Norway, and comes home to plenty of charge.

 

[boaterva]

The update may be the culprit. Even if you turn off ‘always connected’ and all the other settings, the update almost everyone got this week may override and eat the miles up. That along with the battery heater because of the cold could have done it.

Normally I would think if you turn off all logging software and settings to minimize losses you would have been fine with just the battery heater.

 

[chillaban]

FWIW my car has been parked for several days now with the .50.2 update pending and it loses around 4 miles per day, with energy saving on. It does feel like more than usual but not the same as the hundreds of miles per day that some have seen.

 

[boaterva]

FWIW my car has been parked for several days now with the .50.2 update pending and it loses around 4 miles per day, with energy saving on. It does feel like more than usual but not the same as the hundreds of miles per day that some have seen.

Interesting... wonder if OP had worse case scenario. Logging like TeslaFi, always connected, no energy saving, etc and the update pending? We would need all the settings to see what’s up.

Be a good test to see what the ‘normal’ max to be expended is.

 

[chillaban]

Interesting... wonder if OP had worse case scenario. Logging like TeslaFi, always connected, no energy saving, etc and the update pending? We would need all the settings to see what’s up.

Be a good test to see what the ‘normal’ max to be expended is.

Yeah I wonder that too. Or some sort of preconditioning gone awry?

I don’t have TeslaFi monitoring my car but losing dozens of kilowatt-hours per day sounds kind of crazy to me. Most mansions don’t even consume that!

 

[Tam]

...25F...

My speculation: It's possible that your car did not go into deep sleep because of the settings or because you keep waking it up in order to check on its status remotely.

Each time it is awaken, it might want to warm its battery up which drains a lot of energy.

 

[ozweepay]

My speculation: It's possible that your car did not go into deep sleep because of the settings or because you keep waking it up in order to check on its status remotely.

Each time it is awaken, it might want to warm its battery up which drains a lot of energy.

I don't know what "settings" I have turned on. It's whatever the factory defaults are... maybe I have the "drain 80kwh per day for no reason" box checked!?

It's definitely not a matter of my checking too often... today when I saw only 40kwh remaining was the first time I'd checked it since leaving.

 

[Akikiki]

I don't know what "settings" I have turned on. It's whatever the factory defaults are... maybe I have the "drain 80kwh per day for no reason" box checked!?

It's definitely not a matter of my checking too often... today when I saw only 40kwh remaining was the first time I'd checked it since leaving.

What ya gonna do? (Sorry, I'd help if there was a way.) Does the airport have EV Chargers? Do you have a friend that you can ask to drive by and move your car to the airport's EV charger to give yours a shot in the arm so to speak? I mean with the app, you can remotely assist your friend with starting and moving the car - twice. Once to the charger and then away if necessary.

I'm sorry to hear of your predicament. but I am curious how you are going to fix it. Please let us know.

Here, we often offer to drive through the parking lot to check on a fellow owner's car when they leave it at the airport. Helps.

 

[Unpilot]

I left my car at the airport for 2 days last week with the temps in the 30's and lost about 15 miles a day...this was pre 50.2.

 

[Ames]

Maybe turn off Smart Preconditioning?

 

[Tam]

..."settings"...

Since you only woke your car up once, so it isn't because of daily checks.

When you have chance, please check your 3 settings: 2 offs and 1 on:

Controls > Settings > Vehicle > Cabin Overheat Protection > OFF

Controls > Settings > Vehicle > Climate Preconditioning > OFF

Controls > Displays > Energy Saving > ON

My understanding (not my experience because mine hasn't experienced subfreezing condition just yet):

If you set those 3 settings as above and if you don't wake your car up (including by phone app), it will go to deep sleep which it doesn't care about climate controls unless it's a life or death situation for its battery.

If it is not because of your settings then I guess you have to plug in while you are at DEN (6 in terminal E, 10 in West Garage, and 1 in East Garage--You pay the parking fee and the free charging is included).

 

[Barry]

I've parked at DIA during the past 2 winters and never had an issue.

Hopefully you have enough charge to make it to the Supercharger about 6 miles from the airport. Also, the highs are going to be 50-60F until Sunday, so that should help.

Agree with Tam about the settings.

Also, I usually park at USAirpark. They have EV charging in their valet service. The place across the street from them (forget the name) also has EV charging available.

If I'm going to be away for more than 5 days, I take Uber or a limo. It's more cost effective for me (Lakewood).

 

[ozweepay]

I've parked at DIA during the past 2 winters and never had an issue.

This is the 4th time I've had a problem. I also have other problems with my car that Tesla has been unable to fix (such as the driver assist hardware intermittently failing) which may be related somehow.

Hopefully you have enough charge to make it to the Supercharger about 6 miles from the airport. Also, the highs are going to be 50-60F until Sunday, so that should help.

It was 40mi remaining yesterday and now it's 39mi. So if that's the new rate of vamp loss, I will be fine. However, I have a very tight return schedule on Sunday and was really hoping to skip charging to make it home. Clearly I won't make it now without another 20 mins at the SC and a longer drive (I usually take the tollway instead of going down to the SC). But I'm VERY glad I won't need a tow.

Also, I usually park at USAirpark. They have EV charging in their valet service. The place across the street from them (forget the name) also has EV charging available.

I don't mean to sound like a princess, but my schedule is usually so tight that I can't afford the extra time to park off-site and shuttle to the airport. If I couldn't park on-site at DIA I would just take an Uber instead.

Responding to Tam above, there are several EV chargers at DIA but they are very often all taken these days. Back in the old days (3 years ago) it was Teslas only at those chargers and there were a few open usually. But nowadays with all the EVs, you often can't get a plug. And some would argue (myself included) those plugs should be for low-range cars that can't make it home without a halfway top-off (like a Volt) whereas Teslas really should be able to make the 100 mi round trip without any extra charging.

If I'm going to be away for more than 5 days, I take Uber or a limo. It's more cost effective for me (Lakewood).

I suppose I should start doing Uber instead of leaving my car. Something is clearly wrong with the car, either mine specifically or with the Tesla design generally. Cost doesn't really matter since this all gets passed to the client.

But I like driving my car and I really prefer driving it when I can. It just seems like my Tesla can't be parked for than a day or so in the winter unless it's plugged in.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

@ozweepay , If you have preconditioning (and camping mode) disabled, it is possible there's a door that is ajar? That could prevent the car from sleeping. We regularly leave our Teslas at DIA and have never had to worry about losing that much charge. For my car, I often go a week between charges and only see the charge go down by 1-3 miles per day. With the other Teslas in our garage, we plug them in every night so it's harder to see how much the charge goes down but I think they are still in the 1-3 mile per day range.

If you fear you won't have enough charge, we'd be happy to drive out and take your car to the Supercharger for you. I saw Bjorn did something similar for a friend's Model X earlier this week.

 

[Akikiki]

Well, I guess you are glad this is the last winter that you have to worry about there being something wrong with this car. From your TMC signature I gleaned that your lease is up Sep '18 so you will have the chance to move on from this car.

 

[ozweepay]

@ozweepay
If you fear you won't have enough charge, we'd be happy to drive out and take your car to the Supercharger for you. I saw Bjorn did something similar for a friend's Model X earlier this week.

Thank you so much! I will DEFINITELY take you up on this if I start to get very low. But 39mi is ok for now.

 

[ozweepay]

Well, I guess you are glad this is the last winter that you have to worry about there being something wrong with this car. From your TMC signature I gleaned that your lease is up Sep '18 so you will have the chance to move on from this car.

Yes, but I'm thinking of getting a Ludicrous P100D for my next car. I know it's a stupid waste of money, but.... OMG

 

[animorph]

My best guess is Smart Preconditioning is on. Even logging and no sleep wouldn't lose 180 miles in three days (More like 9 - 15 miles/day). And it should stop when the battery gets low, like you are seeing. If that's the case you should see the same losses you had for the last day until you get back. I don't think Cabin Overheat Protection works to keep the car warm.