How much battery will I use up sitting in the car for 6 hours?

[joebruin77]

A now, a very random question about battery usage while parked....

I plan on taking my teenage daughter and her friend to a concert later this month. Instead of buying a ticket for myself, I plan on "camping" in my P3D for 6 hours or so in the parking lot while the girls enjoy the concert.

I am trying to figure out how much battery I will use while hanging out in the car. I will be in the car the whole time, so sentry mode will not be activated. I may have the AC running, but it will be at night so it shouldn't draw too much power. I will likely be watching movies on Netflix for most of the evening.

If I arrive with 260 miles, after 6 hours of "camping" in the parking lot, any idea of how much range I will have left on my battery when it is time to go home?

Thank you,
joe

 

[jjrandorin]

Probably 2 ish miles an hour lost. It wont matter that sentry mode isnt on, because sentry mode just prevents the car from sleeping, and your watching netflix / etc using stuff in the car will be doing the same thing.

If you are trying to budget for if you will need to charge or something, call it 3 ish miles an hour range loss, so for 6 hours 20 miles or less.

 

[RayK]

My completely random guess, without any supporting data or actual experience in doing something like this, would be that if you are streaming videos the whole time and some A/C usage, you'll lose 3-4 miles per hour. So at 6 hours, I'll say a loss of 22 miles.

 

[Sophias_dad]

If you really want to know for sure, turn on camping mode in your garage for six hours.

But yeah, you'll be fine. Its not gonna drain 200+ miles.

 

[RichAZ/CapeCod]

I ran a "test" of my MY this past June (to settle an argument with an anti-EV guy). Car in the sun for several hours. Temps to over 90 degrees. AC on. Lost around 1% per hour. The email I sent him may be seen below. I sent him photos of my screen showing the gradual loss of charge. No photos attached here:

AC test at 90 degrees as promised!! Much to my surprise it hit 95 degrees on the Cape today!! Took the opportunity to run that AC test being clamored for by NYCTPF. The results, both in photos and written, below:

Started at 1254 hours 90 degrees 70% State of Charge (SOC)

Then, 1357 hours, 95 degrees, 68% SOC

1501 hours, 95 degrees, 67%

1559 hours, 89 degrees, 66% SOC

I was a bit surprised by how little energy was used in keeping the car cool. About 1% SOC per hour. Very efficient system. Photos below:

Rich

 

[jalynn2]

I take my dog to competitions that last up to 8 hours and we need to stay in the car when it is not our turn to compete, so I have done this many times. On a really hot day in the sun, running AC the whole time, I have seen losses of 3-4 MPH. On a cloudy, cooler day, it will be closer to 2MPH or less.

 

[Big Earl]

Having camped in the car overnight on several occasions, I concur with what others are saying. I budget for 2% per hour and I'm always pleasantly surprised when it uses less than that. An 8 hour overnight typically uses about 10%.

 

[chumanji9]

This is really good information to have. My wife always kicks me out of the car and drags me to go shopping with her instead of letting me wait and watching a movie in the car, because she thinks it would consume too much electricity. Than again, she might still drag me with her regardless....but at least now I know it doesn't use much range

 

[joebruin77]

This is really good information to have. My wife always kicks me out of the car and drags me to go shopping with her instead of letting me wait and watching a movie in the car, because she thinks it would consume too much electricity. Than again, she might still drag me with her regardless....but at least now I know it doesn't use much range

I went to the concert this past weekend. I parked at 6:00pm and waited in the car until 11:45pm. When I first parked, my battery was at 284 miles. When I left at 11:45pm, my battery was at 279 miles.

 

[RayK]

Wow, only 5 miles used? Were you watching videos all that time?

 

[joebruin77]

Wow, only 5 miles used? Were you watching videos all that time?

Yes, I was watching Netflix or YouTube nearly the whole time. It was cool outside so I did not have to run the AC that much. I also turned the brightness down on the screen. Not sure if that made a big difference or not.

 

[Big Earl]

Must not have been using much climate control.

 

[Rottenapplr]

I’ve done this many times working in a parking lot on my laptop with ac many time. energy loss is negligible.