Leaving my MS for weeks

[ColinM]

This is a newbie question, I am sure. My MS is in production and scheduled for delivery in early December. Not long after I will be away for a few weeks. It is winter in Chicago and while the car is in a garage, the temperature is cold.


My question is - should I leave the car plugged in all the time I am gone? Are there any negatives from doing that? Alternatively leaving it unplugged - are there any negatives from doing that?

 

[Lump]

Plug it in & leave it, its a smart car & knows how to take car of itself, Tesla recomends plugging in as much as possible, just move the charging slider some someware in the middle & have a good trip.

 

[Doug_G]

Yes, you should absolutely leave your car plugged in. There are no negatives to doing that.

Leaving it unplugged is a bad idea. The worst-case scenario is the battery goes flat, which is bad.

As Lump suggested, put the slider at 50% and plug it in.

 

[astrotoy]

I was gone for a month in June and left the car plugged in. I could check on its status (and location) with my Tesla app, even though I was 8000 miles away!

 

[Chipper]

Of course another option would be to leave it with me and I will take wonderfully good care of it, taking it out for a ride three or four times a day, keeping it nice and warm in my heated garage at night. I would not charge much and you would not have to worry about anything at all.

 

[J1mbo]

I will be in a similar situation when my car is delivered, except that I will have absolutely no way to leave it on charge.

Seems that the "vampire" drain with the latest firmware is now down to around 1-3 miles a night (assuming that you don't log in to the app), this suggests that an 85 can last for over 3 months after a full charge?

Would be great if the car could send an email notification when the charge drops below a certain level (even better if you could preset that level).

 

[montgom626]

Always leave it plugged in.

- - - Updated - - -

Seems that the "vampire" drain with the latest firmware is now down to around 1-3 miles a night (assuming that you don't log in to the app), this suggests that an 85 can last for over 3 months after a full charge?
.

Loss is more like 7 miles per 24 hours on 5.8

 

[UMD86]

I believe TESLA will notify you if the battery gets to a dangerously low level.

I will be in a similar situation when my car is delivered, except that I will have absolutely no way to leave it on charge.

Seems that the "vampire" drain with the latest firmware is now down to around 1-3 miles a night (assuming that you don't log in to the app), this suggests that an 85 can last for over 3 months after a full charge?

Would be great if the car could send an email notification when the charge drops below a certain level (even better if you could preset that level).

 

[lujoleasing]

I had smilar situation , since I shipt my car from Long Beach, Ca to Valparaiso , Chile . Total amount of days in shipping was 28 days from when it was seald in the container to the opening in customs in Valparaiso , we unplug both battery main and the 12 volt , then when we woke up the car it had a range of 260 miles from the fully charge even disconected on both batterys , in your case before shipping I recommend keeping it in charge and obviusly making the same precauions I did , how ever I hope you are well informed on how to isolate the wireing for both batterys, long transportation times . you dont want the car to be dead on both batterys on arrival

 

[caddieo]

I've taken 3 trips ranging from 1 to 3 weeks duration over the last 4 months. Left the car plugged in each time with slider at about 50-60% without any problems.

 

[jthompson]

Page 17 of the Model S Owners Manual states: "Tesla strongly recommends leaving Model S plugged in when not in use. This maximizes the lifetime of the Battery (see page 25)." Page 25 states: "Your Model S Battery is one of the most sophisticated battery systems
in the world. The most important way to preserve the Battery is to LEAVE YOUR MODEL S PLUGGED IN when you’re not using it. This is particularly important if you are not planning to drive your Model S for several weeks. When plugged in, Model S wakes up when needed to automatically maintain a charge level that maximizes the lifetime of the Battery. There is no advantage to waiting until the Battery’s level is low before charging. In fact, the Battery performs best when charged regularly."

Not sure where folks are getting the 50% rate idea, but I would set your car to charge to the Daily Limit (on the slider) all the time unless Max Charge is needed. On page 17 of the Owners Manual it states "By default, Model S charges to the STANDARD charge level, which provides the fastest charging time and maximizes the life of the Battery by charging it to less than its full capacity."

You be the final judge at what percent you should charge your car while you are gone.

 

[jerry33]

Not sure where folks are getting the 50% rate idea

50% is the storage mode level in the Roadster (there's an actual storage setting). It's used when the car is not driven for an extended period. Based on posts by HCSharp and others:

1. from 90% to 50% is easiest on the battery when driving.

2. 50% is best for long term storage.

3. Leaving the battery at more than 90% or less than 10% for a long time is worst--especially at high temperatures.

4. Using full power at low battery levels is second worst.

5. Doing a range charge and then driving right away is not particularly harmful.

Except for #3 and perhaps #4, the rest will make a minimum amount of difference to the battery life due to the battery management system of the Tesla.

 

[djp]

50% is the storage mode level in the Roadster (there's an actual storage setting). It's used when the car is not driven for an extended period.

Actually Storage Mode on the Roadster is 20% SOC. The lower the better for storage, so long as you don't drop it all the way to zero. Setting the slider to 50% on the Model S is the closest you can get to a Storage mode.

 

[ColinM]

Of course another option would be to leave it with me and I will take wonderfully good care of it, taking it out for a ride three or four times a day, keeping it nice and warm in my heated garage at night. I would not charge much and you would not have to worry about anything at all.

That is such a kind offer Chipper. I can hardly believe the generosity and altruism on this forum. :wink: I would add though, that many friends and members of my family have made similar kind offers. It has led me to think that my next purchase will need to be a small but uncrackable safe for my Tesla keys.

- - - Updated - - -

As Lump suggested, put the slider at 50% and plug it in.

Thanks for all the responses. I had suspected that plugging it in was the best option now confirmed by several of you and the owner's manual. The part I had not thought of was putting the slider at 50%. Great advice from all of you.

 

[Kipernicus]

I had smilar situation , since I shipt my car from Long Beach, Ca to Valparaiso , Chile . Total amount of days in shipping was 28 days from when it was seald in the container to the opening in customs in Valparaiso , we unplug both battery main and the 12 volt , then when we woke up the car it had a range of 260 miles from the fully charge even disconected on both batterys , in your case before shipping I recommend keeping it in charge and obviusly making the same precauions I did , how ever I hope you are well informed on how to isolate the wireing for both batterys, long transportation times . you dont want the car to be dead on both batterys on arrival

This is very interesting! (Congrats on having a MS in Chile by the way)
Did Tesla show you how to disconnect and reconnect the main battery?

other off topic questions about being in Chile: does the 3g work? can you get any software updates? does slacker, maps, navi, mobile app work? is there any public charging?

 

[jkliu47]

I went on a cruise down in South America for 2 weeks, left my car plugged in at 66% charging mode. Checked on it all through the cruise on my iPhone app - and the range in miles charged varied from 165 miles to 171 miles.
My Tesla was all happy to see me home, as was my dog