Leaving plugged into 110V at airport garage?

[jlindy]

All the searches I’ve done on this were basically discussions around etiquette of taking a L2 charger for an extended period but my questions are more around using and managing plugging into a basic 110V outlet at the airport for 3-8 days or longer when traveling. As a disclaimer, there are a whole row of outlets which nobody seems to be using anyway so thought I would give it a try and come home to a fully charged vehicle that was already pre-heated when I arrived at the garage.

It’s pretty cold in my town right now with temps between 10-30 degrees F. The car has been plugged into the 110V for nearly 24 hours and has only gained about 45 miles of range. Is leaving this plugged into the wall like this bad for the battery, especially since it is fighting the cold constantly to warm the battery enough to accept a charge? Should I instead periodically turn off charging for a bit and instead start it back up about 24 hours before arrival?

I know Tesla says leave an unused car plugged in but is it ok to leave for many days/weeks at a time in 110V? With all the discussion and battery life and some adamantly suggesting that continual small charges can confuse BMS to lower the floor (and I personally saw some estimated range loss after I started leaving plugged in over night) I thought I would get advice on best approach to fight cold weather drain and the convenience of having a fully charged car vs. just leaving it alone and parking without plugging in.

 

[paulk]

I’ve done that twice before while away for 3.5 weeks, had the charge set to 50%. The day before arrival I set it to 70%, and everything worked great. No loss of range (I monitor with TeslaMate).

 

[gfunkdave]

There's nothing bad about it from the car's/battery's perspective. But if the garage doesn't specifically allow it then a garage employee might unplug you if they catch you. The garage we park in at my office makes it a policy to unplug cars that it finds plugged in to the 120V outlets (owner is a cheapskate who is convinced the power costs will bankrupt him).

 

[Chisale]

There wouldn't be anything wrong with that as far as the battery. Only thing I would worry about is some nefarious person unplugging it from the wall and walking away. And there would be nothing you could do about it except maybe have a friend near home drive to the airport and plug it back in. So to guard against that happening I would arrive at airport with fairly high SoC already. Then if somebody does that you could shut down Sentry to conserve battery charge until you got home.

 

[ewoodrick]

All the searches I’ve done on this were basically discussions around etiquette of taking a L2 charger for an extended period but my questions are more around using and managing plugging into a basic 110V outlet at the airport for 3-8 days or longer when traveling. As a disclaimer, there are a whole row of outlets which nobody seems to be using anyway so thought I would give it a try and come home to a fully charged vehicle that was already pre-heated when I arrived at the garage.

It’s pretty cold in my town right now with temps between 10-30 degrees F. The car has been plugged into the 110V for nearly 24 hours and has only gained about 45 miles of range. Is leaving this plugged into the wall like this bad for the battery, especially since it is fighting the cold constantly to warm the battery enough to accept a charge? Should I instead periodically turn off charging for a bit and instead start it back up about 24 hours before arrival?

I know Tesla says leave an unused car plugged in but is it ok to leave for many days/weeks at a time in 110V? With all the discussion and battery life and some adamantly suggesting that continual small charges can confuse BMS to lower the floor (and I personally saw some estimated range loss after I started leaving plugged in over night) I thought I would get advice on best approach to fight cold weather drain and the convenience of having a fully charged car vs. just leaving it alone and parking without plugging in.

It's not only okay, but it borders on being the best for airports.
I've got an airport parking facility in Atlanta that I do the same in. I suspect that on that wall, you will see a bunch of Teslas and Leafs parked.

 

[Bill Foster]

What does Tesla say about it?

 

[ralph142]

what does the airport say about it ? Are they likely to unplug you ?

 

[ewoodrick]

what does the airport say about it ? Are they likely to unplug you ?

It's actually an off-airport facility that advertises it. there's probably always at least 20-40 EVs there when I get there.

 

[ralph142]

It's actually an off-airport facility that advertises it. there's probably always at least 20-40 EVs there when I get there.

perfect. go for it.

 

[vickh]

There's nothing bad about it from the car's/battery's perspective. But if the garage doesn't specifically allow it then a garage employee might unplug you if they catch you. The garage we park in at my office makes it a policy to unplug cars that it finds plugged in to the 120V outlets (owner is a cheapskate who is convinced the power costs will bankrupt him).

it's funny if people would see how much 12A power costs vs gaining a customer... Math is hard

 

[jlindy]

I was worried that same degenerate would unplug and steal the cable. Not sure how much that happens or if there’s value to them for selling it on eBay it something.

 

[vickh]

I was worried that same degenerate would unplug and steal the cable. Not sure how much that happens or if there’s value to them for selling it on eBay it something.

There is a resale value but it's only like $35 bucks for 5-15 adapter. the rest of it should lock to the car.

 

[jlindy]

It’s still plugged in and set to 90%. 279 miles was normal over the summer and started to go down. It seems this fall and winter has gone down to 268 miles at 90%. Right now it says charge complete at 266 and just went down another to 265 which is a bit worrying but the battery is cold soaked for sure.

I see I can stop charging (from the app) but once it hits “charge complete” that option disappears. Should I set it to 95%, stop the charging and then lower back down to 90% or just leave? Worried the estimated range will continue to go down if left plugged in or is that just a factor of the weather?

full disclosure We moved temporarily for 6 months and lost ability to charge and no garage now. I’m going to Destination chargers on the regular and maybe a supercharger once every other week. At least the energy has pretty much been free

 

[srs5694]

There is a resale value but it's only like $35 bucks for 5-15 adapter. the rest of it should lock to the car.

The adapter is $35 new from Tesla. It'd be less used.

That said, @jlindy mentioned temperatures in the 10-30F range. At below-freezing temperatures (I'm not sure of the exact cutoff value), the Tesla charge port (at least on the Model 3; I'm not sure about the S and X) will unlock once charging is complete. This is apparently done because some owners had problems last winter with the locking mechanism freezing, making it difficult to remove the charging cable in cold weather. Thus, there is risk of somebody walking off with the whole Mobile Connector. It's probably a fairly low risk (contrary to common perception, thieves aren't lurking in every corner), but it's not 0.

 

[patrick40363]

It’s still plugged in and set to 90%. 279 miles was normal over the summer and started to go down. It seems this fall and winter has gone down to 268 miles at 90%. Right now it says charge complete at 266 and just went down another to 265 which is a bit worrying but the battery is cold soaked for sure.

I see I can stop charging (from the app) but once it hits “charge complete” that option disappears. Should I set it to 95%, stop the charging and then lower back down to 90% or just leave? Worried the estimated range will continue to go down if left plugged in or is that just a factor of the weather?

full disclosure We moved temporarily for 6 months and lost ability to charge and no garage now. I’m going to Destination chargers on the regular and maybe a supercharger once every other week. At least the energy has pretty much been free

Leave it at 90%. When the range number drops enough it will charge back to 90%.

 

[jlindy]

Yeah i think this is the way to go when you travel, that is until some jackwit steals my entire mobile charger. . Saves me the vampire drain worry in very cold weather.

 

[jlindy]

So checked it this morning and says complete charge but now only 260. I lost 8 more miles from what I normally did just three days ago. I’m really hoping this isn’t permanent. Not sure I’ll plug in like this again when traveling.

 

[mrau]

You could park with one tire on top of the charge cord. Might make it that much harder for someone to steal it. Don't think it would damage the cord at 120 volts power if only done occasionally.

 

[Darmie]

You could park with one tire on top of the charge cord. Might make it that much harder for someone to steal it. Don't think it would damage the cord at 120 volts power if only done occasionally.

Shoot, that's an awesome idea.

 

[ralph142]

How long are you gone for? I would set the charge at 50%, and let it drop until I was xx hours from returning, then charge up to the level you need. That’s better for overall battery longevity. In general the less time at a very high or low state of charge the better. Love the idea of parking over the cable if in a sketchy spot, but if there are other evs there you might ask if that’s been an issue and forgo the wear and tear on the umc.