Left model 3 with full charge at friend's place for a month. Came back to 0 miles.

[te0x]

What the subject says.

I parked my car in a parking structure in LA for about a month with almost a full charge and left town for a month.

Came back to find myself in a bad situation. No superchargers nearby and no charge.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I expected a little bit of drain but it seems insane that I would lose more than 200 miles without the car moving.

 

[CO2CLEAN]

What the subject says.

I parked my car in a parking structure in LA for about a month with almost a full charge and left town for a month.

Came back to find myself in a bad situation. No superchargers nearby and no charge.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I expected a little bit of drain but it seems insane that I would lose more than 200 miles without the car moving.

Was the car used in any way? Opening the car for example? Did you use the app frequently to check up on your car? Those are all causes for the systems in the car to stay active and consume more energy. However, it does seem that your car has a bug where one or more systems stay powered on and draining the battery over time. How is your car behaving now? Do you also lose many miles per day/hour at this moment?

 

[diamond.g]

Also would be good to know what version of software your car is on, as older software versions used more battery. They added a deeper sleep in 2018.10 that folks have said really helped diminish the vampire drain.

 

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Your friend owns a parking struture? Nice! Vampire drain seemed much higher than the manual stated up until the recent software update. Do you have AAA? I think they offer mobile charging. They might need to jumper the 12V too.

 

[davewill]

I take it you never watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

 

[Need]

Do you have AAA? I think they offer mobile charging. They might need to jumper the 12V too.

I read the same thing about AAA's EV cars mobile charging trucks. I think Los Angeles is one of the metro area that AAA offers this.

 

[drawfour]

Don't Teslas come with free roadside assistance? Surely out of charge would count? Do the Rangers have the capability of charging? Or would they tow to a super charger?

 

[smartypnz]

Don't Teslas come with free roadside assistance? Surely out of charge would count? Do the Rangers have the capability of charging? Or would they tow to a super charger?

Depending on location, they bring a full battery pack and swap. (takes less than 5 minutes)

 

[brkaus]

Don't Teslas come with free roadside assistance? Surely out of charge would count? Do the Rangers have the capability of charging? Or would they tow to a super charger?

I believe they will cover one “didn’t charge the main battery” tow on roadside assistance.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Please don't take this badly, but it seems such a waste to leave a Model 3 idle for a month.
I'm sure you had perfectly good reasons, but it still feels kind of tragic with all those people still in the queue.

 

[Devanish]

Did you have the Energy saving mode turned on? page 52 in the manual.

 

[TexasEV]

Did you have the Energy saving mode turned on? page 52 in the manual.

This thread is about the Model 3, in the Model 3 forum. There is no energy saving mode yet.

 

[diamond.g]

This thread is about the Model 3, in the Model 3 forum. There is no energy saving mode yet.

Didn't 2018.10.5 turn on energy saving mode (allows the car to go to sleep) without a means of turning it off?

 

[jsmay311]

What the subject says.

I parked my car in a parking structure in LA for about a month with almost a full charge and left town for a month.

Came back to find myself in a bad situation. No superchargers nearby and no charge.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I expected a little bit of drain but it seems insane that I would lose more than 200 miles without the car moving.

@te0x

Assuming you bring this up with Tesla Service, please let us know what they say. This story is very alarming if true, so it'd be good to know the root cause.

 

[privater]

Given the earliest firmware update with sleep mode confirmed (2018.10.5) is around 3/25, and take OP's 1 month idle for reference (Mar 3 - Apr 3), The chance that his car won't suffer vampire drain is slim. From reports of my posts, most people suffers average 6-10 mi loss per day. before 2018.10.5. So for a 30 days idle, that means at around 180-300 mi vampire drain lose.

The Bad part of OP's story is Model 3's vampire drain is real and insufferable. (I never saw any article or website ever talked about it)
The Good part is it might become a history issue after sleep model introduced from firmware 2018.10.5

 

[StigsCanadaCuz]

If the parking garage isn't heated, it's likely that colder overnight weather, conditioning the battery, was to blame. I understand you're in California, but what are type of overnight temperatures are there in January?

 

[jsmay311]

If the parking garage isn't heated, it's likely that colder overnight weather, conditioning the battery, was to blame. I understand you're in California, but what are type of overnight temperatures are there in January?

You're suggesting that an unplugged Model 3 will actively heat its battery while it's off???

 

[AllDigital]

I had one of the very first Model S cars. In the early days (first six months) it had big vampire draw issues — about the same as the Model 3, but then it was fixed in OTA firmware early. Now I can leave my S at the airport for a week and only lose a mile (or less) of charge. I suspect this will get worked out in the M3 software soon.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Last time I went on holidays I left the car plugged in at home, but set the target charge to 50%.
Car was at 90% and lost about 2% per day.
Me checking it 5 times a day and honking the horn across 10 time zones probably didn't help

 

[slipnslider]

Perhaps the car sits there and uploads a bunch of data it has collected to help with autopilot fleet learning, which drains the battery. If so, tesla should really make this something that can be turned off.