"Long-term Parking Setting?"

[Michael CM]

Hello,

On occasion, I would like park my Model Y LR long-term (say two or more weeks) at a location without charging and where it might be a long drive to a charger meaning I would want to return to my car with as much charge as possible. This is mostly for long hiking trips, but could also be at a remote airport, etc. My plan is to go through the checklist of settings to turn off such as Sentry Mode, bluetooth and wifi, mobile access, data sharing, etc.

What I think I would like is to have a single setting called something like "Long-term Parking" that tells the car to sleep, stay asleep, and do more-or-less nothing (except keep the 12 V battery healthy!) until I put the card-key on the door pillar. I am presuming that Tesla is in a better place to optimize the car's behavior for long-term parking than I am.

Now, without the feedback@tesla email, I am not sure how to bring this up, but I thought I would mention it here to see whether others find this of interest, or know of some similar strategy.

Michael

 

[gcsutton]

I'm interested in the answer.

 

[Darmie]

Is this not it?

 

[brkaus]

I’d just turn off sentry and summon standby (should always be off imho) and make sure to not contact the car via the app.

if you really need the car to sit for a long time - pull the battery cable. But I wouldn’t do that unless the car was in moderate climate and I had no other choice.

I believe that was in the manual.

 

[Darmie]

Keep in mind that this is not an uncommon idea for any other type of vehicle. Riders leave motorcycles parked for months and months at a time. One thing that people do that is common is they all use a battery tender of some sort. Bikes and some classic cars will use a small 12v plug that makes it easy to plug in the tender. I know OP mention park without power but it is highly recommended to have some kind of power run to the car. 110v works great in this example.

 

[Eno Deb]

Just make sure to turn off Summon standby and Sentry mode (it's important to turn off the former before you leave because it can't be controlled remotely, while Sentry can), because they prevent the car from sleeping. You'll lose roughly 1-2% battery charge per day this way.

 

[Michael CM]

Is this not it?
View attachment 646991

I have wondered about this, and read up on it in the manual. As I read the manual, it suggests that this be done only while one is inside the car, and that touching the door, brakes, or touchscreen wakes the car up. If true, this does not help. If not true, please enlighten!

Thank you!

 

[smogne41]

Keep in mind that this is not an uncommon idea for any other type of vehicle. Riders leave motorcycles parked for months and months at a time. One thing that people do that is common is they all use a battery tender of some sort. Bikes and some classic cars will use a small 12v plug that makes it easy to plug in the tender. I know OP mention park without power but it is highly recommended to have some kind of power run to the car. 110v works great in this example.

In today's world that is totally impractical (limiting yourself to parking where there is at least 110V available). That would eliminate the car from most of the trips I have taken it on (airport parking, many hotels, street parking, etc). Sure, I will use an outlet when available but 95% of the places I need to go don't have one. Thankfully (as pointed out above) you really don't need to, just turn off sentry, summon (if you have it), and any 3rd party apps that might be waking the car. I left the car in February 2020 at BWI for 10 days and I lost about 9 miles of range. Totally manageable for a few weeks, but not great for longer. Phantom drain is actually an area (one of the few) where many other EVs are far better Tesla. I agree with OP though, a 'long term parking' button would be fantastic, hopefully one that would go even further than regular sleep.

 

[KalJoMoS]

I have wondered about this, and read up on it in the manual. As I read the manual, it suggests that this be done only while one is inside the car, and that touching the door, brakes, or touchscreen wakes the car up. If true, this does not help. If not true, please enlighten!

Thank you!

Yes, it’s only for temporary solution, while you are inside the car if needing system shutdown. I have also wondered why Tesla have not introduced shortcut that can be used with the service menu “Wheel configuration”. This does much better shutdown that what have mentioned here. Sorry for driving off subject...

 

[Snerruc]

I’ve left my car for extended time several times. If you make sure Summon ,the cameras ,security and cabin overheat protection are off, you should lose no more than 1 mile per day. Remember, when the car is in really deep sleep, it may take as much as 10 minutes to wake up. I think this is because it is not checking for a signal frequently. Pressing one of the handles usually helps. Don’t check the car! That wakes it up and costs miles. If the cat thinks there is a problem, it will message you so you can deal with it. I had this happen once.

 

[smogne41]

Yes, it’s only for temporary solution, while you are inside the car if needing system shutdown. I have also wondered why Tesla have not introduced shortcut that can be used with the service menu “Wheel configuration”. This does much better shutdown that what have mentioned here. Sorry for driving off subject...

Because if the the car is actually powered off, there is no way to gain entry. No phone key and the keycard reader would be dead. Downside of no mechanical key.

 

[Hydrocarbon302]

Here is where a small solar panel on the roof would help out. Just enough to keep the 12v from going flat when parking for several days, outside of course.

 

[EVRider-FL]

I avoid this issue by taking an Uber to the airport rather than parking there, even for shorter stays. It's often less expensive than airport parking, and you don't have to worry about your car.

 

[tmeyer2000]

I did not turn off Sentry or Summon when parking at the airport recently, but over 8 days long-term parking the estimate went from 255 miles to 133 miles, or 15 miles/day. I will try an experiment by shutting those two off, but wondering if anyone can confirm this high drain from these two?

 

[smogne41]

I did not turn off Sentry or Summon when parking at the airport recently, but over 8 days long-term parking the estimate went from 255 miles to 133 miles, or 15 miles/day. I will try an experiment by shutting those two off, but wondering if anyone can confirm this high drain from these two?

Yes, many people have confirmed both of those as heavy draws. I can confirm with both of those turned off (well only sentry since I don't have summon) I usually loose lass than a mile a day when parked for multiple days.

 

[EVRider-FL]

I did not turn off Sentry or Summon when parking at the airport recently, but over 8 days long-term parking the estimate went from 255 miles to 133 miles, or 15 miles/day. I will try an experiment by shutting those two off, but wondering if anyone can confirm this high drain from these two?

Sentry Mode alone can use 1+ miles of range per hour, so 15 miles/day is actually less than I would have expected.

 

[PhantomX]

I do wish Tesla can make sentry more efficient, since it's a desirable feature for many places where people park for long term while out on trips. I guess a workaround is getting a off-the-shelf dashcam...

 

[Darmie]

I do wish Tesla can make sentry more efficient, since it's a desirable feature for many places where people park for long term while out on trips. I guess a workaround is getting a off-the-shelf dashcam...

I remember reading somewhere that Ring (Amazon) was going to offer some kind of online viewing of AP cameras. This would be great for long term.

 

[smatrm]

Yes, many people have confirmed both of those as heavy draws. I can confirm with both of those turned off (well only sentry since I don't have summon) I usually loose lass than a mile a day when parked for multiple days.

Just got back from a month long trip to the United States. Parked my model 3 at Heathrow T5 long stay car park. Before arriving there went to the Poyle Rd Hilton Supercharger, leaving the car at the car park with 91% SOC. Switched off the sentry mode and motion sensors. Covered the car with a M3 cover from Amazon, more to retain heat than anything else. (And to protect my precious)! Disciplined about not waking the car up while away, I didn't check the SOC until I landed at Heathrow. SOC was 76%. More than enough to return home with zero stops to home in Somerset.

 

[GtiMart]

That's the thing... you can do it yourself. As soon as you need the 12V to be maintained, the car needs to wake up roughly every day anyway. You need that so the card reader recognizes you and lets you in the car when you come back. As long as you turn off the known settings that keep the car awake, you'll be okay. At best Tesla would provide one switch to turn off smart summon, cabin overheat protection and sentry.