Model 3 Performance Real 3 Week Phantom Drain Test

[kickinggas]

I just came back from 22 days of travel and was very nervous before I left about how much charge I would have when returned. I had no choice but to leave it unplugged the whole time so I did some research before I left and came across this chart which showed that the Model 3 would lose about 305 miles of 30 days!! Was I going to come home to a brick??

Well, great news - this chart is entirely WRONG! I left my car parked on a Thursday night at 7 pm and recorded the charge at 87%. I then checked the app once a week around the same time every Thursday to see the SOC. After week 1 I was at 84%. After week 2 I was at 80%. After week 3 I was at 76%. When I stepped into my car the next morning I was at 75%. So, in 3 weeks, having only checked once a week, I only lost 13%!

Here's a full week by week look at the screenshots:

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Good to see that Tesla is continuing to work on improving this.

That chart with predictions seems pretty silly - or just really dated - phantom drain was never that bad I don't think (maybe very early on?), but previously I would have expected your situation to result in 70-90 miles of range loss. Instead you lost 37 miles in 3 weeks. This may also be due to temperature and have nothing to do with changes on Tesla's side; I'm not sure.

1) Software version? (Looking at my data it looks like things started to improve a bit in early May.)
2) Any special configuration of your car in the settings to minimize the loss? Looks like it was garaged, right?

I haven't left my car for any number of days recently - you really have to leave it for 4-5 days before you get an idea of the drain. Last time I checked was back in mid-March and I think I was around 3-4 miles a day still, stored at around 65-70 degrees. It looks like it probably is a bit better now, just looking at piecemeal data, but it's hard to tell without an actual test.

Thanks for the data!

 

[M3-Florida]

Thank you for this information as it makes me feel a little more at ease. I will also be leaving my M3 SR+ for 21 days and will document.

 

[MrMassTransit]

I am on 2016.12 and am also seeing very little vampire drain. I appear to be averaging less than one mile per day, perhaps as little .5 mile. I've been very pleasantly surprised.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

My extremely unreliable (it should be ignored) data is that things appear only slightly better with 2019.16.2. Charged up to 277 last night, parked my car elsewhere in the work parking lot with 276, came back to work today, car was at 274.

So 2 miles in about 16 hours. I say this data should be ignored, since it isn't useful to look at data from just a day - there are too many factors - a multi-day test (at least 4-5 days) is necessary to get a good estimate.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Thank you for this information as it makes me feel a little more at ease. I will also be leaving my M3 SR+ for 21 days and will document.

Definitely report back with your result & software version. Be sure to turn off Sentry Mode! You can put the data in the mega-thread once you have it!:

Vampire Drain/Loss Tracking

 

[derotam]

I just came back from 22 days of travel and was very nervous before I left about how much charge I would have when returned. I had no choice but to leave it unplugged the whole time so I did some research before I left and came across this chart which showed that the Model 3 would lose about 305 miles of 30 days!! Was I going to come home to a brick??

Well, great news - this chart is entirely WRONG! I left my car parked on a Thursday night at 7 pm and recorded the charge at 87%. I then checked the app once a week around the same time every Thursday to see the SOC. After week 1 I was at 84%. After week 2 I was at 80%. After week 3 I was at 76%. When I stepped into my car the next morning I was at 75%. So, in 3 weeks, having only checked once a week, I only lost 13%!

Here's a full week by week look at the screenshots:

Looks like your car did pretty good....you should plug your phone in though.

 

[M3-Florida]

Thank you for this information as it makes me feel a little more at ease. I will also be leaving my M3 SR+ for 21 days and will document.

During the 21 days I was gone, I went from 208 Miles to 189. (19 Miles Total)

Software Version 2019.12

Temps in the 90F-95F range during the day.

Awakened car 4x during the 21 days.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

During the 21 days I was gone, I went from 208 Miles to 189. (19 Miles Total)

Software Version 2019.12

Temps in the 90F-95F range during the day.

Awakened car 4x during the 21 days.

Not too bad, a bit less than 10W average.

Seems like a silly question, perhaps, but did you happen leave it plugged in with threshold set low?

Any USB plugged in?
Did you have data sharing on?
Cabin Overheat Protection (guess it only operates for a limited time so probably a non issue).

Was the car outside?

 

[Rottenapplr]

I learned at TMC turning off WiFi helps to put the car to sleep. I believe this is correct. I turned off WiFi and my car sleeps for hours at a time now. As of today it’s been asleep since 8.31am. And 5 hrs already! I recommend turning off WiFi now.

It’s currently plugged in at home so sentry mode is off, and it’s in the temp controlled garage.

 

[M3-Florida]

Not too bad, a bit less than 10W average.

Seems like a silly question, perhaps, but did you happen leave it plugged in with threshold set low?

Any USB plugged in?
Did you have data sharing on?
Cabin Overheat Protection (guess it only operates for a limited time so probably a non issue).

Was the car outside?

Car was connected to WIFI, unplugged from power, had no cabin overheat protection (never used it before) and outside under a metal carport. I did not have any USB devices plugged in and don't use any 3rd party apps (if that is what you mean by data sharing).

I forgot to mention that about day 14 (2 weeks into my vacation) I received an alert about new software update on my Tesla app. I cannot remember if that was during one of the times I woke up the car to check battery or it just appeared.

 

[SteeveeLeevee]

This is getting ridiculous, put the car to bed last night power button off, all wifi wiped out, air con fans were off before power down no usb, sentry, dashcam.
64 miles in the battery, woke up this morning with 47 miles in the "tank", drove to the golf club with 44 miles left, came back to the car 5 hours later (weather had warmed up during play) and had 34 miles left.

So it seems I am losing more than I am using, there must be a drain somewhere, any ideas as to where I might look next? Or do I have to ask Tesla?

 

[KenC]

This is getting ridiculous, put the car to bed last night power button off, all wifi wiped out, air con fans were off before power down no usb, sentry, dashcam.
64 miles in the battery, woke up this morning with 47 miles in the "tank", drove to the golf club with 44 miles left, came back to the car 5 hours later (weather had warmed up during play) and had 34 miles left.

So it seems I am losing more than I am using, there must be a drain somewhere, any ideas as to where I might look next? Or do I have to ask Tesla?

Smart Summon?

 

[SteeveeLeevee]

Smart Summon?

Sr+ No FSD.

Smart Summon
Do I have it?

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Sr+ No FSD.

Smart Summon
Do I have it?

No.

Probably just not sleeping for some reason. If you have iOS, check the widget and see if it says the car is sleeping.

You were below 20% for the second interval so none of these other optional drains should be an issue (should automatically turn off once you hit about 48 miles). So really seems like it must not be sleeping.