Turning the car off to avoid range loss?

[Andrew]

Our Model S loses about 10 miles of range each day, which was a surprise at first (now I've come to accept it... mostly.) It's like leaving a 250 watt light bulb on all the time, which is frustrating, since a big part of the reason we bought this car was the energy efficiency.

Until sleep mode makes a comeback, has anybody been turning the car off to avoid the vampire drain? That big "OFF" button in the controls is awfully tempting, but I've been scared to try it. (If nothing else: I don't know where the "ON" button is!).

So... if we're not going to drive for a couple of days, and don't need remote access during that time, is it a good idea or bad idea to switch the car off?

 

[Stimyg]

I don't have the car yet but I have to think that "off" does not actually mean off in the way you're thinking about it. Otherwise that would be like putting it to sleep, and everyone would use it.

Right?

If I'm wrong I'd love to know.

 

[Malasada]

I hit "off" every time I park since I got the car in late December. I think it just shuts down the display/music, but everything starts back up when you open the car door a second time or step on the brake so it's not putting it to sleep like you are thinking about. Also you can still use the app. I just do it to shut down things a few seconds earlier than they would normally go dark. Have not had a problem with it waking back up immediately.

 

[strider]

Yep. Unfortunately "Off" is not sleep. As Malasada said, it just shuts off the screens and HVAC if you want to sit in the car w/o those things on. Your "Vampire load" losses will not be affected by the use of that button.

 

[Andrew]

Oh well. Thanks - figured it was worth asking... Perhaps in a future version of the software...

 

[bellwilliam]

this is something Tesla say will fix for the last ~8 months ?

 

[zeron]

this is something Tesla say will fix for the last ~8 months ?

Elon did say they will deliver a working sleep mode before Norway deliveries begin (so May, June).

 

[Stoneymonster]

this is something Tesla say will fix for the last ~8 months ?

It was "fixed" for the first time earlier this year, but not well. So it's more fair to say they have been
working to get it right for about 3 months now.

 

[kendallpb]

I hit "off" every time I park since I got the car in late December. I think it just shuts down the display/music, but everything starts back up when you open the car door a second time or step on the brake so it's not putting it to sleep like you are thinking about. Also you can still use the app. I just do it to shut down things a few seconds earlier than they would normally go dark. Have not had a problem with it waking back up immediately.

It does this anyway--I'm not sure if it's when the car locks, or after a timeout, or both. (I use the auto-walk-away-locking, so it "just works" for me--locks and turns that stuff off.) So I think you can save the extra effort of hitting off, if that's why you're doing it...?