Winter Outdoor Parking (Airport)

[BlueModY]

Total Tesla newbie; mine doesn't arrive for a couple more weeks. I know that there is less battery range in the winter. I'll sometimes need to park at the airport for 1-1.5 weeks at a time. Will this be an issue if I fully charge at home before driving to the airport (about 20 miles each way)? I don't want to arrive back to a dead car!

 

[Rocky_H]

Here is some reading material on that from searching "airport parking":

Long term airport parking

Hello everyone! Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I’ve only ever used home charging or supercharging before. I’ll be parking at the airport (MCO) for a week, where they have ChargePoint chargers. They charge 12¢/kWh. My question is, if I plug in for a week am I going to come back to a...

teslamotorsclub.com

"Long-term Parking Setting?"

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...

teslamotorsclub.com

Airport Parking and charging

Just thought I would start a new thread for anyone using airport long stay parking (or train station for that matter). Just spent 9d in Portugal for half term with the family and flew out of Birmingham airport. In the past I have used a long stay car park but this time I decided to use Airparks...

teslamotorsclub.com

Airport Parking

Hi, QQ when we can start flying again.....is it possible to park in an Tesla parking spot for an extended period of time? Or is the other option to park in a regular spot. Two questions: 1. If you park in a Tesla parking spot, do you get charge like you would with a park and fly? 2. If you park...

teslamotorsclub.com

Parking at airport for 10 days...

Parking for airport for 10 days with no airport charging. I have read several different threads on how to conserve battery while it sleeps however I was not able to find all items suggested. The following is what I have done. Autopilot Standby Mode OFF Safety & Security Sentry Mode OFF Cabin...

teslamotorsclub.com

M3 SR+ Long-term Airport Parking

Hi everyone, Thinking about getting an M3 SR+ but I often have to travel for work for 3-4 weeks at a time. I’ve no access to a home charger so will need to leave the car unplugged. If I leave it with 90% charge, is there any chance I’ll find it with some charge left when I come back after 4...

teslamotorsclub.com

Parking at an Airport

If I go away for a week and leave my car at the airport will it still be charged when I return in 1-2 weeks?

teslamotorsclub.com

MYP - Parked at airport 5 days

I just returned from a trip where I had to leave my car at the airport from Sunday to Thursday. Obviously, I was concerned about phantom drain and having enough battery to make it home. Here's what I did: Charged to 100% prior to leaving for the airport. Turned off sentry, summon, security...

teslamotorsclub.com

Leaving car at the airport for 2 weeks?

Battery concern leaving car at airport for two weeks.

teslamotorsclub.com

What to do with the car when on vacation

I am going away on vacation for 2 weeks. I had planned to drive to the airport (JFK) and leave the car in long term parking lot. I just realised that this might not be possible due to battery loss (especially in the cold). I don't have charging at home. Any suggestions? Thoughts thus far are to...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[cgell]

Total Tesla newbie; mine doesn't arrive for a couple more weeks. I know that there is less battery range in the winter. I'll sometimes need to park at the airport for 1-1.5 weeks at a time. Will this be an issue if I fully charge at home before driving to the airport (about 20 miles each way)? I don't want to arrive back to a dead car!

You will be fine. Just leave sentry mode off and don’t open the app often while on your trip (it will wake the car each time). Also, turn off cabin overheat protection if you are in an area with high temps. If you avoid these features you won’t lose much… maybe a mile or two per day approximately (a bit more when its very cold out).

 

[Rocky_H]

It's Winter, so I am sure cabin overheat protection won't be a problematic feature, but for sure, turn off Sentry Mode and Summon Standby. Those are some ridiculously high energy draw. With those two off, it should be no problem.

 

[BlueModY]

It's Winter, so I am sure cabin overheat protection won't be a problematic feature, but for sure, turn off Sentry Mode and Summon Standby. Those are some ridiculously high energy draw. With those two off, it should be no problem.

Thanks, super helpful!

 

[Iflyprops]

Some airports have Level 2 chargers that are free and do not have a time limit. My local airport has 3 or 4 (in addition to a supercharger on site). Your airport may as well.

 

[BlueModY]

Some airports have Level 2 chargers that are free and do not have a time limit. My local airport has 3 or 4 (in addition to a supercharger on site). Your airport may as well.

Thanks--I did look, and there are a very limited number of chargers. I fly out of BWI (large, busy airport, being a Southwest hub), and there only seem to be 6 total chargers, and they're first come, first serve. I didn't want to have to rely on being able to park at one, and would just view it as a bonus if I could.

 

[Trendy]

I agree with others. You will be fine. I was nervous about my first 10 day trip to from Salt Lake City to Mexico in winter. I left the car at the airport with 80% battery and to my surprise, when I arrive back 10 days later the car was at 76%. I let it sleep the whole time, resisting the urge to check on it with the app during the trip and amazingly it only lost 4%. Fantastic!

 

[BlueModY]

I agree with others. You will be fine. I was nervous about my first 10 day trip to from Salt Lake City to Mexico in winter. I left the car at the airport with 80% battery and to my surprise, when I arrive back 10 days later the car was at 76%. I let it sleep the whole time, resisting the urge to check on it with the app during the trip and amazingly it only lost 4%. Fantastic!

Thanks!

One of my trips this winter is actually to SLC--and it's the longest, so the one I was the most concerned about. Feeling much better with these replies!

 

[gnuarm]

Thanks--I did look, and there are a very limited number of chargers. I fly out of BWI (large, busy airport, being a Southwest hub), and there only seem to be 6 total chargers, and they're first come, first serve. I didn't want to have to rely on being able to park at one, and would just view it as a bonus if I could.

I'm familiar with BWI and find this issue to be a concern. I've had my car long enough and parked at enough airports to know to turn off the high drain features. In fact, just like my phone has "airplane mode", Teslas should have an "airport parking" mode to automatically turn off everything that is not essential. That would save people a lot of grief.

Weather in the area is not all that cold, but I've seen winter nights get below 10°F. My concern is knowing when the battery will kick in to protect itself and drain too much power running it to zero leaving me stranded. I had something like this happen once and it is a HUGE PITA! I don't want to minimize last winter's events in Texas, but such a near zero spell in Maryland is about as likely and could leave many EV owners stranded at the airport.

It would be so nice if they provided level 1 charging in the long term lots. The cost would be much less than level 3 or even level 2 chargers. If they had an area protected by cameras to deal with theft of the cables, simple 120VAC outlets would do the job,. The cost of the electricity would be so little it's essentially not a factor. I can provide an email address for their point of contact. I don't think I should post it here, so anyone who wants to write BWI about this issue can send me a private message.

Also, I don't know what direction you are coming from, but there's an urban charger around 7 miles to the south just off BW parkway with some food nearby. A 250kW charger is also not far, just inside the beltway at a Royal Farms (not my favorite place to eat... or even be).

 

[Rocky_H]

I've seen winter nights get below 10°F. My concern is knowing when the battery will kick in to protect itself and drain too much power running it to zero leaving me stranded. I had something like this happen once and it is a HUGE PITA!

"something like this"? Could you describe the conditions of that more precisely? Because from what I know of following Tesla stuff for many years, if the cars are just sitting unplugged, not being used, it will let the batteries get very cold without further depleting themselves by turning on any heating. And that is far below 10 or 0 degrees F.

 

[gnuarm]

"something like this"? Could you describe the conditions of that more precisely? Because from what I know of following Tesla stuff for many years, if the cars are just sitting unplugged, not being used, it will let the batteries get very cold without further depleting themselves by turning on any heating. And that is far below 10 or 0 degrees F.

It had been a cold night but was warming up, and I wanted to go into town. The car had about 20% left and typically used 9% to reach town. Arriving at the supermarket, there was still 5% left and I only needed to drive a couple of miles to a Supercharger. When I came out of the store an hour later, the car showed 0%.

I'll spare you much of the story, but it started with a very accommodating store manager who allowed me to charge from a 120V outlet. However, the car appeared to not actually be charging at all, the battery% remained at 0 for hours. At the end of the evening the night manager was very hinkey about it all, even when I explained to him, I had been given permission to charge. I eventually had maybe 2% on the battery and found a gas station that let me charge further.

This is the sort of story that gives people range anxiety.

 

[Rocky_H]

It had been a cold night but was warming up, and I wanted to go into town. The car had about 20% left and typically used 9% to reach town. Arriving at the supermarket, there was still 5% left and I only needed to drive a couple of miles to a Supercharger. When I came out of the store an hour later, the car showed 0%.

Ah, right--that is a different situation that isn't just about sitting. You had been driving. It showed a 5% estimate while the battery was somewhat warmed up from being in use. Then the car parked and sat and got colder again, and that lowering temperature of the battery shifts the estimate down to show less energy in it, and that former 5% estimate can drop off quite a bit. (The voltage curve drops off pretty steeply at the low end, so it can go down really quickly in those bottom single digit percentages.)

 

[gnuarm]

Ah, right--that is a different situation that isn't just about sitting. You had been driving. It showed a 5% estimate while the battery was somewhat warmed up from being in use. Then the car parked and sat and got colder again, and that lowering temperature of the battery shifts the estimate down to show less energy in it, and that former 5% estimate can drop off quite a bit. (The voltage curve drops off pretty steeply at the low end, so it can go down really quickly in those bottom single digit percentages.)

Yes, this shows just how poor the range estimates can be. I was also nearly trapped in a rural South Carolina region because of an evaporating range which had nothing to do with temperature. I had charged along the highway, with the range predicting arrival at a charger with some 20% remaining. So I passed to opportunities to charge along the highway. I turned off the highway with about 60 miles to go. But now, driving around 50 mph, the remaining charge estimate at arrival dropped steadily. I reached a small town which had some level 2 charging. One of the two chargers actually worked. After some 40 minutes, I resumed my drive to the Superchargers.

These events seldom get reported in these forums. I don't think it's because they don't happen.

 

[Chewy13]

Did you get a warning when you parked and it was at 5%?
I just parked yesterday at 13% after a 3 hour drive. Outside temp was 53F.
The car warned me if I didn't charge soon/remain parked, the battery % would drop significantly.

 

[gnuarm]

Did you get a warning when you parked and it was at 5%?
I just parked yesterday at 13% after a 3 hour drive. Outside temp was 53F.
The car warned me if I didn't charge soon/remain parked, the battery % would drop significantly.

No, I've never gotten any sort of warnings about charging, other than while driving when it tells you to drive below some speed.