Would a tesla make a good car to leave at a vacation home?

[systemr]

I have a 2nd home on a tropical island that I visit 3-4 times a year, it has secured parking but does not have an outlet or charger nearby.

I'm considering buying an EV since rental cars and gas is expensive on island and I get free charging. Seems like upsides of EV is no fluid maint/dead batteries but sitting there for extended periods of time even at say 60% SoC probably isn't great for the battery. Would it make a difference if it was a LFP battery?

What do you all think?

 

[jjrandorin]

I have a 2nd home on a tropical island that I visit 3-4 times a year, it has secured parking but does not have an outlet or charger nearby.

I'm considering buying an EV since gas in expensive on island and I get free charging. Seems like upsides of EV is no fluid maint/dead batteries but sitting there for extended periods of time even at say 60% SoC probably isn't great for the battery. Would it make a difference if it was a LFP battery?

What do you all think?

That would only work if you fixed this part:

it has secured parking but does not have an outlet or charger nearby.

At least, if you are talking about a tesla. You are talking about long periods of parking for months at a time. You are going to want to have the car plugged in, at least to a regular 120v 15amp circuit. If you can plug it in, sure, although you have the same chances of the tires getting flat spots as other vehicles unless you do something to mitigate that.

If you cant plug into even a regular outlet, then no, at least not a tesla, since the car will lose a couple miles a day or so regardless. Thats fine for extended parking, even a month or something, but "I visit it 3-4 times a year" sounds like there will be "months" between visits so you want at least a regular plug.

 

[legendsk]

I have a 2nd home on a tropical island that I visit 3-4 times a year, it has secured parking but does not have an outlet or charger nearby.

I'm considering buying an EV since gas in expensive on island and I get free charging. Seems like upsides of EV is no fluid maint/dead batteries but sitting there for extended periods of time even at say 60% SoC probably isn't great for the battery.

What do you all think?

If the the secured parking has sunlight available, get a couple of solar panels and an EV should be great. If you can attach the solar panels to the outside of the parking and run a circuit for a reasonable distance, that also should work well. No fuel to go stale, no lube to dry up, virtually no trips to a dealer for service to maintain warranty. An EV seems ideal to me. The tropical island sounds sweet, an EV is just frosting on the cake.

 

[ATPMSD]

on a tropical island

How do you plan to obtain service for the car?

 

[thesmokingman]

How do you plan to obtain service for the car?

So baller, like wouldn't they have someone else to worry about that for them?

 

[Big Earl]

I have a 2nd home on a tropical island that I visit 3-4 times a year, it has secured parking but does not have an outlet or charger nearby.

I'm considering buying an EV since gas in expensive on island and I get free charging. Seems like upsides of EV is no fluid maint/dead batteries but sitting there for extended periods of time even at say 60% SoC probably isn't great for the battery. Would it make a difference if it was a LFP battery?

What do you all think?

You’re going to buy a new electric vehicle to save money on gas, on a small island that you only visit a handful of times per year? Gas must be seriously expensive if this math actually pencils out.

Economics aside, an EV could work. I’ve parked my Tesla for two months without a problem, during which time it lost less than 20%. A less connected EV (GM, VW, etc.) will probably lose less energy over a long period of time.

Personally, I would want access to charging at my home, since relying on public infrastructure for 100% of your charging needs is going to be a pain in the neck.

 

[ATPMSD]

So baller, like wouldn't they have someone else to worry about that for them?

I do not follow your comment. Unless there is a Tesla SC on the island (assuming this is a Tesla) getting anything fixed on the car seems like it will be a problem.

 

[brkaus]

If you are willing to disconnect the battery it should be fine. But otherwise you would want a plug. Any plug.

 

[thesmokingman]

I do not follow your comment. Unless there is a Tesla SC on the island (assuming this is a Tesla) getting anything fixed on the car seems like it will be a problem.

Was making *a joke that if one owned a tropical island, one would have assistants to figure this out.

 

[systemr]

haha great answers to far, the tropical island has a tesla dealership and is in the US so no worries there

re: how does this pencil out? well it also replaces a rental vehicle that totals like 80-90 days a year(added this detail to OP) + gas so it's actually fairly close and well I'd rather drive a tesla than a crummy rental

I've left my MYLR unplugged for over a month while I was away and it lost only a few %, so I was thinking it could last say 3 months

solar panel trickle charge is an interesting idea, didn't know you could do that with a Tesla

 

[kingkong5]

I think if your alternative is to have a ICE car on standby, then the Tesla would be a much better choice. Imagine only starting up your ICE car to get the oil moving, and parts running 3 to 4 times a year. I think it would be much worse on the health of that car, while the Tesla can sit relatively better while waiting for you to come back. If you do have any kind of electricity in the house, the mobile charger will work fine to keep it at a sustained level while you are away, if you can get a good enough extension cord for it. Good luck, I'm happy for you to have such luxury as a second home on a tropical island.

 

[brkaus]

I’m not sure how you would pull off a solar panel trickle charge of the HV system.

You *might* be able to put a solar powered battery maintainer on the 12v and that would reduce the vampire drain. Not sure if that would still be possible with the newer lithium low voltage system.

 

[jjrandorin]

but sitting there for extended periods of time even at say 60% SoC probably isn't great for the battery

My understanding is, the "best thing for the battery" as far as longevity of the battery is concerned, would be to have the car sit at 50% forever, and never drive it. So, I dont think there would be any concern as far as battery harm for setting it to 50% and plugging it into any outlet, for months.

I wouldnt do this without an outlet though, shrug. While many people leave these cars for months at a time, every now and then some update or other prompts the car to wake up more than normal, drain more than normal etc.

 

[Enginerd]

Just to kick around the solar trickle charge idea a little. It isn't really feasible to trickle charge a high voltage battery. To do so, you'd need to generate hundreds of DC Volts, and there isn't really a mechanism for a Tesla to DC charge without a Tesla Supercharger (which has communication protocols, etc.). The Tesla isn't like a low voltage golf cart. Either the Tesla is actively charging (on AC power) or it's not, and when it is, it's probably a minimum of 5 Amps at 120V = 600 W. So either the solar would have to generate at least 600W (e.g. 2 residential-sized panels), or you would use a 12V car-type battery as an intermediate (solar to charge controller, which charges 12VDC battery, battery powers 120VAC inverter, inverter charges the Tesla). I think generally inverters don't like being connected directly to solar without a battery in between to buffer current spikes. Also, without an intermediate battery, any cloud would reduce DC voltage below the inverter minimum, shut down the inverter and disrupt charging.

That said, you'd probably want at least a 1000 W inverter. The problem is that if the inverter is ON continuously (e.g. overnight, through stormy days, long winter nights), it will probably drain the 12V battery to nothing, even when you aren't really using the 12V battery & inverter to charge the car. Another problem is that while you can manually (remotely) set the car to charge during daylight hours via the app, you probably can't remotely turn on the inverter. Inverters tend to have manual power switches, and you won't be there to turn it on.

All this is pretty fragile, fidgety, and unreliable. Are you sure you're not within range of a 120VAC outlet with access to a properly rated extension cord?

 

[legendsk]

A couple of residential solar panels, charging 4 marine batteries. An inverter that will sleep until there is a demand, then produce 120v or 240v 1 kw until the demand stops, then goes back to sleep. Typical of an inverter for an RV. Then schedule the charging on the Tesla from midnight to 6 AM. Probably could use a Tesla wall charger connected to the inverter and gain some additional management that might be handy. The cost of gas on a tropical is what(?) 100 gal / year?? Take 3 or 4 years to pay for the charging stuff then another 10 or 15 years for the Tesla to pay for itself. Seems manageable for someone with their own tropical isle.

 

[jjrandorin]

Isnt it funny how "I have a 2nd home on a tropical island" has gotten "telephone gamed" into " Someone with their own tropical island"?

 

[ATPMSD]

Isnt it funny how "I have a 2nd home on a tropical island" has gotten "telephone gamed" into " Someone with their own tropical island"?

Time to buy a lottery ticket.

Would this island happen be to Oahu?

 

[Dr. J]

Time to buy a lottery ticket.

Would this island happen be to Oahu?

Wow, this dude owns Oahu? Sweeeet....