If you just bought an electric vehicle, you might be wondering what you’re going to do when you leave for a vacation or a long business trip. Because, unlike traditional petrol/diesel vehicles, electric cars have a battery pack that tends to drain over time. Here is a reliving answer to your concerns:
An electric car can sit for at least two months without charging. The exact time you can leave your vehicle without charge depends highly on the charge level and weather temperature. The average charge loss is around 1.5 to 0.5 percent per day. In some cases it can be as low as 0.1 percent or as high as 2-3 percent. The smart features (such as Tesla’s Summon), climate control, preconditioning the cabin and the battery pack, always-on security features (Tesla Sentry Mode, Rivian Gear Guard, etc.), dog mode, and other features that keep the car’s system awake will drain the battery faster.
In order to make your electric car last longer without charge, you need to disable all features that might keep your car consumes energy even if you leave it unattended for weeks.
Here is some advice that will help you conserve your EV’s battery level:
– Turn on the vacation mode or power-saving mode if it exists. (some EVs have deep-sleep modes optimized for these situations)
– Disable security mode, dog mode, etc. that might keep your car and its sensors awake.
– Do not use mobile apps connected to your car if it’s not necessary. By merely running those apps will wake your car’s systems and drain your battery even faster.
– Make sure that your battery level is above 50 percent. Tesla even suggests that you leave your electric car plugged in if you’re going to be absent for more than a few days. Other manufacturers recommend leaving your car’s battery at an average charge level, neither full nor lower than 50 percent.
– Turn off any preconditioning feature. These settings might start your car without you knowing and preheat the cabin and battery pack in cold temperatures.
Do Electric Cars Lose Charge When Parked?
Electric car batteries are made possible by using probably the most advanced battery technologies on the market. But they still self-discharge, some batteries might drain faster and some might hold on to their energy better. If you leave your electric car parked for a couple of days, weeks, or even months, you will see that you lose a significant percentage of charge when you’re gone.
