Picking up my EV 4S Wednesday - storing it indoors for 3 weeks. Battery drain an issue? Leave plugged in to 'wall' outlet?

[Barry41561]

Good day. So - as I wrote above - looking for some direction from this excellent forum. If I park the car indoors (in a warehouse - temps in the New Jersey warehouse will be cold - but not freezing), what sort of battery drain might I experience? In my 'old' world of the Tesla S - drain was significant.

Would I be best to leave the car plugged into a wall outlet - and keep the max charge to 80%?

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Sponsored

 

[FrostyFjord]

My experience is that as a new owner, you make sure the car is charged exactly to 50% and plugged in with that limit. Then, you worry daily about the charging status while away.

When the car gets older, you simply make sure the charge is between 70-80% and leave it wherever, without bothering to connect it to anything

 

[dgkhn]

Good day. So - as I wrote above - looking for some direction from this excellent forum. If I park the car indoors (in a warehouse - temps in the New Jersey warehouse will be cold - but not freezing), what sort of battery drain might I experience? In my 'old' world of the Tesla S - drain was significant.

Would I be best to leave the car plugged into a wall outlet - and keep the max charge to 80%?

Thoughts?

Thanks!

There is at least one comprehensive thread on the subject. The short answer is keeping the car plugged in is alleged to keep the 12 volt charged, but we don't know for sure. Either way though, the advice when storing the car is to keep it to 50% if you can.

 

[Greenmachine]

I’ve left my Taycan for over a month with no noticeable drain so you should be fine just parking it with 50%.

 

[Barry41561]

I’ve left my Taycan for over a month with no noticeable drain so you should be fine just parking it with 50%.

Much thanks. Seems pretty clear that whatever % of charge I leave it with is likely what I'll see when I return in a few weeks.

Thanks to all...

 

[rcomeau]

What is the rational of keeping the charge at 50%? I've never heard that before and can't imagine a reason for that. The battery is designed to last many years without any real regard for how you store it and leaving it at anything other than 100% for extended periods should not matter to the battery. You might see it drop a % or so in 3 weeks, but nothing serious.

 

[FrostyFjord]

What is the rational of keeping the charge at 50%?

50% charge is the theoretical storage sweet spot for big batteries, minimal amount of stress for the chemistry. Even I think there is very little difference between 50% and let's say 80% in practise.

 

[CandianPorsche83]

Not saying they are right or wrong but also in the manual

 

[rcomeau]

Wow. People leave their cars at airport parking lots or driveways for long trips all the time without a second thought. Did not realizes these were so fragile.

 

[eklipse]

I went on vacation leaving the car with 60% outdoor. Came back 11 dayw later with 2-3% less. No Problem at all. It was end décember in Belgium. Si not a Canadian winter, not Spain either

 

[RickDCMD]

I live in a Condo with chargers to be used temporarily, I had a Taycan that I let idle 2 or 3 weeks at the time with few miles of fantom drainage, Porsche is really good at it. Now with my Macan 4S I do the same, the car was for 10 days unplugged and lost 2 miles in 10 days, I set the charging to 80% And forget about the battery.

 

[dgkhn]

Generally, the worry is not about the HV battery; it's about the 12-volt, and how hard it is to jump the 12 volt if it dies. The question has been, does the HV battery keep the 12-volt charged, or alternately does leaving the car connected to an EVSE maintain the 12-volt. A couple of people on this forum have found their cars dead (that is, the 12-volt) after a rather short amount of time. Of course this can happen to an ICE car also. The issue is if the 12-volt is dead, you need to go through the elaborate process to get at it and recharge it before you can drive the car, even if the HV is just fine.

As far as the 50% charge limit: as far as I know, this issue is theoretical--we don't have nearly enough history to really understand the rate at which these batteries lose capacity, and under what conditions. However, a Google search about Li ion battery life will yield all sorts of information. The gist of the 50% issue is an explanation of what causes the ions/crystals to slowly break down and the consensus is long term storage at 25-50% at moderately cool temperatures is best for battery longevity.

Edit: To clarify, AFAIK the folks who reported the 12-volt going dead were not plugged in. I am unaware of any evidence that keeping the car plugged in does not trickle charge the 12-volt, and I am guessing it probably does do so. But, "probably," not definitely, given Porsche's tendency to provide misinformation when it comes to charging and battery features of the Porsche EV's. In this situation, my tendency is to trust but verify.

 

[evdriver2016]

If you can have it plugged in leave it plugged in.
If you can’t, just load it up with charge to let it sit for the time you’ll be gone.

 

[DHS]

An engineer at Porsche, who appeared to be very knowledgable, told me to keep it plugged in with a maximum of no more that 80%, and it will trickle charge my 12v battery.

 

[SimonEV]

As per the manual, the System Battery can be charged when plugged in:

• To trickle charge, connect the high-voltage battery to the mains supply.

Sponsored