Garage storage 2 weeks?

[Regulus7]

I am leaving on a two week vacation and will be storing the car in my building’s underground parking garage. I could leave the Mach E upstate instead and store one of our ICE cars instead. It will not be plugged in. So I have been reading that you may want to disconnect the 12v battery. Personally that seems like too much effort. I am also having visions of the new car not starting and having to deal with it underground in the bowels of the building. So I am a bit worried about it. Last year I left my ID4 stored there at 55% charge and two weeks later it started fine and was at 54%. But given the issues surrounding access to the battery and the frunk and having to make sure the garage attendant leaves it facing out. All of that is making me worried…. Would you leave it there or not? If so any other precautions ?

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[RickMachE]

I am leaving on a two week vacation and will be storing the car in my building’s underground parking garage. I could leave the Mach E upstate instead and store one of our ICE cars instead. It will not be plugged in. So I have been reading that you may want to disconnect the 12v battery. Personally that seems like too much effort. I am also having visions of the new car not starting and having to deal with it underground in the bowels of the building. So I am a bit worried about it. Last year I left my ID4 stored there at 55% charge and two weeks later it started fine and was at 54%. But given the issues surrounding access to the battery and the frunk and having to make sure the garage attendant leaves it facing out. All of that is making me worried…. Would you leave it there or not? If so any other precautions ?

You are not reading correct information. Do NOT disconnect the 12v battery for a two week absence. Ideally, leave it at 50%. But, if you're at 90% right now, that's fine too.

Storage State of Charge
You can increase the battery life by maintaining the state of charge below 100%. When you park your vehicle for an extended period of 30 days or more, we recommend the battery state of charge be at approximately 50%. Storing your vehicle's high voltage battery at higher states of charge is less favorable than storing at lower states of charge.
Note: To achieve this state of charge for storage, you can drive your vehicle down to 50% and set a charge limit for your location. See Setting the Charging Schedule and
Preferences (page 174).

 

[HuntingPudel]

2 weeks? Just park it. Nose out if you have any reservations. Just have a more or less “normal” charge level (between 20% and 80%) and your car should be fine. ??

 

[Regulus7]

2 weeks? Just park it. Nose out if you have any reservations. Just have a more or less “normal” charge level (between 20% and 80%) and your car should be fine. ??

Should I tell the attendant to not leave the key fob in the car? Will the key fob inside the car drain the 12v battery? Any other precautions. For two weeks he will bury it in the guts of the garage. If anything goes wrong it will be a super pita to get it out…

 

[RockwallRick]

We left ours parked for 2 weeks while going on a Hawaiian cruise. No problems.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Yes it will be just fine leaving it for 2 weeks, no special precautions needed as long as you have a normal charge level 20-85%. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Av8tor]

Where is the exact location you are leaving it?

 

[ripperAZ]

Just charge it to 50 or so and have the nose pony sticking out. You’ll be fine. If you have not had a battery issue, yet, there is no reason to take out the ice and the chilled shrimp from da frunk and get into that mess and ruin your vacation before you go. If it won’t start when you come back, you are going to have to access your 12 V
Jes sayin. pretty unlikely
Have a great trip. There’s a better chance of your pony getting smashed by some loser in the garage than it is not starting in a fortnight

 

[HuntingPudel]

Should I tell the attendant to not leave the key fob in the car? Will the key fob inside the car drain the 12v battery? Any other precautions. For two weeks he will bury it in the guts of the garage. If anything goes wrong it will be a super pita to get it out…

Personally, I would never leave a key in any car. If your building has a valet, I would hope that they keep the keys locked up somewhere and don’t leave them in the car. This opinion is from a lifetime of conditioning by a hyper-paranoid master locksmith (my father). ??

If you are concerned about the 12V battery, make sure the attendant parks somewhere that a long extension cord can reach an AC outlet and that an extension cord and battery charger are handy. Make sure he has a 12 V jump box so that you can get the frunk open in case the 12V gets drained. That way in the unlikely event your 12V goes flat, the battery can be charged. ??

That said, if your car’s software is relatively recent, the 12V battery should be fine.. just make sure that the headlight switch is set to “off” instead of to “automatic” in case the silly headlight switch bug rears its head. ???

 

[CRPony]

I am leaving on a two week vacation and will be storing the car in my building’s underground parking garage. I could leave the Mach E upstate instead and store one of our ICE cars instead. It will not be plugged in. So I have been reading that you may want to disconnect the 12v battery. Personally that seems like too much effort. I am also having visions of the new car not starting and having to deal with it underground in the bowels of the building. So I am a bit worried about it. Last year I left my ID4 stored there at 55% charge and two weeks later it started fine and was at 54%. But given the issues surrounding access to the battery and the frunk and having to make sure the garage attendant leaves it facing out. All of that is making me worried…. Would you leave it there or not? If so any other precautions ?

We just returned from 3 weeks away on our boat. The car sat outside, unplugged for the entire time. It had 65% charge and lost nothing while we were gone. We are located in BC, Canada. Temperatures were 22C - 32C (70F 0 90F)for the entire time. She was dusty but started with no issues. Our MME was built Dec, 2020.

 

[Maquis]

Park it and forget it. Just like any other car.

 

[Regulus7]

Well it’s in the garage now and I am leaving tomorrow. I had to tell the guy to make sure he kept the key fob in the office, he says “oh really… we usually just keep them in the car. “. Glad I told him, I would have been worrying about that. Car is at 58% SOC. Let’s see how it does over 2 weeks!

 

[alexgorod]

Any issues with leaving the car in the airport parking for 8 days? Or it is better to leave it at home, in the garage?

 

[kdonnel]

I have left both my Bolt EV and Mach e at the airport for 2 weeks. One trip plugged in and one trip unplugged for each car. No worries.

 

[Regulus7]

So I came back from about 15 days away and no issues with the car at all! My parking garage attendant had left it nice and snug in the back of the garage and he said there was no issues in it starting right away when I got back. I have Lojack installed and I monitored the 12V battery health and it dropped as low as 12.4v from what I could see.

I drove it up to my weekend place and plugged it in to my 40A home charger and got a Charge Station Fault, reset it and got it again. I then plugged in the supplied Ford 32A charger and no issues. I wonder if its the cheapo Lectron 15-40 40A charger that is defective... weird as it never gave me any problems with the ID4 when charging for about a year... I am thinking of just getting a JuiceBox and getting my utility rebate to mostly subsidize the cost... Seems with the Ford charger working fine that the problem is cheapo chinese charger and not the car.

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