Long term on charger?

[Tomm]

I’m going on a trip soon and will be gone a week. The airport parking lot has free L2 chargers and I would like to take advantage of them. Is this bad for the battery?
I have read the manual and I know it advises leave the car at or near 50%.
Airport is 60 miles away so it is doable on one charge, but free is free.

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[Sikkun]

Charger potentially has idle fees. And if everyone left their car on a free charger for a week how many people can actually use them?

Outside of that, no it’s not bad for your battery to charge up and leave it for a week…I’d do 90% not 100%.

 

[Maquis]

The 50% recommendation is for long term, not a week.
You need to establish that location and set the charge limit to 90% - you don’t want it sitting there at 100% for a week.
Airpot parking lots don’t generally charge idle fees on L2 chargers that I’ve seen.

 

[SpeedRacer72]

I’m going on a trip soon and will be gone a week. The airport parking lot has free L2 chargers and I would like to take advantage of them. Is this bad for the battery?
I have read the manual and I know it advises leave the car at or near 50%.
Airport is 60 miles away so it is doable on one charge, but free is free.

Just plug in and set your charge % to 50
On the day you are coming back, change the charge % and let the car start charging while you are travelling back. This way it will not sit at a high state of charge for a week
Good luck finding an open charger at the airport though especially if you are flying out of SMF.
I have flown out of there 20 times in the last 2 years and have never been able to find an open charger in the parking garage.
One time I went there and the chargers were blocked off, talk about irritating.

 

[RickMachE]

I’m going on a trip soon and will be gone a week. The airport parking lot has free L2 chargers and I would like to take advantage of them. Is this bad for the battery?
I have read the manual and I know it advises leave the car at or near 50%.
Airport is 60 miles away so it is doable on one charge, but free is free.

As Maquis mentions, the manual mentions 50% for 30 days, not a week.

Just plug in and set your charge % to 50
On the day you are coming back, change the charge % and let the car start charging while you are travelling back. This way it will not sit at a high state of charge for a week
Good luck finding an open charger at the airport though especially if you are flying out of SMF.
I have flown out of there 20 times in the last 2 years and have never been able to find an open charger in the parking garage.
One time I went there and the chargers were blocked off, talk about irritating.

No reason to do all this. Simply charge to 90% (have to make it a saved charger as stated). 90% is not "a high state of charge" for a week. My vehicles are at 90% every day.

 

[Deleted member 19354]

Curious what airport is offering free charging? I’d be interested in knowing about idle fees for sure

 

[pikepilot]

Just plug in and set your charge % to 50
On the day you are coming back, change the charge % and let the car start charging while you are travelling back. This way it will not sit at a high state of charge for a week
Good luck finding an open charger at the airport though especially if you are flying out of SMF.
I have flown out of there 20 times in the last 2 years and have never been able to find an open charger in the parking garage.
One time I went there and the chargers were blocked off, talk about irritating.

On a charger like this, let's say Chargepoint, once it stops at the originally set 50%, will it restart once you change it to something higher later? I feel like I've tried this before and the public L2 charger wouldn't start up again without an unplug/replug. Any experience with this?

 

[Maquis]

On a charger like this, let's say Chargepoint, once it stops at the originally set 50%, will it restart once you change it to something higher later? I feel like I've tried this before and the public L2 charger wouldn't start up again without an unplug/replug. Any experience with this?

As Rick stated, just set it 90% and you’ll be fine.

 

[highland58]

IMO, blocking a charge spot for a week is not courteous, and it sounds like it is not needed. Charge it to 100% before leaving, park in a normal spot.

I have left my car unused for 10 days in my garage and the loss of charge was minimal, I think it was like in the 60% range charge when I had last used it. It does not hurt the battery to just sit, as long as the charge is not very high or very low. My 2 cents worth.

 

[Tomm]

It is SFO. Lots of chargers available in the long term parking. Since it is stated as long term parking, I think long stays are expected. If it was the daily lot I would not do it.
Last time I was there with my hybrid, there were lots of open spots.
Thanks all for the advice.
I can’t seem to do anything with Ford Pass more than 20 feet from the car. So the best sounds like just setting to 90%.

 

[Maquis]

IMO, blocking a charge spot for a week is not courteous, and it sounds like it is not needed. Charge it to 100% before leaving, park in a normal spot.

I have left my car unused for 10 days in my garage and the loss of charge was minimal, I think it was like in the 60% range charge when I had last used it. It does not hurt the battery to just sit, as long as the charge is not very high or very low. My 2 cents worth.

Chargers in intermediate and long-term lots at airports are intended to be occupied by people flying. In the winter, I can’t make the round trip without a charge, but I suspect many of the spots are occupied by locals who don’t need the charge. It’s been 2 years since I’ve found a charger a available when I fly.

 

[markboris]

Sacramento airport (my primary airport) has 12 Level 1 chargers in the covered parking garage levels 2, 3, 4 and 6 and 4 chargers on level 5. There are also 2 Level 2 charges on all 6 levels of the parking garage. There are 4 Level 2 chargers in the outside daily lot. All chargers are first come first serve and free. No idle fees. Parking in the covered garage is $19 per day. There are 8 EA Level 3 (DCFC) chargers at the airport before you get into parking. In the Free Waiting area, there is 1 Level 3 (DCFC) charger and 2 Level 2 chargers.

 

[Tomm]

Given what Maquis said, I may rethink charging if spots are sparse. I could do the round trip, assuming no traffic, on the way back.

 

[Tomm]

Follow-up: The cones and signs pushed me into the original long term building at SFO without the chargers. I got there with GOM indicating 3x what I need to get home, sooo no charge.

 

[scoobybri]

Having parked at airports for weeks at a time with EVs, power loss is minimal. Maybe a few percent per week. If I were leaving it for a week, I would charge to 75% on my way in and plan to stop at a DCFC on the way home if 70%ish is not enough for the trip home.

The chargers at airports are not meant to be left plugged into your car for the entirety of your trip. They are for topping off before you park and when you leave.

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