Tesla left on all day?

[dwst480]

Someone at my office (I don't know who) has a Tesla parked outside. For at least the last few days, I've noticed anytime I've gone outside that it's apparently been left running all day. I can clearly hear a fan running, and I'm assuming that's the AC. It's not plugged in. I've heard it at various times throughout the day, not just at the end of the day or around lunchtime when the person might be heading out soon.

Is this a thing Teslas do, or is the driver just leaving the car running while they go in to work (knowingly or not)? I can imagine some disadvantages of doing this, but are there any legitimate advantages other than having your car cool when you get in–which, of course, could be accomplished simply by starting it remotely 10 minutes in advance?

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[AliRafiee]

Good question to ask on a Tesla forum.

 

[dwst480]

Good question to ask on a Tesla forum.

I'm not signing up for a Tesla forum to ask one question. I thought somebody here might have insight. I did also do a quick Google search to see if I could find any info on it but didn't.

I'll phrase it this way: Does anybody with a Mach-E do this?

 

[electric-in-the-desert]

Tesla will condition the battery when not plugged in. The MachE doesn’t not. This is likely what you are hearing.

Tesla’s turn off and lock automatically when the key is not within range (and pet mode isn’t turned on)

 

[AliRafiee]

Tesla will condition the battery when not plugged in. The MachE doesn’t not. This is likely what you are hearing.

Tesla’s turn off and lock automatically when the key is not within range (and pet mode isn’t turned on)

Maybe he leaves the “key” in the car?

 

[burritoman]

When I had a Model 3 I had cabin overheat protection enabled. This activates the AC to reduce temperature in the cabin when it exceeds 105 or thereabouts. Could be that.

 

[Deleted User 981389]

On the model i drove for a week there's no on/off button. It was two summers ago and did similar stuff.

 

[garyd9]

On the model i drove for a week there's no on/off button. It was two summers ago and did similar stuff.

I don't think any Teslas have on/off buttons, unless you count sensing your butt in the seat as the "on" button.

 

[Fins160]

I wish the MachE had the cabin overheat protection and battery conditioning when parked and not plugged in, at least for 12 hours or so. It would make a big difference saving the interior and battery from these Phoenix summers!

 

[DaMeatMan]

Someone at my office (I don't know who) has a Tesla parked outside. For at least the last few days, I've noticed anytime I've gone outside that it's apparently been left running all day. I can clearly hear a fan running, and I'm assuming that's the AC. It's not plugged in. I've heard it at various times throughout the day, not just at the end of the day or around lunchtime when the person might be heading out soon.

Is this a thing Teslas do, or is the driver just leaving the car running while they go in to work (knowingly or not)? I can imagine some disadvantages of doing this, but are there any legitimate advantages other than having your car cool when you get in–which, of course, could be accomplished simply by starting it remotely 10 minutes in advance?

Tesla's have a feature that prevents the cabin from exceeding a certain temperature. I don't recall off hand what the feature is called, but it can be toggled on or off within the vehicle or within the app, and it's essentially intended to prevent accidental death in the event of leaving a child or pet in the vehicle unattended.

Yes I know, who would do that? Yet it happens every single year many times over. This is not "pet mode", and the temperature by default is set pretty high like 35c - 45c or thereabouts.

It also serves to ensure you don't scorch yourself when sitting on leather seats after having the vehicle bake in the sun all day. It's a nice touch, and little things like this add up for a better user experience.

On a side note, Teslas also actively condition their batteries even when parked to keep them from cooking or freezing, and it's features like these that lead to what many folks call "vampire drain" of the pack, but they are actually quite useful features.

 

[kltye]

It also serves to ensure you don't scorch yourself when sitting on leather seats after having the vehicle bake in the sun all day. It's a nice touch, and little things like this add up for a better user experience.

On a side note, Teslas also actively condition their batteries even when parked to keep them from cooking or freezing, and it's features like these that lead to what many folks call "vampire drain" of the pack, but they are actually quite useful features.

'

Funny thing about the seats - I don't have a problem with that in the MME, but after borrowing a friend's Model 3 I see why they need it. Those seats are just... awful.

I've yet to see the Mach-E battery "cook" while sitting (and I do monitor pack temperature with OBD), but leaving said friend's Tesla out in the sun one afternoon caused the SoC to drop by a significant amount (about 6 kWh used). I find a useful feature of the MME is that the car is pretty much the same after leaving it sitting for weeks at a time

 

[petertar]

It's the cabin overheat protection. It runs the fans, or if selected, the AC, to cool the cabin down.

 

[dwst480]

Thanks for the responses, everybody. I learned something I didn’t know!

 

[Dear_OP]

Or it could be on Sentry mode. But I doubt it kicks off fans and such. Likely cabin protection or Dog mode or keep cool mode or camping mode. Some people want their cars all nice inside. In the old days, we just wind down the windows.

 

[AZBill]

Tesla will condition the battery when not plugged in. The MachE doesn’t not. This is likely what you are hearing.

Tesla’s turn off and lock automatically when the key is not within range (and pet mode isn’t turned on)

My Hummer will run the battery conditioning without being plugged in and it will do it for a good 30 minutes in the Phoenix heat. I also sometimes just leave it running when going into the store to keep it cool. The Mach E will only leave the cooling running if you are plugged in, or if you intentionally leave it running when you get out. It does have the default timer.

Tesla a Rivian have the "pet mode" to keep it running, since they do not have an on/off button. I can hear parked Teslas running cooling fans while parked all the time, it is normal.

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