Charge while on vacation?

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mikebrooks

New member
Joined
Apr 3, 2019
Messages
1
Sorry, I think this has been discussed before but it didn't seem like there was a consensus then. I'm leaving for a week for vacation and wondering if I should leave my i3 plugged in while I'm gone or not. Also, if I should leave it plugged in, should it be on the 220 charger or the 110?
 
If only a week, just make sure any timed preconditioning is off and it's safe to leave unplugged.
 
I don’t think it matters. BMW intentionally set the usable capacity of the battery below the actual capacity to avoid the durability issues from extreme overcharge and discharge. In addition, the charging circuits shut off when the useable capacity is reached.

Maybe I’m cavalier but I’ve come to think of people who advocate the super cautious approach to battery management akin to those who still insist on 3,000 mile oil changes in this age of synthetics and oil condition sensors. That said, I’ve gone off and left my two i3s both plugged in and unplugged. Even when unplugged for two weeks there was no significant battery percentage lost.
 
IMHO, it doesn't matter with one exception...bmw does tell you to not leave it at a low battery level without charging if it is cold out...probably not an issue this time of the year. Cold weather does inhibit the chemical process, and batteries, even LiOn don't like to be really cold when discharged.
 
I leave mine plugged in at the airport so I've got a full battery for the ride home. Kinda nice to land and get a text saying your car finished charging while you were in the air. At this point, the charger and the public charging station both shut off. So it's technically "plugged in" but there's no more charging being done unless I were to come back and start it up again instead of leaving immediately for whatever reason.
 
I leave mine plugged in at the airport so I've got a full battery for the ride home.
:eek:

So you leave your car taking up a public charge spot while you are out of town, blocking it from anyone else's use?

If you check around, there will likely be private airport parking lots that will charge up your car for you right before you are scheduled to pick it up - free of charge. I know we have several lots that do this as part of their customer service in my area.
 
MKH said:
I leave mine plugged in at the airport so I've got a full battery for the ride home.
:eek:

So you leave your car taking up a public charge spot while you are out of town, blocking it from anyone else's use?

Yes. That's their advertised -- and really only -- use. No one's gonna be parking at the airport satellite parking lot for any other reason than taking a multi-day trip by air.
 
MKH said:
Yes. That's their advertised -- and really only -- use.

Ah, that make more sense now. Essentially dedicated parking spots for electric cars. :D

^^^Exactly that. And the spots are right next to one of the warming hut bus stops, too. Only thing closer is the handicap stalls. My wife doesn't really love my car, but this benefit makes it the preferred mode for riding to the airport.
 
sipabit said:
The manual says to charge it.

Because the manual needs to give clear and uncomplicated instructions. I have another PHEV, the user manual also says to leave it plugged, however the service manual says that the spare batteries should be stored at 40% charge.
 
We don't have spare batteries. I'm paranoid about this stuff too but if the manual says to keep it charged, I'm recommending that you go ahead and do it. I do that too.
 
I just came back from vacation in my property in Athens here and I left my charger on, nothing happened, all is good. So I don't think you should worry much. We don't turn off fridges so why to turn of this charger
 
Even though physically connected to the car, that does NOT mean that it is actually charging. The car itself, after looking at the interface signals, decides if or when it needs to top off the battery and then completes the interlock to cause the EVSE to turn on charging. It lets the charge drop a bit before it turns back on if left for a long time, but the actual drain is pretty small, so that will take awhile (potentially, many days). Over a couple of weeks, it may not actually ever try to turn the EVSE on.

One reason why BMW says to plug it in is that if the batteries were left with a low charge, they could be damaged if the ambient temperature got quite cold.
 
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