Vacation and self discharge

[Boatguy]

I recently left my i3 BEV at home while away on vacation for about 2 1/2 weeks. I left the car fully charged, but unplugged from the charger as I was not comfortable leaving it plugged in while I was away. A couple of observations.

1) The app could not get any updates from the car while I was away. I checked a few times and it would act like it was updating as normal, but the latest update date/time was always about (not quite sure) the time I unplugged it before departure. The app always reported 100%. But while it always reported 100% SOC, the range reported jumped all over the place with no clear trend. The take away here is that the app is useless for monitoring the SOC while you're away.

2) When I returned home and plugged it into the charger, it first reported 100%, but shortly thereafter it changed its mind and said 94% and about an hour to top up (Level 1). Sure enough it reported fully charged about an hour later. From this I infer a self discharge rate of about 2.5% / week. That suggests the car could be safely left for a few of months without being plugged in to the charger.

Enjoy!

 

[Surge]

Thanks.

And also to add that it's best not to leave it at 100%, for prolonged battery longevity.

 

[jackt]

The app only updates on state changes, if you leave your car alone for long periods it won't update. If you send a flash headlights or departure time setting it will update your app when it receives the response.

@surge The manual does disagree with you, but I don't agree with the manual either.

For reference:

 

[RJSATLBA]

I've noticed an overnight SoC drop on mine a couple of times. I ought to try keeping a record for a few days to see how often it is happening and by how much. It was fully charged at 10pm last night according to the app after plugging in at about 8pm but at 7.30 this morning it showed 96%, long before any juice should have been used for precon.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Batteries don't like full charge or full discharge. The controller on the i3 won't let either happen. The SOC you see is your usable portion, not the actual battery's actual capacity as there is a buffer maintained on both ends.