Long term battery vampire drain test (47 days and going)

[Okane36]

Hey everyone. I had the chance to leave the R1T in the garage for about two months while I'm (still...) out of town training for a new job. I thought this would be a good time to see how long I could leave it unplugged!

Unfortunately I didn't take as much data as all you smarty-pants' probably would have, but there's some interesting baseline numbers to look at here:

Starting charge: 70% (242 miles) on March 5
Average temperature: ~45/50 degrees F (stored in the garage)
Ending charge: 13.6% (47 miles) on April 21

Small disclaimer, only needed to move the truck in and out of the garage to move the garbage bins every week

In total, the truck lasted 47 days without being plugged in. That averages out to 4.14 miles/day or 1.2%/day of idle drain. I guess I could have left it unplugged for another 10 days, but I saw another post on here where it cost someone $1000 to bring their R1T back from the dead.

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[SASSquatch]

That's insane. My BMW i3s (2019) sat unmoved for 62 days and lost exactly 2 percent battery (97% charge to 95%).

Rivian really needs to get to work on bringing this down to the industry average. I don't know what it is off the top of my head, but it can't be as high as what R1Ts are showing.

 

[madgrey]

Were you able to get the 2023.06.00 software update installed before the test? My average was the same prior to the software update and continued to get better.

However, with the latest (2023.10.x) the vampire drain almost doubled (for me)

 

[Riviot]

Small disclaimer, only needed to move the truck in and out of the garage to move the garbage bins every week

This would've used more energy than you think. As soon as the truck moves, it'll fire up the "heater" for the batteries. Instant drain of a couple percent maybe.

I've been parked outside on a windy cape the last few nights, constant 40s with humidity and wind, I notice it draining a lot more out here than at home. I was here a few weeks back in 30s with serious wind and it drained like 4% that night. Vampire drain ain't mysterious, it's that BMS.

 

[SANZC02]

Hey everyone. I had the chance to leave the R1T in the garage for about two months while I'm (still...) out of town training for a new job. I thought this would be a good time to see how long I could leave it unplugged!

Unfortunately I didn't take as much data as all you smarty-pants' probably would have, but there's some interesting baseline numbers to look at here:

Starting charge: 70% (242 miles) on March 5
Average temperature: ~45/50 degrees F (stored in the garage)
Ending charge: 13.6% (47 miles) on April 21

Small disclaimer, only needed to move the truck in and out of the garage to move the garbage bins every week

In total, the truck lasted 47 days without being plugged in. That averages out to 4.14 miles/day or 1.2%/day of idle drain. I guess I could have left it unplugged for another 10 days, but I saw another post on here where it cost someone $1000 to bring their R1T back from the dead.

Thanks for taking the opportunity for testing this and sharing the results.

 

[Okane36]

Were you able to get the 2023.06.00 software update installed before the test? My average was the same prior to the software update and continued to get better.

However, with the latest (2023.10.x) the vampire drain almost doubled (for me)

Hey thanks for pointing that out, looks like I'm still on 2023.2.3! I'll get the software caught up and do another test. I've still got another 2 weeks or so before I'm going home. I'm curious if it's getting any better.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Hey everyone. I had the chance to leave the R1T in the garage for about two months while I'm (still...) out of town training for a new job. I thought this would be a good time to see how long I could leave it unplugged!

Unfortunately I didn't take as much data as all you smarty-pants' probably would have, but there's some interesting baseline numbers to look at here:

Starting charge: 70% (242 miles) on March 5
Average temperature: ~45/50 degrees F (stored in the garage)
Ending charge: 13.6% (47 miles) on April 21

Small disclaimer, only needed to move the truck in and out of the garage to move the garbage bins every week

In total, the truck lasted 47 days without being plugged in. That averages out to 4.14 miles/day or 1.2%/day of idle drain. I guess I could have left it unplugged for another 10 days, but I saw another post on here where it cost someone $1000 to bring their R1T back from the dead.

Every time you move the truck, you bring it out of deep sleep. If you’re moving it once a week, your truck isn’t going into the deepest state.

I’ve been testing mine since I got my new Lightning and my R1T sat for 3+ weeks and lost less than 20%, most of it in the first week. Week 2 and 3 saw maybe 1-2% per week.

 

[LL75]

Were you able to get the 2023.06.00 software update installed before the test? My average was the same prior to the software update and continued to get better.

However, with the latest (2023.10.x) the vampire drain almost doubled (for me)

Interesting. Mine got better with the 2023.10x update. Before the update, I got about 2 to 3 %
lost a day. Now it is about 1%.

 

[COdogman]

How dare you. I’m no smarty pants.

 

[Throwdown]

This would've used more energy than you think. As soon as the truck moves, it'll fire up the "heater" for the batteries. Instant drain of a couple percent maybe.

I've been parked outside on a windy cape the last few nights, constant 40s with humidity and wind, I notice it draining a lot more out here than at home. I was here a few weeks back in 30s with serious wind and it drained like 4% that night. Vampire drain ain't mysterious, it's that BMS.

I wish I had some data to look at on this because it has no reason to heat the battery just on startup. Unless the battery is below it's minimum safe temp I mean.

 

[Riviot]

Every time you move the truck, you bring it out of deep sleep. If you’re moving it once a week, your truck isn’t going into the deepest state.

I’ve been testing mine since I got my new Lightning and my R1T sat for 3+ weeks and lost less than 20%, most of it in the first week. Week 2 and 3 saw maybe 1-2% per week.

I wish I had some data to look at on this because it has no reason to heat the battery just on startup. Unless the battery is below it's minimum safe temp I mean.

What @Yellow Buddy said, other systems kick on and drain it. I think it warms in anticipation of heavier use and regen reloading.

 

[madgrey]

Interesting. Mine got better with the 2023.10x update. Before the update, I got about 2 to 3 %
lost a day. Now it is about 1%.

I was around 2-2.5kWh/day when I started monitoring. Updates reduced the drain to around 1.5-1.6kWh/day. The best I achieved over a few tries was 1-1.2kWh/day.

Since 2023.10.x, it's been consistently 2-2.5kWh/day.

My test procedure has not changed. Garaged at around 50F. Reset trip meter. Lock. Remove app from phone memory. If anything, the garage temp has gone up since I've been monitoring.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

What @Yellow Buddy said, other systems kick on and drain it. I think it warms in anticipation of heavier use and regen reloading.

It’s not just the battery. From what I can tell the modem, the perimeter sensors, even the compressors shut off.

If I leave the car for 3-5 days it “starts” right up.

A week in, and it’s a little slow but I’m going in less than a minute.

Go for 3 weeks and the car will barely respond to app access, requires maybe 30s to wake the vehicle. Hop in and the center screen takes maybe 10s to boot up. Try to drive and..can’t. Warning that driving the vehicle could cause damage. I haven’t timed it, but it’s a decent amount of time before I can get going.

I remember last year I lost nearly 60% of charge in 1 week, I’d feel pretty comfortable leaving the truck for a month now. The deep sleep improvements are noticeable for anyone who’s going to park the car a while.

 

[Jakelake]

What mode should I set prior to the vehicle sitting for extended time. I just put mine in transportation mode and will be gone for a month, is that necessary or should I just park and lock?

 

[Joe Hoffman]

I wonder how things would improve if you put it into 'camp' mode. I think that's what it's called where it puts more components to sleep to reserve battery SOC.
I'll need to store my (yet to be acquired) R1S for several months after delivery and I've yet to determine the best way to do this. I'm thinking setting it to 70% SOC and pugging it in so it maintains such. Even if it's plugged into a 110 plug this should be fine.
Thoughts are welcome, particularly from anyone who's stored their Rivian for an extended period of time.

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