My Rivian completely dead from ~40% vampire drain after a month long vacation

[ajbrutman]

Best to set charging to 70 and not 100 unless you plan to use it soon after

good to know, I typically charge to higher percentages when on slow chargers given I do not charge daily, typically weekly

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[Surferdude]

Is there an EV on the market that wouldn’t drain from 40% to 0 after sitting stationary for 4 weeks straight? Serious question.

My Ford Lightning sat for 12 days. Left at 89% charge. Came back home to 89% charge.

The bigger issue for me is that the reported phantom drain is equivalent to about $30/mo in electricity in my area. I would be pretty upset paying $360/year in electricity to keep my battery from draining.

 

[Nsblifer]

My Ford Lightning sat for 12 days. Left at 89% charge. Came back home to 89% charge.

The bigger issue for me is that the reported phantom drain is equivalent to about $30/mo in electricity in my area. I would be pretty upset paying $360/year in electricity to keep my battery from draining.

Swear-every time I come close to changing to the large pack for earlier delivery/or using the shop, I see something like this and hold off. I won’t have the luxury of time to baby my vehicle like this. I’m glad the 150-L doesn’t have the issue, makes me want to consider switching.

 

[rivian_germany]

I have a 2022 Tesla M3LR and an R1T (vin 15xxx).

Tesla: I recently had to leave it somewhere for three weeks until I could go retrieve it. Sentry and climate off, it went from 70% to 69%. In three weeks.

R1T: I have been testing with and without shipping mode. Without (normal sleep): 100W continuous drain. With shipping mode on: 50W continuous drain. 2.4kW over 46 hours so far in shipping mode, going to check it again on Monday. Zero connectivity as it is in Germany (No cellular service) and in a parking garage far from home (no WiFi).

 

[lefkonj]

One more thing. I have never been in this situation but if you left an ICE vehicle for a month with no interaction would the battery die? Isn't that why collectors use those chargers that connect to the wall to keep the battery in good health.

 

[PappaBolt]

My R1S has sat for a week now and went from 64% to 55%. At that rate it would take about 7 week to fully drain from a 70% SoC. Hopefully my math is right. Still not ideal but better than some are reporting.

Some reasons for drain, the Infotainment never sleeps (it doesn’t turn off), same with TCM and telemetry push/pull.

 

[rodhx]

One more thing. I have never been in this situation but if you left an ICE vehicle for a month with no interaction would the battery die? Isn't that why collectors use those chargers that connect to the wall to keep the battery in good health.

For the most past the 12v would be fine after a month of non-use, but yes this does happen. Similar issue in that it is an indication of vampire drain. I have had ICE cars that would drain the 12v in 1-2 weeks. My infrequently used vehicles live on a battery tender for this very reason. BTW, the inexpensive solar battery tenders do a much better job than I expected.

 

[Rivianut]

I leave our Rivians plugged in when we leave on trips. One on the normal charger, the other on the 110V portable charger. Watching the car go to 0% while I’m away would give me serious anxiety.

 

[Grabs10]

My Model 3 has no appreciable drain that I have noticed. It’s not a concern at all for me leaving it sit.

Not really worried about the Rivian when ever I get it, as it will always be plugged in but concerned on wasted energy for no reason.

could you put a 12v battery tender on the 12 volt jump start location to keep the 12 volt charged up so that you can access and charge the truck upon returning? Keeping the 12 volt battery charged in my brain would require less energy wasted then keeping the HV battery charged in a long storage situation.

 

[Riv_Ian]

For the 12V batteries, it would be great if Rivian included a battery tender connection behind the charge port door.

 

[zipzag]

One more thing. I have never been in this situation but if you left an ICE vehicle for a month with no interaction would the battery die? Isn't that why collectors use those chargers that connect to the wall to keep the battery in good health.

With ICE a month with a good battery is fine. Two months is probably fine.

Sitting unstated over a winter is too long. But running the vehicle in storage is better than using a trickle charger. But with an EV in storage leaving plugged in is safest.

For an EV that will be unused for month and is unplugged it would be best to get someone to run it over to a DCFC station when the battery got under maybe 15%.

 

[rivian_germany]

One more thing. I have never been in this situation but if you left an ICE vehicle for a month with no interaction would the battery die? Isn't that why collectors use those chargers that connect to the wall to keep the battery in good health.

I have left the ICE at the train station multiple times for more than a month. What I do is just disconnect the 12v negative terminal. Then when I return, I just reconnect, and it starts like a charm!

I had the shipper disconnect the HV and 12 batteries in my Rivian before containerizing, and it didn't lose any charge for the month it was in transit.

 

[zipzag]

I have left the ICE at the train station multiple times for more than a month. What I do is just disconnect the 12v negative terminal. Then when I return, I just reconnect, and it starts like a charm!

I had the shipper disconnect the HV and 12 batteries in my Rivian before containerizing, and it didn't lose any charge for the month it was in transit.

It's impressive that your shipper was willing to disconnect the high voltage. Was that expertise or ignorance?

 

[rivian_germany]

It's impressive that your shipper was willing to disconnect the high voltage. Was that expertise or ignorance?

It's detailed in the towing guide, and I explained the procedure in more detail to them in an email. I believe it is intended for mechanics to be able to do. The shipper has a full time mechanic.

Edit: there is no risk of HV shock here because they are not actually disconnecting the HV itself, but relay wires which control the HV switch.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

My Ford Lightning sat for 12 days. Left at 89% charge. Came back home to 89% charge.

The bigger issue for me is that the reported phantom drain is equivalent to about $30/mo in electricity in my area. I would be pretty upset paying $360/year in electricity to keep my battery from draining.

I just wrapped up my week long test of vampire drain on my R1T vs the F-150L to see if the latest software updates really had a significant improvement. Overall I found the vampire drain was roughly half of what it was in early January on the R1T. The F-150L has stayed consistent.

Northeast region, 14-38F. Some light snow over two of the days. Both vehicles checked via app once a day. Parked side by side.

Both trucks started at 100%. After 1 week I came back to the R1T at 86% SOC, the F-150L was at 99%.
*Different class but in case anyone is wondering the Model S saw similar drain to the R1T.

Overall to me it's a minor drain when we're looking at one vehicle. We're talking roughly 2-3kWh/day. The problem is with multiple cars - as a 3 car household will consume 6-9kWh/day - almost 30% of what a typical household consumes on a daily basis.

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