Imagine the scene. You have a tesla and you are about to go on vacation. The trip will be by plane, so you face an immediate decision:leave the car plugged in During the two weeks you will be out or wait to connect it when returning? If you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations, the answer is clear: it is best to leave it plugged in.
That was exactly what Aj Esguerra did, resident in Arizona. The official advice followed to the letter. But when he returned home after his break, he ran into an unpleasant surprise: his Tesla Cybertruck did not respond. This is what they have in Motorpasión México. What failed? We go in parts.
What happened exactly to cybertruck
At first glance, everything seemed in order. As the user explains in a group of owners of Tesla, the charger worked, the car had been left with 79 % battery and the Tesla app showed that the load limit It was set at 80 %. But when returning on vacation, Aj Esguerra encountered the last thing one would expect from a connected vehicle: a completely inert cybertruck.
“I need help: we were out two weeks and when returning, the Cybertruck does not turn on at all,” he explained. I couldn’t even open the doors. He restarted the charger – the blue light went to flash in red – and began to consider hypotheses: “I live in Arizona and this week we have had record temperatures. Could the battery have overheated and damaged the battery?”
AJ contacted the technical service through the app and, as he said, the answer was immediate. “The Tesla service is on its way. They responded quickly through the application and received a call immediately,” he explained. The technicians managed to access the interior of the vehicle, put it in a provisional way and They transferred to a service center For a more complete diagnosis.
There came the final explanation. The problem was not the battery, nor the heat, nor an error when programming the load. The failure was in a key component of the Cybertruck electrical system: the power conversion system (PCs). According to Esguerra, the technicians ruled out that the breakdown was related to having left the car plugged in. In fact, they reiterated that this is still the recommended practice.
The good news: Tesla took over the reparation without any cost for the owner. Thus, the vehicle worked normally.
What is the power converter and what does it do
As Skill-Lync points out, the SCP plays a fundamental role: it is responsible for managing how electricity enters and distributes electricity in the vehicle. When we connect the car to a power outlet, the SCP transforms that alternating current (CA) in direct current (CC) To load the main, high voltage battery. But he doesn’t stay there.
Power conversion system
He is also responsible for keeping the car’s auxiliary systems – such as lights, internal electronics or sensors – through a second conversion: high voltage to a lower voltage. It is composed of several key elements: CC-CC converters, filters, electronic controllers and a liquid cooling system to avoid overheating. In the Cybertruck it is located in the auxiliary compartment known as the “Ancillary Bay”, which requires the removal of sheets to access it.
The official recommendations
Tesla makes it clear in the Cybertruck user manual: the most important thing to preserve the high voltage battery is leave the vehicle plugged in When not used. This is literally indicated by the manufacturer, which warns that the car, even off, continues to consume energy progressively. And if the load falls to zero, damage that does not cover the guarantee can be caused.
In addition, Tesla recommends not waiting for the load level to be low to plug the car. In fact, he affirms that the system pays better if it is kept loaded regularly, even if it is not used. And in case of a prolonged trip, it advises to calculate that the vehicle loses around 1 % battery per day, although that figure can vary depending on the temperature or vehicle configuration.
The background message is clear: nothing happens to leave it plugged for weeks, provided that everything works correctly. Although, as we have seen in this case, sometimes things do not go as expected.
So, is it safe to leave the car plugged for weeks?
In theory, yes. It is what Tesla recommends and is what Aj Esguerra did. But the case of his cybertruck shows that, in practice, Other factors can come into play They escape user control.
For example, a peak of voltage in the electricity grid, a punctual failure in the charger or overheating due to extreme temperatures can trigger a chain of errors difficult to detect if no one is there to intervene. In the absence of supervision, a minor incident may end up becoming a major problem.
Esguerra himself acknowledged that, before leaving, he forgot to schedule the load for the freshest hours. The Cybertruck was carrying day, in the middle of heat wave in Arizona, for several days in a row. Although Tesla did not attribute the failure to heat or continuous load, that context helps to understand how certain environmental factors can increase risk, especially in extreme climates.
So, leaving the car plugged in is recommended. But it is also to ensure that the charger works correctly, that the environment is safe and that the electrical installation is protected against unforeseen events. In that balance between trust and prevention is where you should really reduce the possibilities of meeting any type of inconvenience.
Images | formonone (CC BY-SA 2.0) | Tesla
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