Tesla owner shares surprising results after 10-day phantom drain test

A Tesla owner has shared some surprising results after a 10-day phantom drain test. As per the Tesla owner’s findings, vehicles like the Model Y actually lose very little battery as long as applications that consume a lot of power are turned off. 

As noted by X user and Model Y owner @theevrydaychris, he left his Tesla Model Y at an airport parking lot for 10 days. He was actually not able to charge his vehicle at the airport since the ChargePoint chargers at the location were not working. Thus, when he left for Singapore for a 10-day trip, his Model Y only had 80% of its battery left.

Before leaving his Model Y, the Tesla owner noted that he also disabled power-hungry applications like Sentry Mode and Cabin Overheat Protection. He then monitored his vehicle’s battery charge through the Tesla mobile app while he was on vacation.

Great video and amazing to see new software refinement really minimize phantom drain! https://t.co/ojRRqO8JuP

— Kim Java (@ItsKimJava) October 30, 2024

On Day 1, the Model Y’s battery dropped by 1% to 79%. At this time, the Model Y owner noted that it wouldn’t be too bad if his Tesla lost 1% of battery charge every day. But for the next couple of days, the Model Y remained at 79%. Even when he returned to the United States ten days later, his Model Y still had 79% of its battery left. 

Quite interestingly, these findings were echoed by some users on X who responded to the Model Y owner’s post. One Tesla owner, for example, claimed that his vehicle lost just 2% of its battery over 16 days. Others also warned that leaving Sentry Mode or Cabin Overheat Protection on would drain a Tesla’s battery much faster. 

Tesla has been working on improving its vehicles’ power consumption when parked for some time now. Back in July alone, an update to the Tesla mobile app was rolled out to reduce phantom drain incidents. Previously, simply opening the app would “wake up” a Tesla, effectively draining some battery. But following the update, a Tesla would only wake up if instructed by its owner, saving power in the process.  

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Tesla owner shares surprising results after 10-day phantom drain test