Battery life while inactive

[jags]

I had a total knee replacement on 24th March and was therefore advised not to drive for at least 4-6 weeks. During this time the car was in my garage and not used.

It went in with 73% battery and yesterday I was able to drive for the first time since my op (30 days) - and it was still at 73%.

Had it been outside in cold weather perhaps it may have lost a point or two, but for anyone needing to leave their car unused for a long period I can report that there's no need to worry about it losing a lot of battery power.

[Powerstar]

Thanks jags for the reassuring information. Good luck with the knee recuperation too!

[jags]

I did look up how long the battery is supposed to last while the car is inactive.. but you never know for sure until you try it. And non-electric car friends were giving me doom and gloom, so I did feel slightly wary. But - no need, it's good.

And thanks Powerstar, the knee is good too and I'm progressing well, although the physio is getting tougher now the scar is healed.

[RichR]

In general lithium chemistry batteries have very low self discharge rates, and when the car is switched off the big traction battery is isolated with nothing drawing any current from it. The 12V battery on the other hand will slowly discharge as it’s running the alarm, central locking and mobile communication systems.

But it’s great to have real world confirmation of this.

[Vasarolli]

We had the car outside during Xmas holiday in the airport parking (outdoors) in Finland. -20C for most of the time or below, about 11 days. Left at 80% charge and when we came back it had 80% still.
Most worrying was that I did not have connection to the car for some reason (network was good at the area, so was afraid it lost a lot of power. After cleaning the snow (30cm) it just worked like charm (and heated the cabin quite fast).
Let's see this summer we have a 5 week long trip.

[white67]

Impressive report from our friends in Finland!
I was away for two weeks in late March, left the car at Manchester Airport with 54 miles on it, returned with 48 miles.
Apparently weather was very good for one week, so no idea why it lost so much.

[Vasarolli]

GOM might not be the best to follow, battery level is probably more reliable. GOM might change due to driving style and when you started the car after the wait it dropped.
Actually not 100% sure but sometimes it feels GOM is changing with temperature as well. But that would be too sophisticated for Skoda/VW.

[RichR]

If you're not actually moving, with the cabin temperature stabilised so that the average consumption figure is therefore actually representative of what is being used per mile, the GOM is irrelevant.

I agree - go off what the battery percentage shows if you want to know if it's lost charge or not. It'll be nice when it appears on the instrument panel (later this year hopefully) rather than having to go to the Vehicle Settings screen on the Infotainment screen.

[Benyaq]

Was on holiday for three weeks, was pleasantly surprised to find the battery in good order when I returned