Eliminating Phantom Drain

What is phantom drain?

When your Tesla is idle — that is, not driving or charging — you may experience what's known as phantom drain, where the battery slowly drains a few percentage points over several hours.

Phantom drain occurs when your vehicle doesn't sleep.

Step-by-step guide

Your vehicle should fall asleep 7 to 10 minutes after driving or charging finishes.

To eliminate phantom drain, follow these steps to help your vehicle fall and stay asleep:

1. Disable Sentry Mode

Sentry Mode will keep the vehicle awake to monitor the surroundings.

2. Disable Cabin Overheat Protection

Cabin Overheat Protection will keep the vehicle awake to monitor and cool the interior.

3. Disable Data Sharing

When data sharing is enabled, the vehicle will wake and upload data to Tesla in the background.

You can disable it in the vehicle under Software > Data Sharing.

4. Disable Keep Accessory Power On

USB ports and low-voltage outlets may consume energy even when no devices are connected.

You can disable it in the vehicle under Charging > Keep Accessory Power On.

5. Disable Summon Standby

Summon Standby will keep the vehicle awake.

You can disable it in the vehicle under Autopilot.

6. Enable Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode helps the vehicle sleep by preventing background energy usage.

You can enable it in the vehicle under Charging > Low Power Mode.

7. Install pending software updates

The vehicle may stay awake when an update is pending but hasn't been fully downloaded and installed.

8. Disconnect from WiFi

Weak WiFi connections can cause the vehicle to stay awake due to constant disconnections and reconnections. You can turn off WiFi in the vehicle or move your WiFi router to improve the signal.

9. Update the Tesla app on your devices

Certain Tesla app versions have a bug that will continuously wake the vehicle.

10. Move devices outside of Bluetooth range

When a Bluetooth connection occurs, the vehicle may wake up automatically.

11. Move key fobs away from the vehicle

When a key fob is detected near the vehicle (including vertically, in a room above or below the vehicle), the vehicle may wake up automatically.

12. Power cycle the vehicle

Underlying firmware issues can prevent the vehicle from sleeping. You can perform a power cycle to eliminate them:

• Shift into Park
• On the touchscreen, tap Controls > Safety > Power Off
• Wait for at least two minutes without interacting with the vehicle; don't open the doors, touch the brake pedal, touch the touchscreen, etc.
• After two minutes, press the brake pedal or open the door to wake the vehicle

If your vehicle still won't sleep, ask Tesla for help

If your vehicle still won't sleep after following all of the steps above, there may be a deeper system issue.

Using your Tesla app, contact Tesla Service to have the issue remotely diagnosed.