Newbie mistake: forgot to turn off my car!

I ain't proud, so I'm gonna admit it: last night, I drove my Leaf into the garage and left it running.

No, I didn't notice the chime.

Fortunately, around 11pm my spouse noticed there was light leaking from under the garage door. Went out there, came back, said "Aren't the headlights supposed to turn themselves off...?" Not only was the damn thing still running, but the headlights, the cabin heater, and both seat heaters were on as well. No music, but only because XM doesn't work in the garage.

I felt pretty dumb. I mean, I've only had it a month, but... How did I miss that??

Usually a phone call just as you arrive home or stop the car is a good distraction. I get into the habit of popping the front charging door and then decide if I'm going to plug it in or leave it.. that way I have a moment to discover if the car is on. I've never left my car ON by accident though, that is a new one to me. I don't like beeps so when the car cries to me, I notice and say "what's the matter car?"

I would suggest setting a "not plugged in" email alert...but that only works if you turn off your car!
However, the email alert has saved me from forgetting to charge my car a couple of times.

I hope you held your breath when you walked out there, or the big door was open. Otherwise, you could have, oh wait, nevermind.

annabel398 said:

I've only had it a month, but... How did I miss that??

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Understandable, since there were no engine noises. We are all used to having the roar of engines as an auditory cue.

I've done that more than once. The first time was actually at a baseball game. We were tailgating before the game, and I was running a crockpot off an inverter from my car. I left the car running during the entire game :shock: I'm glad that I live less than 10 miles from the stadium!

So, how much charge did you loose? A couple hours shouldn't have been too bad. Folks do that at drive ins.

Anyone know how long it can go like this before it's dead?

the beauty of all electric car:
no flume, no rumbling (except fans), no overheating, no carbon monoxide danger !!

In my case, I lost 4 charge bars during the game. I think I still had 5 left though, clearly I was not hurting. Still, it was embarrassing.

DNAinaGoodWay said:

So, how much charge did you loose? A couple hours shouldn't have been too bad. Folks do that at drive ins.

Anyone know how long it can go like this before it's dead?

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Eh, in my case it went from 95% SOC to about 65% IIRC.

I was kicking myself the next morning for not noticing the battery temp, though--that would be interesting to know. The cabin was, umm, pretty toasty with all the heating systems on.

I did this yesterday!! In my defense I am used to driving the Tesla and you don't need to turn that "off" as you just walk away and it shuts down and locks. Yesterday I was driving Leaf and I just hit the park and walked away. Four hours later I got into the Leaf again and realized it was still on. I didn't note how much charge it lost, but it was very obvious that it did lose some.

Lots of electronics shut themselves down, computers, phones, Teslas. The Leaf, or any other EV should have that ability too.