Do electric car batteries lose charge if not used for a period of time?

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Do electric car batteries lose charge if not used for a period of time?

I live in the London suburbs and drive 5000 miles per year (mostly in London with most return journeys no longer than 130 miles) so I am thinking about an electric car when I replace my current car. My question is about whether the car batteries will lose charge over time if I leave my car in an airport car park for two weeks while I am on holiday. Could this potentially leave me with not enough charge to get home?

Asked on 22 October 2019 by Mark Bullock

Answered by Andrew Brady

Yes - it's known as 'vampire drain' in EV circles. The amount of charge that'll be lost depends on the vehicle but I wouldn't have thought it'd be a considerable amount over two weeks. I wouldn't expect an electric car to lose more than one per cent of battery capacity per day when parked up.

Tags: electric cars evs

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