Questions on Long Term Parking at ORD

[BuchRivian]

Howdy All,

I should be getting by R1S later this month. I live in SW Michigan and usually drive over to O'Hare for international flights a few times a year. This year, I happen to be spending 3+ weeks in Europe and was planning on driving my R1S roughly 110 miles to O'Hare Airport and then parking it for a LONG TIME. I know there are some chargers at the Parking garage in Lot F, but how often are these actually open? I also know there's a few chargers in short term parking, but would not want to pay that for a 3+ week parking stay.

I'm concerned about getting to ORD and then having to park my vehicle not on a charger after running it down to around 50% for a 3+ month park. Any experience with similar situations or advice is greatly apprecaited.

Thanks

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[SSteveEV]

I've done two 10 day stays at DTW now, one plugged and one unplugged. I'd say the comfort level was pretty different and will also differ with the season you travel. I typically lose 1-3% a day so I would recommend either leaving early and charging to 100% before flying, a one way rental, or driving a different car.
DTW QwikPark has a decent number of free chargers but you still run the risk of someone unplugging once your charge is complete or that failing so I'll say the airport parking of Rivians is a pain point for me. Flew 5 days last week and with my usual late for a flight lead foot I had to use a fast charger before driving home which was conveniently right at the Flint airport.

However you get there enjoy your trip!

 

[BuchRivian]

I've done two 10 day stays at DTW now, one plugged and one unplugged. I'd say the comfort level was pretty different and will also differ with the season you travel. I typically lose 1-3% a day so I would recommend either leaving early and charging to 100% before flying, a one way rental, or driving a different car.
DTW QwikPark has a decent number of free chargers but you still run the risk of someone unplugging once your charge is complete or that failing so I'll say the airport parking of Rivians is a pain point for me. Flew 5 days last week and with my usual late for a flight lead foot I had to use a fast charger before driving home which was conveniently right at the Flint airport.

However you get there enjoy your trip!

Thanks for the feedback. that 3% is definitely concerning. Would hate to come back from a long trip, expecting to jump in my car and then find it completely out of juice from the vampire battery drain issues.

 

[SSteveEV]

Sadly it does happen:
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...month-long-vacation.13341/page-11#post-299173

Though in fairness, there was no way it wasn't going to happen in that case so he probably wasn't surprised.

 

[BuchRivian]

Yeah. I've never had an EV, and the range was a big driver for me getting an R1S with frequent trips to O'Hare for flights. Usually they are less than a week, but a few times a year they are longer and I'll just need to plan ahead. is the higher end of the 1 - 3% drain occuring during the the colder months at DTW?

 

[Blueassassin]

I don't trust parking my truck at ORD and not for battery reasons.

 

[SSteveEV]

Yeah. I've never had an EV, and the range was a big driver for me getting an R1S with frequent trips to O'Hare for flights. Usually they are less than a week, but a few times a year they are longer and I'll just need to plan ahead. is the higher end of the 1 - 3% drain occuring during the the colder months at DTW?

Short answer, yes exterior cold has been the worst. I've noticed it improves slightly over a longer run because the battery that is warm after driving drops when first parked. I won't bore you with my graph but will give you some links to my older posts on this. Starting to track via my inside trip tracker which has apparently been updated to track vampire drain if reset when parked. In theory that should be a more stable kWh measurement vs the miles or %.

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...ampire-battery-drain.4342/page-49#post-281423

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...ampire-battery-drain.4342/page-47#post-247049

The yesterday, with the latest software, 24hrs inside in a 55* garage was 1.4-1.5kWh (i forgot to check before pulling out of the garage sadly). Had only given it a short drive before parking after spending 3 hours outside in cold temps. Couple wakes during that period when I walked too close to the car.

Never use gear guard, yadda yadda

 

[Jack Smoke]

Honestly I kinda think it’s bad form to take up a charging spot for weeks. If you’re parking for that long you're going have a large bill regardless, why not take a car service? It’ll be the approximately the same price as your parking fee And would allow short term EV users more access. Just a thought. Not condemning whatever choice you make, just thinking of other users.

 

[Craigins]

I don't trust parking my truck at ORD and not for battery reasons.

I take a taxi to the airports now. I also wouldn't trust my truck in airport parking for that long.

Could try catching the train from South Bend. Not sure how SW Michigan you are.

 

[Blueassassin]

I take a taxi to the airports now. I also wouldn't trust my truck in airport parking for that long.

Could try catching the train from South Bend. Not sure how SW Michigan you are.

At least you don’t have to worry about your cats getting stolen.

 

[BuchRivian]

Thanks for all the replies.

Honestly I kinda think it’s bad form to take up a charging spot for weeks. If you’re parking for that long you're going have a large bill regardless, why not take a car service? It’ll be the approximately the same price as your parking fee And would allow short term EV users more access. Just a thought. Not condemning whatever choice you make, just thinking of other users.

that’s a great point. However there’s a few issues. Most of the time my family comes along on these trips (5 of us in all) and some of those times we’re bringing a lot of gear/luggage due to some of the activities. In my experience a car service that will work for us is easily 3x the cost of parking. The EV chargers at ORD long term parking lot, so I think their purpose is for people that are parking for a longer term.

I take a taxi to the airports now. I also wouldn't trust my truck in airport parking for that long.

Could try catching the train from South Bend. Not sure how SW Michigan you are.

another great option. However, due to traveling with my family and the amount of gear/luggage, we bring taking the train is a bit of a hassle. Also - it usually changes the commute time substantially. I can typically get to/from ORD in 2 hours and the train makes that easily twice as long without considering the schedules rarely match up.

 

[scooter]

There’s some DC fast charging around the airport so if you build in an extra hour to charge to 100% and then park would that get you through?

 

[SSteveEV]

Can you reserve the airport chargers? First time I used the off airport DTW ones I kept hassling the place calling trying to figure out if they had any available to which they always quickly said they don't reserve them but would check currently. I drove in fear of others getting there first. Not a great experience.

 

[BuchRivian]

There’s some DC fast charging around the airport so if you build in an extra hour to charge to 100% and then park would that get you through?

That's a great solution, and very helpful. I'm not sure what to expect yet on battery drain while parking. It looks like there's some at the Fashion Outlets next to the airport - do you have any experience if these chargers are reliably open?

 

[BuchRivian]

Can you reserve the airport chargers? First time I used the off airport DTW ones I kept hassling the place calling trying to figure out if they had any available to which they always quickly said they don't reserve them but would check currently. I drove in fear of others getting there first. Not a great experience.

I haven't found anywhere to reserve the airport chargers yet, but if anyone has some info on this - it would be SUPER helpful!

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