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Hi all,
I just bought a '17 S550e and 17 C350e and I love the cars however, I won't be driving it at all for the next few weeks/months. Anyone know what the recommended long term storage or parking is? I question really sounds the lithium-ion battery. I contacted MB and they sent me two replies:
We would recommend leaving the vehicle on a charger which can be purchased at any authorized Mercedes Benz dealership in the parts department. Full tank of gas (this helps to minimize moisture accumulation in the air space over the fuel). 40 lbs. of air pressure in the tires (to minimize flat spotting).Charger on battery.
and then I wrote them back and asked about the lithium-ion battery. The response is:
We are in receipt of your contact and can advise that anything under 80% will be fine.
So how do I plug it in and leave it under 80% charge? Do you think she just gave me the copy and paste answer and then fixed it?
We are in the same boat and have been since early March working from home. I would honestly make the occasional drive just for the hell of it. That way you do not have to worry as much. Even if it is just to drive around aimlessly for 20 min. The worst thing for any car is to just have it sitting
I just bought a '17 S550e and 17 C350e. I won't be driving it at all for the next few weeks/months. So how do I plug it in and leave it under 80% charge?
I believe what they are saying is get a trickle charger for the 12V battery to keep it topped up, run the Li-Ion battery down below 80% and then don't worry about it. You won't leave the big battery plugged in, just the trickle charger on the 12V.
Check out a ctek battery conditioner, I have been using them for 10 years, mine are hooked up at the moment and covered up as well. Ctek make conditioners for lots of main car brands, stick a different badge on them and you end up paying twice the price. Check the mxs 5.0, a good bit of kit.
So MB just called me back and they advised me to do two things:
Keep the hybrid battery plugged in all the time. When it's full it will click off.
Every couple of weeks go out unplug the car and then start the car and leave it running for 30 min on electric mode. The AC/DC converter will top up the starter battery.
So MB just called me back and they advised me to do two things:
Keep the hybrid battery plugged in all the time. When it's full it will click off.
Every couple of weeks go out unplug the car and then start the car and leave it running for 30 min on electric mode. The AC/DC converter will top up the starter battery.
This was the foremen at Steven's Creek MB.
If it was me, I would not trust this advice! MB does not have a lot of experience with EV batteries yet, although it looks like they will begin to acquire it over the next few years when they start selling their EQ series cars. There are several websites that discuss optimal charging strategies for automobile Li-Ion batteries, for example, https://www.clippercreek.com/extend-life-ev-battery/. All say keep the charge between 20-30% (no deep discharge) and 80% (never top off). If you need a full charge before making a trip, time the charging cycle to finish at least an hour before you need to start your drive so that the battery can cool down before taking off. When you're not driving your car, keep the charge below 80%. Best strategy for the 12V battery is a maintainer. Lead Acid batteries are fine to keep at 100% on a maintainer. Just not the Li-Ion EV battery.
Storing a car for a few weeks or months is not thought of as long term storage. Anyway, have you considered disconnecting the battery if you are talking about storing it for a few months? I believe that is what Tesla recommends and their batteries are lithium-ions. Do a google search. As far as MB advice, I find most employees, parts, sales, service, don't know what a lithium-ion battery is, let alone offering advice on it. I was close to purchasing a S63 coupe and found MB employees didn't know anything about these batteries.
Lastly, I would not start the car and let it idle for a half hour. This can do more harm than good. If you feel you must start it, take it out and get it to full operating temps on the hwy before reparking it. If it were me, I wouldn't start it. I live in FL and many snow birds leave their cars sit for 6 months or so, just disconnecting the battery, and never have any problems. Again, I'd research disconnecting the battery. BTW, I know that MB sells a special charger for these batteries.
Last edited by Jud Chapin; Apr 25, 2020 at 08:48 AM.
Storing a lithium ion battery between 40-70% is the ideal SOC. I don't think, though, that your MB will allow you to actually charge it to 100%, at least if the engineers in Stuttgard have a brain. Audi, as an example, will never allow the SOC of the 48V battery to exceed 65-70% when fully charged manually. (yes, this is possible, but the DC DC converter 'clicks off' once it reached "said" max charge.)
Originally Posted by kamkaz
So MB just called me back and they advised me to do two things:
Keep the hybrid battery plugged in all the time. When it's full it will click off.
Every couple of weeks go out unplug the car and then start the car and leave it running for 30 min on electric mode. The AC/DC converter will top up the starter battery.
This was the foremen at Steven's Creek MB.
If the shop foreman mistook a AC/DC converter and a DC/DC converter, I'd find another shop foreman. *shakes head* Taking the car around the block for a spin is key here. Where the blip is the AC coming from? (sigh)
Storing a car for a few weeks or months is not thought of as long term storage. Anyway, have you considered disconnecting the battery if you are talking about storing it for a few months? I believe that is what Tesla recommends and their batteries are lithium-ions. Do a google search. As far as MB advice, I find most employees, parts, sales, service, don't know what a lithium-ion battery is, let alone offering advice on it. I was close to purchasing a S63 coupe and found MB employees didn't know anything about these batteries.
Lastly, I would not start the car and let it idle for a half hour. This can do more harm than good. If you feel you must start it, take it out and get it to full operating temps on the hwy before reparking it. If it were me, I wouldn't start it. I live in FL and many snow birds leave their cars sit for 6 months or so, just disconnecting the battery, and never have any problems. Again, I'd research disconnecting the battery. BTW, I know that MB sells a special charger for these batteries.
I Agree that driving is the Best Solution, but Question, why do you recommend against letting it "idle for a half hour" ? I would agree if the reason is to get ALL Fluids up to operating Temperature and burn off any Moisture that has accumulated in the Oil etc. But idling for a half hour or more will get the oil hot and the seals nice and soft, as well as the battery getting fully charged. Now if its less than a half hour, I would agree you are doing more harm than good since moisture will accumulate in the oil etc...
Taking the car out at hwy speeds for a 1/2 hour gets all seals, tranny, diff, gears, exhaust system, etc., up to operating temp which is what you want. This is probably more important for longer term storage. I'm just not a fan of starting stored cars and letting them idle. It's something I learned from owning several classic cars which were stored in some cases for years.
Another related and important item here is that alternators are not designed to charge batteries. They are designed to keep them charged, after starting the car for example, or topping them off as the MB dealer mentioned. The trickle charger, however, should do this job. I know that MB sells a trickle charger for their lithium-ion battery cars which are different from normal ones. I'm sure they can be purchased cheaper in aftermarket brands. I have a CTEK charger for regular batteries which works great. BTW, the MB owner"s manual for my '16 S550 coupe covers their lithium battery and states that the charger should have a charging rate of no more than 14.4 volts vs.14.8 volts for regular batteries, hence the need for a special charger.
Yeah, it did not sound like good advice to me either. I don't expect too much from that particular stealership. The car is parked indoors at work so there will not be a lot of temp fluctuations at all. I'm planning on driving it on weekends and parking it with a 60% battery for the week. I got my 911 Turbo there too but I put that on a trickle charger.
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Long term storage or parking of an S550e
