Oliver Haslam on February 23, 2024, 8:22 pm

Tesla Wants To Slash Sentry Mode Power Usage By Almost Half

If you’re a Tesla owner you’re probably already familiar with Sentry Mode, a feature that is designed to keep the EV safe when it’s parked.

Now, Tesla is apparently working to improve the feature not by making it do more, but by making it use less power while it works.

Sentry Mode uses the cameras that are built into Teslas to monitor the area around it. The cameras record footage and owners can view the feed back using their phone remotely, and the in-car display alerts people that Sentry Mode is enabled. But it uses a lot of power with Electrek pointing to some owners reporting a drain of around 10% of a Model 3’s battery capacity in a single day.

Now, Drew Baglino, Tesla’s SVP of powertrain and energy engineering, says that Tesla is working on a way to reduce power usage by around 40% and it intends to do it as part of a software update that will be released in the second quarter of 2024.

There’s no word yet on how the power drain is going to be reduced, but the news is sure to be well received by those whose vehicles spend a lot of time parked and with the feature enabled.

It could also ensure that people suffer less range anxiety because they know their car will have more power left when they return after a day at work, for example.