I just took my Lucid Air GT with 19" wheels from South San Francisco to Portland to pick up my daughter from her first year of college. The drive was incredible. I only had 3000 miles on the car so this was going to be a great chance to get more familiar with the vehicle. Typically I would do this trip with either a MB R-class (for storage space) or a Toyota Avalon hybrid (for range- >600miles/ tank).
I left with a full charge but had to stay overnight in Redding, CA to be on a video call the evening that I left. The hotel had a level 2 charger, so I was able to fully charge the car again to 100% overnight. According to the navigation, I would make it to Portland with about 20 miles of range left but I decided to do a quick 10 minute charge during lunch in Sutherlin, OR at an EA charger with a Dairy Queen and Starbucks in the lot. This was all it took to easily get to Portland with plenty of charge once I got there.
A quick note about storage in the car. We did leave some stuff at a storage locker for the summer we are sharing with other. Items like a metro shelving unit, microwave, computer monitor, air purifier. The rest of her dorm stuff fit in the car without me even using the back seats. I was able to fit a large black and yellow Costco bin in the frunk along with bags of clothing, bedding, and stuffed animals. The trunk fit 2 of the smaller costco totes in the sub-floor area. The rest of the normal trunk area was used for everything else, including our own luggage for the trip. I thought for sure the whole car would be full but I did not even use the back seats for anything besides our jackets. This was great since we would be staying in downtown Portland overnight and I didn't want anything being visible in the car when parked. Part of the reason I chose a Lucid Air was the theoretical storage space I'd read about. In reality, it worked out even better than i imagined it could.
In theory, from my recorded data of the trip, I could have made the trip back from Portland to South San Francisco with just one stop in Ashland, OR. This works the other direction as well. Of course the charge time would be well over an hour to get to 100% but if you stay awhile in Ashland that works. I just wanted to get home the same day, so we did 2 short stops instead. One stop in Grants Pass, OR for lunch with a charge to 80% and another charge in Anderson, CA. Only needed about 15 minutes for each charge as the EA chargers were working pretty well.
I don't know if I would try to make the trip with just a single charge, considering my daughter's dorm room stuff really weighed down the car. Also the time to get to 100% is not as efficient as 2 quick charges of 15-20 minutes. This also lets you be a bit more liberal with some from sprints on I-5 along the way without worrying about range anxiety. It was probaly a good thing we did the 2 short charges because when we got back to the Bay Area, I-80 was completely closed in both directions due to a shooting for several hours.
I have to say that my first road trip in the car was wonderful. I did later realize that I had the tires way under inflated at 41psi for the whole trip. I thought the recommended pressure was 40psi from the door jam. When the low pressure indicator went off the day after my trip, I realized the font made the "49" look like "40". While trying to reset the warning I learned the acutal pressure (thanks forum) should have been 49psi this whole time.
With higher tire pressure, I am sure that the trip could easily be done with one charge in Ashland when going between South San Frnacisco and Portland. Stay for a Shakespeare play and relax if you don't want to make a 12 hour trip like I did.
I left with a full charge but had to stay overnight in Redding, CA to be on a video call the evening that I left. The hotel had a level 2 charger, so I was able to fully charge the car again to 100% overnight. According to the navigation, I would make it to Portland with about 20 miles of range left but I decided to do a quick 10 minute charge during lunch in Sutherlin, OR at an EA charger with a Dairy Queen and Starbucks in the lot. This was all it took to easily get to Portland with plenty of charge once I got there.
A quick note about storage in the car. We did leave some stuff at a storage locker for the summer we are sharing with other. Items like a metro shelving unit, microwave, computer monitor, air purifier. The rest of her dorm stuff fit in the car without me even using the back seats. I was able to fit a large black and yellow Costco bin in the frunk along with bags of clothing, bedding, and stuffed animals. The trunk fit 2 of the smaller costco totes in the sub-floor area. The rest of the normal trunk area was used for everything else, including our own luggage for the trip. I thought for sure the whole car would be full but I did not even use the back seats for anything besides our jackets. This was great since we would be staying in downtown Portland overnight and I didn't want anything being visible in the car when parked. Part of the reason I chose a Lucid Air was the theoretical storage space I'd read about. In reality, it worked out even better than i imagined it could.
In theory, from my recorded data of the trip, I could have made the trip back from Portland to South San Francisco with just one stop in Ashland, OR. This works the other direction as well. Of course the charge time would be well over an hour to get to 100% but if you stay awhile in Ashland that works. I just wanted to get home the same day, so we did 2 short stops instead. One stop in Grants Pass, OR for lunch with a charge to 80% and another charge in Anderson, CA. Only needed about 15 minutes for each charge as the EA chargers were working pretty well.
I don't know if I would try to make the trip with just a single charge, considering my daughter's dorm room stuff really weighed down the car. Also the time to get to 100% is not as efficient as 2 quick charges of 15-20 minutes. This also lets you be a bit more liberal with some from sprints on I-5 along the way without worrying about range anxiety. It was probaly a good thing we did the 2 short charges because when we got back to the Bay Area, I-80 was completely closed in both directions due to a shooting for several hours.
I have to say that my first road trip in the car was wonderful. I did later realize that I had the tires way under inflated at 41psi for the whole trip. I thought the recommended pressure was 40psi from the door jam. When the low pressure indicator went off the day after my trip, I realized the font made the "49" look like "40". While trying to reset the warning I learned the acutal pressure (thanks forum) should have been 49psi this whole time.
With higher tire pressure, I am sure that the trip could easily be done with one charge in Ashland when going between South San Frnacisco and Portland. Stay for a Shakespeare play and relax if you don't want to make a 12 hour trip like I did.
