Complimentary charging ending - what plan do i choose?

[scal_air]

Can't believe it's been three years already!

The DC charging for me is used very rarely - I would say it's needed less than 6 times a year.
Is the Lucid Charging Base Plan essentially the same as an EA Pass plan? No discount on rate but ease of initiating charging? The other option would be just as a guest at an EA station and swiping a CC. Is there any downside to enrolling in the Lucid plan? I'm pretty sure I don't need Pass Plus.

 

[Adnillien]

Can't believe it's been three years already!

The DC charging for me is used very rarely - I would say it's needed less than 6 times a year.
Is the Lucid Charging Base Plan essentially the same as an EA Pass plan? No discount on rate but ease of initiating charging? The other option would be just as a guest at an EA station and swiping a CC. Is there any downside to enrolling in the Lucid plan? I'm pretty sure I don't need Pass Plus.

The Lucid plan provides plug and charge at the standard EA rate (no discount). If you rarely charge it is a good and convenient plan.

 

[Sandvinsd]

The downside is that you don’t get any discounts.

If you go on a trip and charge at least a couple of times, it is more cost effective to get the EA pass for a month and then cancel when you are done with the trip and not have the Lucid charging plan. But if it is really is that you charge once and then again in a couple of months, the Lucid charging plan is good for plug and charge, but you always pay the base (higher) rate. I find that the just charging through the EA app on the one offs and buying the pass when on a long trip when I will charge more than once is cheaper and just as convenient.

 

[Mrgaryc]

Thanks all for advice. I’m like you OP. My three years expired 12/30/25. I finally needed to charge away from home yesterday. EA wasn’t convenient to my location (Note: I have base plan) and I literally only needed 20-30 miles extra to safely get home. I stopped at an EVGo charger. Swiped a card and charger didn’t work. Switched to different charger and worked immediately. But the allegedly 150Kw charger was only putting out 48Kw! Ugh. No clue what the fee was for the 30 miles (display in sun was unreadable) and took way longer than a EA charger would have. I would definitely avoid EVGo in the future.

 

[DeaneG]

...I would definitely avoid EVGo in the future.

EVGo was the second best of five charging experiences we had on a recent road trip. Shell Recharge was unexpectedly the winner, we saw 357kW from a 360kW charger into the Gravity.

 

[JerseyStrong]

Has anyone successfully charged with a Wal-Mart charger? I tried while in GA just to test it out, and it never recognized my Air was connected.

 

[doubletwist]

Has anyone successfully charged with a Wal-Mart charger? I tried while in GA just to test it out, and it never recognized my Air was connected.

I had no problem charging at a Walmart in Arkansas a couple times

 

[scal_air]

Has anyone successfully charged with a Wal-Mart charger? I tried while in GA just to test it out, and it never recognized my Air was connected.

Do you mean an EA at a Walmart parking lot or a Walmart branded charger? Because I've never seen the latter. Don't have any issue with the former though...

 

[JerseyStrong]

Do you mean an EA at a Walmart parking lot or a Walmart branded charger? Because I've never seen the latter. Don't have any issue with the former though...

No, Wal-Mart is now rolling out their own branded chargers. Tom of State of Charge was juts in my hometown checking them out.

 

[WCWIII]

On road trips that have a stop over or at my final destination, I look for hotels that offer free overnight L2 charging. If I need a break anyway, I'll add a few 10's% at a fast charger to get me to my destination with room to spare. I found it interesting that I actually wanted a 150kW charger over the 350kW charger for a recent ~15 minute break. I know I can have the charging turn off at a certain %, but I don't like invoking and worrying about the 10 minute idle fee in case my break was longer.

 

[elin]

During my most recent road trip, I’ve found tesla superchargers for trips that require just one charge up a day to be great. It takes a little over 1.5 hours to charge from around 30% to under 95%, perfect for a sit down no rush meal break. There are quite a number of locations close to food/restaurants and it seems they usually have more stalls than cars charging, so I don’t need to worry about lines.

I will pay for a month of tesla charging membership if I plan to drive long distance and it pretty much pays for itself with just one charge up.

 

[Saksak]

I did the Tesla plan for my two road trips (600 miles and 2k miles). Sign up and immediately cancel - it lasts a month. Worked great. ABRP for food planning.

I picked Tesla because I’m most familiar with it. I want to try others, though. I stopped at a BP station and it was great.

 

[DeaneG]

I picked Tesla because I’m most familiar with it. I want to try others, though. I stopped at a BP station and it was great.

Tesla locations are great for plentiful stalls and reliability, minimum drama. There's also something awesome about pulling into a 350-400kW CCS station at a low SOC and maxing out the charger's capability.

 

[scal_air]

Tesla locations are great for plentiful stalls and reliability, minimum drama. There's also something awesome about pulling into a 350-400kW CCS station at a low SOC and maxing out the charger's capability.

Yeah if you oelwn a Gravity...
Different story for an Air

 

[Saksak]

Yeah if you oelwn a Gravity...
Different story for an Air

Ah, right. The Air’s 50 kW max charging speed on most Telsa superchargers - I’m spoiled by the Gravity. I hope Lucid fixes this in future Air models.

Does that leave EA as the best option?

 

[DeaneG]

Ah, right. The Air’s 50 kW max charging speed on most Telsa superchargers - I’m spoiled by the Gravity. I hope Lucid fixes this in future Air models.

Does that leave EA as the best option?

Any other charging vendor is likely pretty good by now. I use whatever station is nearest my intended route when I need a charge, unless it's a 2-stall 50kW Chargepoint site or similar.

 

[Saksak]

Any other charging vendor is likely pretty good by now. I use whatever station is nearest my intended route when I need a charge, unless it's a 2-stall 50kW Chargepoint site or similar.

What about a subscription plan for road trips? For Tesla, cost per kW goes up by ~50% for non-Tesla vehicles unless you have a subscription.

This was the main reason I stuck with Tesla superchargers vs. other vendors - the availability of superchargers (with food/bathroom) right off the highway/route based on subscription/costs.

 

[DeaneG]

What about a subscription plan for road trips? For Tesla, cost per kW goes up by ~50% for non-Tesla vehicles unless you have a subscription.

This was the main reason I stuck with Tesla superchargers vs. other vendors - the availability of superchargers (with food/bathroom) right off the highway/route based on subscription/costs.

In the past, I have always paid for a month of Tesla or EA membership to get that discount (about 25%), but on a recent road trip I didn't want to be tied to any one vendor. We charged four times, each time at a different vendor, so convenient but also a little costly.

 

[scal_air]

Any other charging vendor is likely pretty good by now. I use whatever station is nearest my intended route when I need a charge, unless it's a 2-stall 50kW Chargepoint site or similar.

Yeah, Tesla owners are already stuck up about non Teslas using their SCS...I don't want to be the new Chevy Bolt hogging up a charger