My Road Trip Experiences

Volund said:

I live in SLC. And I've done road trips to Vegas California, Arizona, Chicago, ans then DC to SLC last winter.

Range will get to around a decent usable distance. You stop more often. I was around 2.8-3 mi/kw. Heater I think did use up more range, seat warmer with less heater usage is better.

But overall I had no issues road tripping in the winter and going Coast to coast. My charging experience was seamless because it was before signet surge and all the other problems (Nov 2022)

But Lucid range estimates and route planner that's built in does a better job with estimating % arrival so road trips should be more seamless now.

@HariK just got done with a pretty awesome road trip, I'm sure he has some great tips.

Click to expand...

My only experience was that Plugshare with filters like EA only 100kW or level 2 at hotels was much better to plan the route compared to ABRP. Charging at EA as we all know is usually better at malls. One caution is not to charge to 99% or so when you are likely to go downhill soon. At 95% vs 99% is hardly worth noting. That said, when there is no other car waiting and I can see the car from a restaurant, I did charge often to 90+ because I did not know how good the next charging station is. Also I used HA between 68 and 72 which made the drive very low stress and great range. In Canada, I like IVY network which is nicely located in the rest areas with restaurants. I did not charge at any L2 charger in any one of the Mariotts I stayed at. They were either not threr or not worth the price.

Yesterday I drove from Providence RI to Bradford NH and back to Providence which was 327 miles, started at 88%, finished at 13%, drove at highways speeds 65-74mph, back roads, mountain roads, some dirt and gravel roads and hit a massive rain storm on the way home. I got 4.1 mi/kWh. That’s why this is the ultimate road trip EV, as I was able to do the whole thing without charging and only 75% of the battery was used, didn’t need to charge to 100% cuz of being scared.

Nice trip Bunny
I get about the same 4.0 kWh +/- with similar driving style in my GT.
I figure about 460 miles real range on full charge which is amazing and more then enough for a long days drive and a recharge if not heading back home.
The car is amazing to drive without needing to overly worry about charging until the day comes that charging nearly everywhere

Just finished a drive from San Diego back to Las Vegas. Did a charge at Barstow on the way back. Range said I had 91 miles left at my destination but routed me to the Baker EA station anyway. I obediently followed and did a 10-minute "splash". Left Baker with 71 miles left at destination which dropped to 44 at Mountain Pass (drops to Halloran Summit with regen recovery at Cima). Upon arrival, I had a whopping 102 miles left. FYI, these are the wild mood swings I experienced. Kept speed at 75 pretty constant. Temp was well in the 105-110 range according to Touring. Climate control on Auto and did not have audio running.

Denver to eastern VA in late April at an average of 75 mph and 3.7 miles/kWh for ~1800 miles. Temperatures were mostly in the mid-70s. Elevation change for the trip -5,000 ft ASL. On 19" AS tires at 49 psi. No problems charging at EA stations near the Interstate. Saw only one AGT in Cosmos Silver, like my AGT at an EA station in NE. Charged every four hours or so.

I just completed a mini-loop from Las Vegas to San Diego, then Tucson before returning home. Left the house at 99%. Punched in my SD destination and the Lucid told me to charge in Victorville. I pulled in and found 4 orange-colored chargers (not green) and thought uh-oh, I'm at the wrong place. Turns out it's at a Union 76 location so the orange matches their color. There are EA signs with minimal green on them so all was good. Having done this trip for a few years now, my preference would be to charge in Barstow for easy access to the freeway and bathrooms at Walmart. Second option would be in Hesperia, also at Walmart (and bathroom). In addition, both Walmart locations have more than 4 chargers. I think 8 at Barstow and 10 at Hesperia. Easier access at Barstow; not angled parking lot traffic.

In San Diego, I charged at Penasquitos since it was the closest to where I was. They do not have the 85% limit which I appreciated but I waited til late at night so I didn't inconvenience others who needed a quick charge. I charged to 95% before heading to Tucson. I was a little apprehensive since I've never driven this route before in the Lucid. Not to worry. I punched in my Tucson destination, and Lucid told me where to stop and how much "juice" to put in. Since I had charged up, Lucid told me to skip El Centro and recharge in Yuma. Yuma's station is at Target. 4 chargers away from all the parking but it's a L O N G walk to the bathroom lol! Second stop was in Dateland, right off the freeway with 4 chargers. Easy peasey. Then Lucid told me to stop in Casa Grande for a splash, which took me a few miles out of the most direct route. I obeyed Lucid. In hindsight, I don't know why Lucid didn't tell me to stop in Marana since I had enough to get me there. Note: For a good-sized city like Tucson, it's disappointing that EA has only one charge station (10 chargers of the "old" variety - two cables per charger). I made sure to look at the EA app to ensure that this station was not down; otherwise, I would have been hosed.

I plotted the course for returning home and Lucid told me to stop at Glendale and Kingman. What I failed to notice was that Lucid told me to go to EV Connect in Glendale instead of EA so I backtracked to EA Glendale (yep, Walmart) off the 101. Note the Lucid router tells you how much charge to put in. Don't use the miles/kW estimate. In 100+-degree weather, it's not a reliable gauge. The % bleeds off quickly when the A/C is on full-blast. Charged in Kingman to 60% and got home at 4%. 130 miles dropping 56%; you do the math. Car registered 113 degrees outside temp (assuming road surface) when we approached LV. Trust the Lucid trip planner.

Other than the palpitation at EV Connect in Glendale, trip was uneventful. Touring was a blast to drive. Only "complaint" is that the seats on our Lexus RX are more comfortable (10 vs 9 rating IMO) but that's nitpicking. The fun of driving the Touring more than compensated.

Lots more detail than I'd like to post; hopefully somebody can use the info.