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An Open Letter to Lucid: 1,408 Miles In, 3.52 mi/kWh, and a New Owner's Wish List

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NoahWeb

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’23 Lucid Air GT
An Open Letter to Lucid: 1,408 Miles In, 3.52 mi/kWh, and a New Owner's Wish List

I just finished my first big drive in my 2023 Air GT: 1,408 miles from California to Texas at 3.52 mi/kWh, with a mere 5 charging stops (not counting overnight rest charges). I came to Lucid after six years and 133,000 miles in a 2017 Tesla Model S 100D, so I know what a mature EV software experience feels like day to day. The Air is a remarkable car! The efficiency, the ride, the engineering are all world-class. That's why I'm writing. The hardware has earned software and UX to match. Here's my list after one long road trip as a new owner:

Driver information and efficiency
1. Add a "HAL" button (Hyper Analytics by Lucid??). It would open a detailed view of how the car is performing: live mi/kWh, trip projections and consumption trends. Put it where the dedicated Themes button sits now, at the bottom of the main screen, and move Themes into a tab under Settings.
2. Make the left main screen more useful too. Your engineers built the most efficient EV on the road, so show it off even outside HAL. Give us live mi/kWh, an efficiency score and more detailed trip info at a glance.
3. Fix the power meter in DreamDrive Pro. Right now it's gray on gray and hard to read. The white regen meter is great. Make the power bar green on a gray background.
4. Add a compass to Nav. What's my heading?

Route planning
5. Route planning is far too conservative. My charging stops came in at 25–35% state of charge (roughly 100–140 miles of range left unused). Let drivers set their own arrival buffer and plan from it.

Displays
6. Auto-dim the screens based on ambient light.
7. Rework the right home screen. Time and temperature show up twice. Use that space for more useful, consolidated data.
8. Prevent burn-in on the left control screen. For example, routinely shift icons about 10 pixels within their existing space.
9. Shrink preconditioning. Drop the giant takeover. Show a small icon at the bottom of the main screen, or a short text label like "Battery Conditioning" above the drive mode (Smooth / Swift / Sprint).
10. Number the volume steps, say 1 to 20.

DreamDrive Pro
11. Count steering-wheel inputs in the hands-on nudge check. Next track, turn signal and volume changes all show an engaged driver.

Media
12. Refresh the Spotify integration. It's clunky.

Comfort and profiles
13. Tie auto high beams to the driver profile, so they stay on or off.
14. Add a seat symmetry button for drivers who don't always have a passenger but want the seats lined up.

Safety and features
15. Build in dashcam recording. I know the NVIDIA architecture may make it hard, but it deserves a real attempt.

Lucid app
16. Stop asking me to confirm actions I already chose. Come on. 😄

None of this takes away from what Lucid built. It's a list from someone who wants the software to match the car. Fellow owners, what would you add?


Admins, being new not sure where to best nest this post/thread.
 

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It's a fantastic car and, with a bit of resources, 95% of the issues with it can be fixed with software updates.

All agreed here (I think #5 is doable with the new software, no?), but my big one is #12- ALL of the third-party media integrations are clunky, and more are missing (ahem Apple Music). A ton of time and energy went into designing a proper Atmos system for the car, and the only way to utilize it is to dig through Tidal's phone app and try to find the handful of Atmos tracks they offer.

Apple Music lets you stream Atmos via CarPlay, all Lucid has to do is enable it!
 
Apple wants you to use CarPlay to play music and have no incentive to let you do it through Lucid. This is an issue with BMW as well with the above stated as assumed reason. Spotify and Qobuz on the other hand are available as native apps on BMW which are the ones I care about.
Since 2.5, the sound quality in my Air has been bad and is one of the reasons I’m returning it. It was mind boggling to me how the 2.5 update passed QI. For me, it’s irrelevant at this point but that said, I think that using native Tidal in the Car with select Atmos albums definitely is the best sound that is possible in my car.
 
Is 3.52 miles/kWh good for an Air GT? That gives a maximum range (100-0%, which you would never do) of about 394 miles.

My lifetime average for my 2024 Air Touring was like 3.85 miles/kWh which I thought was pretty sad since that is like 354 miles of range on a 100% charge.

(I use the term sad loosely, but given all the hoopla about Lucid being efficiency marvels with engineering ahead of everyone, it always made me give a little side eye when considering reality versus the numbers on paper. Meanwhile, my 2026 Tesla Model 3 Performance has a lifetime average of 241.5 wh/mi which is ~4.14 miles per kWh. Sure, that is still a lower range of about 327 miles, but it is also a smaller battery - 79 kWh usable vs 92kWh on the Touring and 112 on the GT).
 
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Cheezynachos said:
Is 3.52 miles/kWh good for an Air GT? That gives a maximum range (100-0%, which you would never do) of about 394 miles.

My lifetime average for my 2024 Air Touring was like 3.85 miles/kWh which I thought was pretty sad since that is like 354 miles of range on a 100% charge.

(I use the term sad loosely, but given all the hoopla about Lucid being efficiency marvels with engineering ahead of everyone, it always made me give a little side eye when considering reality versus the numbers on paper. Meanwhile, my 2026 Tesla Model 3 Performance has a lifetime average of 241.5 wh/mi which is ~4.14 miles per kWh. Sure, that is still a lower range of about 327 miles, but it is also a smaller battery - 79 kWh usable vs 92kWh on the Touring and 112 on the GT).
Click to expand...
The touring is more efficient than the GT. I've been averaging around 3.05 miles/kwh (4.9km/kwh) on my air GT, but I'm also in Canada and that's averaged over our 4 seasons (winter being unbearably long).

So I would assume that 3.52 for anything that isn't up north or in the southern states is probably a good representation. Although for the trip OP took, I would assume that's slightly on the lower side unless they drove over 75 most of the drive.
 
Green G said:
Apple wants you to use CarPlay to play music and have no incentive to let you do it through Lucid. This is an issue with BMW as well with the above stated as assumed reason. Spotify and Qobuz on the other hand are available as native apps on BMW which are the ones I care about.
Since 2.5, the sound quality in my Air has been bad and is one of the reasons I’m returning it. It was mind boggling to me how the 2.5 update passed QI. For me, it’s irrelevant at this point but that said, I think that using native Tidal in the Car with select Atmos albums definitely is the best sound that is possible in my car.
Click to expand...
Tesla and Rivian don’t have CarPlay but do have Apple Music App. I have a feeling that lack of Apple Music app in Lucid is much more on Lucid. I think Lucid has been so focused on fixing it’s basic software system that it is not putting any resources into adding new apps or other additional functionality. Kind of like, “Hey, we gave you CarPlay, so go there if you want any additional apps.”
 
Truthlesshunter said:
The touring is more efficient than the GT. I've been averaging around 3.05 miles/kwh (4.9km/kwh) on my air GT, but I'm also in Canada and that's averaged over our 4 seasons (winter being unbearably long).

So I would assume that 3.52 for anything that isn't up north or in the southern states is probably a good representation. Although for the trip OP took, I would assume that's slightly on the lower side unless they drove over 75 most of the drive.
Click to expand...
My lifetime efficiency on my 2022 AGT is 3.55 over 22,000 miles. About 70-75% percent of that mileage were logged between Phoenix AZ and Marin County CA (I-10-CA 215-I5) with speeds between 70mph to 75mph. As such, it is pretty consistent with OP's #s and the other AGT owners.

In real life US highway trips at sea-level and moderate temperature (70-80F ambinet), the AGT, and other Air variants will never get you EPA-based range (>510miles) that Lucid cites. There are plenty of threads discussing why, I won't repeat.

Overall, the AGT is an efficient EV for US highway driving. Just not as efficient as the EPA numbers Lucid cited. Other EV manufacturers are more conservative in their embellishment of the EPA numbers. Lucid, for both the Air and Gravity, won't deliver the EPA numbers Lucid cite in realistic highway driving.
 
Cheezynachos said:
Is 3.52 miles/kWh good for an Air GT? That gives a maximum range (100-0%, which you would never do) of about 394 miles.

My lifetime average for my 2024 Air Touring was like 3.85 miles/kWh which I thought was pretty sad since that is like 354 miles of range on a 100% charge.

(I use the term sad loosely, but given all the hoopla about Lucid being efficiency marvels with engineering ahead of everyone, it always made me give a little side eye when considering reality versus the numbers on paper. Meanwhile, my 2026 Tesla Model 3 Performance has a lifetime average of 241.5 wh/mi which is ~4.14 miles per kWh. Sure, that is still a lower range of about 327 miles, but it is also a smaller battery - 79 kWh usable vs 92kWh on the Touring and 112 on the GT).
Click to expand...
Range should improve after about 2000 miles. The car needs to mechanically loosen up a little bit. When my 2026 Pure was new I averaged about 3.75 from Berkeley to San Jose, California. Now I average about 4.45 on the same route.
 
NoahWeb said:
An Open Letter to Lucid: 1,408 Miles In, 3.52 mi/kWh, and a New Owner's Wish List

I just finished my first big drive in my 2023 Air GT: 1,408 miles from California to Texas at 3.52 mi/kWh, with a mere 5 charging stops (not counting overnight rest charges). I came to Lucid after six years and 133,000 miles in a 2017 Tesla Model S 100D, so I know what a mature EV software experience feels like day to day. The Air is a remarkable car! The efficiency, the ride, the engineering are all world-class. That's why I'm writing. The hardware has earned software and UX to match. Here's my list after one long road trip as a new owner:

Driver information and efficiency
1. Add a "HAL" button (Hyper Analytics by Lucid??). It would open a detailed view of how the car is performing: live mi/kWh, trip projections and consumption trends. Put it where the dedicated Themes button sits now, at the bottom of the main screen, and move Themes into a tab under Settings.
2. Make the left main screen more useful too. Your engineers built the most efficient EV on the road, so show it off even outside HAL. Give us live mi/kWh, an efficiency score and more detailed trip info at a glance.
3. Fix the power meter in DreamDrive Pro. Right now it's gray on gray and hard to read. The white regen meter is great. Make the power bar green on a gray background.
4. Add a compass to Nav. What's my heading?

Route planning
5. Route planning is far too conservative. My charging stops came in at 25–35% state of charge (roughly 100–140 miles of range left unused). Let drivers set their own arrival buffer and plan from it.

Displays
6. Auto-dim the screens based on ambient light.
7. Rework the right home screen. Time and temperature show up twice. Use that space for more useful, consolidated data.
8. Prevent burn-in on the left control screen. For example, routinely shift icons about 10 pixels within their existing space.
9. Shrink preconditioning. Drop the giant takeover. Show a small icon at the bottom of the main screen, or a short text label like "Battery Conditioning" above the drive mode (Smooth / Swift / Sprint).
10. Number the volume steps, say 1 to 20.

DreamDrive Pro
11. Count steering-wheel inputs in the hands-on nudge check. Next track, turn signal and volume changes all show an engaged driver.

Media
12. Refresh the Spotify integration. It's clunky.

Comfort and profiles
13. Tie auto high beams to the driver profile, so they stay on or off.
14. Add a seat symmetry button for drivers who don't always have a passenger but want the seats lined up.

Safety and features
15. Build in dashcam recording. I know the NVIDIA architecture may make it hard, but it deserves a real attempt.

Lucid app
16. Stop asking me to confirm actions I already chose. Come on. 😄

None of this takes away from what Lucid built. It's a list from someone who wants the software to match the car. Fellow owners, what would you add?


Admins, being new not sure where to best nest this post/thread.
Click to expand...
I’m sorry about all this repeat. But for number one, it’s not in the car, it’s on the web, but it’s really excellent: go to this URL and subscribe to Lucid Tracker Plus. https://lucidtracker.app/home
 
NoahWeb said:
...14. Add a seat symmetry button for drivers who don't always have a passenger but want the seats lined up...
Click to expand...
I've found my brother in OCD!
 
Cheezynachos said:
..Meanwhile, my 2026 Tesla Model 3 Performance has a lifetime average of 241.5 wh/mi which is ~4.14 miles per kWh...
Click to expand...
Your Model 3 is a much smaller, lighter car.
 
Point well taken. I don’t know why certain brands do and other don’t then. Would there be a charge per vehicle to have the native app for Tesla and Rivian, you think? It’s not like Rivian is significantly better financially than Lucid, or are they just focusing more on the software experience?

I do believe that for a lot of things constrained resources are to blame. I waited patiently for almost two years now and have run out of hope. It truly was the best car audio system that I had listened to but …. Lessons learned.
 
Thank you to the OP for the very concise information. One thing I am curious about is the approx. average speed. Typically, here in the West rural highway speed limits are at 80 mph. I find if I set the cruise at 80, I am getting ran over. I have about 6k on my 24 AT, a good mix of hwy and city and avg 3.89. This includes 2k miles at 80+ on extended road trips.
 
Utrider said:
Thank you to the OP for the very concise information. One thing I am curious about is the approx. average speed. Typically, here in the West rural highway speed limits are at 80 mph. I find if I set the cruise at 80, I am getting ran over. I have about 6k on my 24 AT, a good mix of hwy and city and avg 3.89. This includes 2k miles at 80+ on extended road trips.
Click to expand...
I set DDP at 77 and let it go. Winds were against me though.
 
I recently switched to the Tesla(Lucid)Logger local solution so it's only a small sample, but for my 2025 AGT I've done the last 290 miles of mixed driving for 79.33 kWh which comes out as 3.66 mi/kWh. I'm not afraid to use the full range of the pedal either, so I consider this quite excellent for a car that has 819hp.

As for the software, there's a lot of valid points... % and miles to empty at the same time is probably top of my list. Total pipedream here and there's obvious safety reasons why this wouldn't work, but if Lucid released their interface software as open source, could you imagine what the community could accomplish with this particular platform?
 
Green G said:
Apple wants you to use CarPlay to play music and have no incentive to let you do it through Lucid. This is an issue with BMW as well with the above stated as assumed reason. Spotify and Qobuz on the other hand are available as native apps on BMW which are the ones I care about.
Since 2.5, the sound quality in my Air has been bad and is one of the reasons I’m returning it. It was mind boggling to me how the 2.5 update passed QI. For me, it’s irrelevant at this point but that said, I think that using native Tidal in the Car with select Atmos albums definitely is the best sound that is possible in my car.
Click to expand...
Nah, Apple wants you to subscribe to Apple Music - they absolutely have an API available. GM, Mercedes, Volvo and Porsche all have a native app. And, Apple also allows Atmos to stream over CarPlay now, this just needs to be enabled at the car level.

Tidal with the select Atmos albums is absolutely the best sound currently possible in the car, short of lossless audio off a USB (which does sound great). But the library is weak and finding the Atmos versions is clunky on its best day and ridiculous at its worst (that's a Tidal issue, not a Lucid one). The Apple Spatial Audio/Atmos library in unparalleled and the SSP system would sign with access to it, native app or no.

Seems a quick and easy carrot to throw us, Lucid!
 
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