12V failure and what to do.

[Pragmatic]

Yes 12v batteries die when it is cold. But now a days it is rare without warning, cause or use of an old battery. Just based on my experience my pickup will sit for day or even weeks outside in single digits yet its original battery from 2009 fires it up. When I drove cross country to ski during Covid I parked my Jaguar outside in -15F overnight (South Dakota) and it started right up.

Modern ICEs (for the most part) especially if the battery is not placed where it gets heat soaked by the engine, are great at starting in cold weather. My 30 years experience leaving vehicles outside at ski resorts for days of below zero temperatures has shows no issues since modern FI was added in the mid 80's.

 

[pjdcorp]

This post is not about my car, which was charging just fine at my local EA at 4pm today in 20 degree temps, but the Lucid that was next to me. I thought everything was fine until I saw a tow truck pull up! View attachment 17793
The owner was not there, I looked at the charger and it had been there 298 minutes and incurred $118 in idle fees! The car was dead, locked, and the charging cable was stuck, with a line of irritated EV owners waiting for the spot. The poor tow truck driver had never seen a Lucid before, and there was a bit of a language barrier. I called Lucid service to help him out and they answered instantly, pretty impressive for 4pm on a Sunday. He didn’t understand there was an emergency release for the cable, which you can’t access in the frunk if the car is completely dead, but then Lucid told me the 12V battery on this car had died so it just needed a jump and should release the cable. I showed the tow driver the section of the manual showing how to jump the car and he thought I was crazy when I said the 12V cables are behind the back right wheel well. It’s not easy so I don’t blame the guy for initially not wanting to let me help him out because this car is Area 51 level engineering. I moved my car so others could charge, and a line of EVs backed up. He initially wanted to leave and say he couldn’t figure it out and he had two other jobs, but the Lucid employees were persistent and kept him on the line, and finally he agreed to let me show him how to jump the car. You have to pry out with a flathead screwdriver the bottom 3 plastic wheel well clips behind the right rear wheel, it’s a very tight spot, then you have to pry out both plastic buttons that secure the red and black 12v cables, then connect red then black (no ground!) and use a booster box to jump it. Finally that booted up the car and released the charging cable and Lucid service was then able to remotely unlock the car so he could tow it. While all this was happening the car got quite a lot of attention (luckily my fully functional GT was there so it didn’t look as bad), and this WalMart EA stayed on script and sure enough a crackhead on a bike came by asking everyone for $. An Ioniq 6 owner made her day and gave her some cash. I hope whoever this Lucid owner is that their car gets to Natick OK and it’s just a silly 12V issue!

Also, before anybody levels any criticism, 12V batteries die on ALL cars ICE or EV, especially when it’s been 13F out for days. There’s already been reports of KIA EV9 owners having 12V die 2 weeks after delivery, so this is not a Lucid problem. If yours dies and you ever need a jump, the instructions are in the manual under “Roadside Assistance>Instructions for Transporters>12V battery” and there are illustrations. You’d probably do best to try and be with the car as I wouldn’t expect any tow driver is going to be able to figure out how to jump it without guidance!

Thanks for the advice. I haven't had to take advantage of it, but appreciate the heads-up.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

Thanks for the advice. I haven't had to take advantage of it, but appreciate the heads-up.

This sounds like a good video for Bobby to make!!

 

[ralsagoff]

Moral of the story is that it’s best to charge at home unless you cannot because you live in an apartment or condo building. I have a 40 amp 220 v charger that charges both my Lucid AT and my 11 year old Tesla Model S. Super chargers will only shorten the life and performance of your batteries, something the car manufacturers prefer not to discuss.

 

[efesese]

Moral of the story is that it’s best to charge at home unless you cannot because you live in an apartment or condo building. I have a 40 amp 220 v charger that charges both my Lucid AT and my 11 year old Tesla Model S. Super chargers will only shorten the life and performance of your batteries, something the car manufacturers prefer not to discuss.

I'll definitely do that (from March 2026

 

[Bunnylebowski]

This sounds like a good video for Bobby to make!!

If @Bobby were to do so, he might need some backup wheel well securing buttons as well as the ones securing the 12v cables they don’t come out willingly, for good reason, and may break on removal. It’s almost a 2 person job as the wheel well cover is pretty stiff and not easy to retract. The manual illustration shows the cover fully removed (instructions say to remove the 2 securing buttons but you actually need to remove the bottom 3 to gain access. Also you don’t want to pry too hard as there’s an ADAS sensor very close to that area on the bumper, and the bumper is flexible so if you pry too hard I could picture the sensor being affected.

 

[borski]

If @Bobby were to do so, he might need some backup wheel well securing buttons as well as the ones securing the 12v cables they don’t come out willingly, for good reason, and may break on removal. It’s almost a 2 person job as the wheel well cover is pretty stiff and not easy to retract. The manual illustration shows the cover fully removed (instructions say to remove the 2 securing buttons but you actually need to remove the bottom 3 to gain access. Also you don’t want to pry too hard as there’s an ADAS sensor very close to that area on the bumper, and the bumper is flexible so if you pry too hard I could picture the sensor being affected.

Genuine question: how much of a pain would it be to secure leads to those wires and thread them through the wheel well so they’re easier to access, and cap them?

 

[Bunnylebowski]

You’d have to put a couple extra holes in the wheel well cover to get the leads through and then would want to protect it with some kind of cover you could secure to the wheel well, which I’d be concerned road element exposure could knock loose, but shouldn’t be too difficult. But you’d need to make sure you had extra button clips to resecure the wheel well cover in case you break them on removal.

 

[lindaresendiz]

This really is more complicated than desirable. How many Lucid owners carry around hard copy of the manual? I keep an Android tablet in the glovebox with the latest manual in its memory. but if the car is dead, I can't access the glovebox. With nearly every ICE car when the 12v battery dies you can mechanically unlock a door (most police and tow struck drivers can jimmy a door open if there's no user mechanical release) and release the hood, or access the trunk if the battery is hidden there. As a Lucid owner, what this anonymous driver endured gives me the chills.

My car went totally dead at an EA station, but at least the Lucid tech in California was able to revive it remotely.

I had my 12v die on me and it took hours for us to get the car unlocked. The tow truck driver was outside at like 1am trying to follow directions to jump start the 12v. The only saving grace is that the kids were not locked inside and that I had just pulled into my driveway when it happened.

 

[loithai]

I had a similar issue with my Tesla 12V battery before. My Tesla was dead and generated a rotten egg smell in my garage. Tesla came, towed it to the service center, and replaced the battery.

 

[Tâm]

It doesn't show how to pry off the clips but it does show what next after that:

It says you need a big 12v battery because the small one in the video was too weak to unlock the door.

 

[Pragmatic]

This all seems poorly thought out. The cars should not need high current on the 12V side to wake up or unlock, unlike an ICE that requires 100s of amps to start.

A key located above the license plate would allow access to the 12V power port which, if properly designed, could be used to feed the low voltage side of the vehicle. A simple power port to power port jumper might provide power to wale up the car.

 

[Halodde]

@Bunnylebowski I'm a little bit surprised that this worked out as well as it did. Can you clarify when the jumper box was connected, did the cable release automatically? Or did someone have to time it perfectly to unlock the car and then manually remove the cable after the box was connected? The reason I'm surprised and asking is last year when my car went completely dead, we used a jumper box but didn't even have enough time/power to get the car in neutral for the tow let alone put windows down or something else. The car sapped all the power from the jumper box almost immediately. And then we were back to brick status.

 

[lsbuffs]

It doesn't show how to pry off the clips but it does show what next after that:

It says you need a big 12v battery because the small one in the video was too weak to unlock the door.

Man, the lack of focus and those fingernails made for a tough watch.

 

[AirPlur]

So basically, we can't really give a jump to a needy fellow motorist, despite the irony that we're driving one big battery. Yet another reason for people to hate EV drivers like me.

 

[segbrk]

So basically, we can't really give a jump to a needy fellow motorist, despite the irony that we're driving one big battery. Yet another reason for people to hate EV drivers like me.

I have always carried a portable jump starter with me and now is no different. It's tucked in next to my mobile charger in the trunk. No reason to abuse the car to jump start something when you can just tuck one of those (much more convenient) devices away.

 

[Tâm]

This all seems poorly thought out....

I miss the good old days of backup mechanical keys in case the 12V is dead.

A dead 12V should be easily accessed and replaced by a generic tow truck driver. Towing a car for a 12V replacement is a waste of resources.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

@Bunnylebowski I'm a little bit surprised that this worked out as well as it did. Can you clarify when the jumper box was connected, did the cable release automatically? Or did someone have to time it perfectly to unlock the car and then manually remove the cable after the box was connected? The reason I'm surprised and asking is last year when my car went completely dead, we used a jumper box but didn't even have enough time/power to get the car in neutral for the tow let alone put windows down or something else. The car sapped all the power from the jumper box almost immediately. And then we were back to brick status.

The Tow driver had a Milwaukee portable jumper, not sure the power on it but once it was connected shortly thereafter the doors unlocked and car came online, stayed online.

 

[Lucken]

I have always carried a portable jump starter with me and now is no different. It's tucked in next to my mobile charger in the trunk. No reason to abuse the car to jump start something when you can just tuck one of those (much more convenient) devices away.

Isn’t your unit similar to the portable jump starter he used in the video or does it have a higher capacity? There’s so many of these on the market. I’ve got one too, but can’t recall its capacity.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I have always carried a portable jump starter with me and now is no different. It's tucked in next to my mobile charger in the trunk. No reason to abuse the car to jump start something when you can just tuck one of those (much more convenient) devices away.

Ah but then how will you get it out if the 12V dies? I have a NoCo jumper starter also but realized if I’m locked out of the car it’s not much help.