12V Failure

[stratus]

A Lucid Mobile Tech telephoned at 8:30AM to say he would be leaving for my home right after we finish our conversation, and should arrive around 10:15AM. He told me Houston engineers had reviewed the logs and determined the vehicle is headed to Houston, and the flatbed would be arriving around 10:30-10:45AM. Both technician and flatbed arrived at about those times. Luicid gets an A+ for timeliness.

Upon arrival we talked about what Houston had determined. It is likely not a 12V failure, but a failure in the power converter from high voltage battery to the 12V OR in associated "fuses" in that conversion process, OR a wiring issue between those components. He jump started (passenger side rear wheel well) with a 12V that he brought with him but that quickly failed, basically confirming what Houston had said that it was not the 12V itself. Houston gets an A+ for their diagnosis from the logs.

We talked about the two 12V batteries, the other being under the rear seat in the center of the seat. The two run in parallel, again suggesting the failure point is not the batteries.

I asked about how the 12V gets charged, it would be via a charging session or regenerative braking when driving. Should the vehicle detect the 12V battery is low it would draw power from the high voltage battery. Hence, as mentioned above, that could be the failure point. I added it would be great if a future software update had a way for the user to monitor the health of the 12V other than the warning that is given about 10 minutes prior to shutdown.

About that time the flatbed arrived. Given the 90 degree turn from the garage it was determined the flatbed needed help. A tow truck was called. 30 minutes later the tow truck arrived, lifted the rear of the car, and successfully navigated the 90 degree turn to get the vehicle to the street where it was loaded onto the flatbed for the drive to Houston. However, I do wish the tow truck operator did not not damage the beautiful garage floor while sliding the component that lifted the car underneath the car. It also damaged one of the plastic aero wings at the rear of the Lucid. The Lucid Mobile Rep was on it and a work order to repair the garage floor was in effect even before the flatbed left. Tow Company gets a D- for their work due to the damage to the floor and the vehicle. Lucid Rep gets his A+ for having the work order in place even before I could talk to him about fixing the floor.

I'll also mention the Lucid rep had to inform the flatbed and tow truck drivers that the parking brake locks the driver side rear wheel, they did not know that. I suggested it would be great if Lucid provided all customers (perhaps via an app update) proper towing information that could be provided to a tow operator in the event a Lucid Rep was not present at the time of the tow.

That led me to ask how often this DFW based Mobile Rep had to have a vehicle towed to Houston, he indicated it is rare and this was his 3rd or 4th tow. I asked how many Lucid's are in the area he services, he responded for the wiring issue he fixed 55-60. Neglected to ask how big his area was, but he did mention traveling in Oklahoma.

While writing this Lucid in Houston emailed to provide a point of contact for me. I will call tomorrow for an update and suggest the 12V and app updates I mentioned above.

While I am disappointed with the failure, I am very impressed with the Lucid response thusfar.

Thank you for such a detailed explanation. Sorry your car had a hiccup and I hope it’s resolved quickly.

 

[MikeTz]

Given the car becomes a brick when the 12V battery fails, one would think an old fashion key would be made available so folks can get access to the car. BMWs do come with a spare key in the key fob. Removing screws and covers behind a wheel does not seem like fun.

 

[MoniputerLM]

Given the car becomes a brick when the 12V battery fails, one would think an old fashion key would be made available so folks can get access to the car. BMWs do come with a spare key in the key fob. Removing screws and covers behind a wheel does not seem like fun.

Mercedes and GM, for the Corvette, have the same.

 

[Empty Nest]

A Lucid Mobile Tech telephoned at 8:30AM to say he would be leaving for my home right after we finish our conversation, and should arrive around 10:15AM. He told me Houston engineers had reviewed the logs and determined the vehicle is headed to Houston, and the flatbed would be arriving around 10:30-10:45AM. Both technician and flatbed arrived at about those times. Luicid gets an A+ for timeliness.

Upon arrival we talked about what Houston had determined. It is likely not a 12V failure, but a failure in the power converter from high voltage battery to the 12V OR in associated "fuses" in that conversion process, OR a wiring issue between those components. He jump started (passenger side rear wheel well) with a 12V that he brought with him but that quickly failed, basically confirming what Houston had said that it was not the 12V itself. Houston gets an A+ for their diagnosis from the logs.

We talked about the two 12V batteries, the other being under the rear seat in the center of the seat. The two run in parallel, again suggesting the failure point is not the batteries.

I asked about how the 12V gets charged, it would be via a charging session or regenerative braking when driving. Should the vehicle detect the 12V battery is low it would draw power from the high voltage battery. Hence, as mentioned above, that could be the failure point. I added it would be great if a future software update had a way for the user to monitor the health of the 12V other than the warning that is given about 10 minutes prior to shutdown.

About that time the flatbed arrived. Given the 90 degree turn from the garage it was determined the flatbed needed help. A tow truck was called. 30 minutes later the tow truck arrived, lifted the rear of the car, and successfully navigated the 90 degree turn to get the vehicle to the street where it was loaded onto the flatbed for the drive to Houston. However, I do wish the tow truck operator did not not damage the beautiful garage floor while sliding the component that lifted the car underneath the car. It also damaged one of the plastic aero wings at the rear of the Lucid. The Lucid Mobile Rep was on it and a work order to repair the garage floor was in effect even before the flatbed left. Tow Company gets a D- for their work due to the damage to the floor and the vehicle. Lucid Rep gets his A+ for having the work order in place even before I could talk to him about fixing the floor.

I'll also mention the Lucid rep had to inform the flatbed and tow truck drivers that the parking brake locks the driver side rear wheel, they did not know that. I suggested it would be great if Lucid provided all customers (perhaps via an app update) proper towing information that could be provided to a tow operator in the event a Lucid Rep was not present at the time of the tow.

That led me to ask how often this DFW based Mobile Rep had to have a vehicle towed to Houston, he indicated it is rare and this was his 3rd or 4th tow. I asked how many Lucid's are in the area he services, he responded for the wiring issue he fixed 55-60. Neglected to ask how big his area was, but he did mention traveling in Oklahoma.

While writing this Lucid in Houston emailed to provide a point of contact for me. I will call tomorrow for an update and suggest the 12V and app updates I mentioned above.

While I am disappointed with the failure, I am very impressed with the Lucid response thusfar.

Please keep us updated. I will mention your towing experience during my telecon tomorrow. I wish I could share your same level of optimism, our service experience started that way but now seems to have lost momentum. I would comment that maybe he thinks 3-4 tows is rare, but if you were to take 4 tows divided by the number Luci's in DFW I bet that's a significant (>5%) failure rate.

 

[hellolucid]

A Lucid Mobile Tech telephoned at 8:30AM to say he would be leaving for my home right after we finish our conversation, and should arrive around 10:15AM. He told me Houston engineers had reviewed the logs and determined the vehicle is headed to Houston, and the flatbed would be arriving around 10:30-10:45AM. Both technician and flatbed arrived at about those times. Luicid gets an A+ for timeliness.

Upon arrival we talked about what Houston had determined. It is likely not a 12V failure, but a failure in the power converter from high voltage battery to the 12V OR in associated "fuses" in that conversion process, OR a wiring issue between those components. He jump started (passenger side rear wheel well) with a 12V that he brought with him but that quickly failed, basically confirming what Houston had said that it was not the 12V itself. Houston gets an A+ for their diagnosis from the logs.

We talked about the two 12V batteries, the other being under the rear seat in the center of the seat. The two run in parallel, again suggesting the failure point is not the batteries.

I asked about how the 12V gets charged, it would be via a charging session or regenerative braking when driving. Should the vehicle detect the 12V battery is low it would draw power from the high voltage battery. Hence, as mentioned above, that could be the failure point. I added it would be great if a future software update had a way for the user to monitor the health of the 12V other than the warning that is given about 10 minutes prior to shutdown.

About that time the flatbed arrived. Given the 90 degree turn from the garage it was determined the flatbed needed help. A tow truck was called. 30 minutes later the tow truck arrived, lifted the rear of the car, and successfully navigated the 90 degree turn to get the vehicle to the street where it was loaded onto the flatbed for the drive to Houston. However, I do wish the tow truck operator did not not damage the beautiful garage floor while sliding the component that lifted the car underneath the car. It also damaged one of the plastic aero wings at the rear of the Lucid. The Lucid Mobile Rep was on it and a work order to repair the garage floor was in effect even before the flatbed left. Tow Company gets a D- for their work due to the damage to the floor and the vehicle. Lucid Rep gets his A+ for having the work order in place even before I could talk to him about fixing the floor.

I'll also mention the Lucid rep had to inform the flatbed and tow truck drivers that the parking brake locks the driver side rear wheel, they did not know that. I suggested it would be great if Lucid provided all customers (perhaps via an app update) proper towing information that could be provided to a tow operator in the event a Lucid Rep was not present at the time of the tow.

That led me to ask how often this DFW based Mobile Rep had to have a vehicle towed to Houston, he indicated it is rare and this was his 3rd or 4th tow. I asked how many Lucid's are in the area he services, he responded for the wiring issue he fixed 55-60. Neglected to ask how big his area was, but he did mention traveling in Oklahoma.

While writing this Lucid in Houston emailed to provide a point of contact for me. I will call tomorrow for an update and suggest the 12V and app updates I mentioned above.

While I am disappointed with the failure, I am very impressed with the Lucid response thusfar.

thanks for the write up. very helpful. your mobile tech sounds like a very knowledgeable person. also, i like your suggestion about showing towing instructions within the app in case of an emergency tow. i hope they pass on that feedback.

 

[Empty Nest]

i like your suggestion about showing towing instructions within the app in case of an emergency tow. i hope they pass on that feedback.

I will bring this up in my telecon with senior managers of Customer Care and Roadside Assistance that is scheduled in a few minutes.

 

[Empty Nest]

I will bring this up in my telecon with senior managers of Customer Care and Roadside Assistance that is scheduled in a few minutes.

And now rescheduled for 11AM PDT at the very last minute, no respect for my time.

 

[Sam6062]

I will bring this up in my telecon with senior managers of Customer Care and Roadside Assistance that is scheduled in a few minutes.

I was told by service that the tow companies they contract with have specific instructions about towing but also acknowledged that whether the driver follows them is not something they can control.

The 12V jump btw is near the back passenger tire.

 

[Empty Nest]

I was told by service that the tow companies they contract with have specific instructions about towing but also acknowledged that whether the driver follows them is not something they can control.

The 12V jump btw is near the back passenger tire.

I wish I could tell you this was true, but Urgently, the 3rd party roadside assistance company, did not have any clue on how to retrieve our Luci and thus the provider was not provided any instructions, and as a result she literally got dragged backwards up onto the flatbed. I still have not been told where they attached to in the rear and have not received a promised email from Urgently either.

 

[Sam6062]

I wish I could tell you this was true, but Urgently, the 3rd party roadside assistance company, did not have any clue on how to retrieve our Luci and thus the provider was not provided any instructions, and as a result she literally got dragged backwards up onto the flatbed. I still have not been told where they attached to in the rear and have not received a promised email from Urgently either.

Sorry to hear that, if they tried that with my car I would have sent them packing and called the customer service number and read them the riot act BUT I digress. I was just relaying what they told me and perhaps that tow hook is also down there under the rear passenger wheel well.

 

[Empty Nest]

Sorry to hear that, if they tried that with my car I would have sent them packing and called the customer service number and read them the riot act BUT I digress. I was just relaying what they told me and perhaps that tow hook is also down there under the rear passenger wheel well.

Oh they have heard the riot act more than once. Customer Care was actually worse than Urgently on that evening. Thus the reason for my telecon that continues to be pushed back. There is only the front tow hook location and it's not intended to be used to drag the vehicle.

 

[HC_79]

It's interesting that the towing company that came to me knew exactly where he had to go to jump the car. When getting it onto the flatbed he was complaining about how annoying it was that car had no tow hook to pull it onto the truck. When I did a walk around I was looking for pop out piece on the bumper and thought it was strange it didn't have one even though I recalled seeing the tow hook in the trunk. Needless to say the car was in neutral and he was intending to just push it on to the flatbed which I was thinking "good luck". The car managed to get itself to a point where he could put it in drive so he quickly drove it onto the flatbed.

It sounded like he had towed some Lucid's before but yeah, without reading the manual (as I did after the fact) it's hard to know where the tow hook is supposed to go.

 

[Sam6062]

Seems like the DCFC is destroying a component which doesn't let the HV battery charge the 12v and the 12v just drains itself until it had 10 min left. Hope to hear a resolution soon!

Maybe due to the high heat it’s melting some connectors or components that connect the two??
I have done only one fast changes and probably will stay away from it until the cause has been identified.

The 3 Dallas reps I have dealt with Brandon, Chewy and another gentleman I just met yesterday are extremely polite and nice.

@LuciPearl they had told me their Service area is Texas/AR/OK/LA Brandon was the one who told me about the instructions to the towing companies but your experience confirmed that the drivers don’t really care for the instructions and not really trained to provide exemplary service. Bummer about the floor and the car part but great to hear about Lucid owning up to the damage. I did get two free batteries from them yesterday

 

[Pete44]

I would state Lucid does not feel it's the 12V batteries themselves, @HC_79 posted his service report and they did not replace the 12V battery, and in my case I am requesting they do replace it but Lucid has not yet agreed to do so. I have not seen details of resolution for all the recent 12V failures so cannot comment on them, but I do not recall @Pete44 saying they replaced theirs.

Lucid did not replace my 12V and when I pressed them, the response was the 12V died due to a problem with the HV and it’s inability to send power to the 12V.

 

[Percentage]

Lucid did not replace my 12V and when I pressed them, the response was the 12V died due to a problem with the HV and it’s inability to send power to the 12V.

I just picked up my AGT and John my advisor, said it was a software issue. The 2 12V batteries were fine. The car will always protect the HV battery system. If something goes awry it will shut down and let the 12V system take over. Obviously the 12V wont last long.

 

[HC_79]

I just picked up my AGT and John my advisor, said it was a software issue. The 2 12V batteries were fine. The car will always protect the HV battery system. If something goes awry it will shut down and let the 12V system take over. Obviously the 12V wont last long.

glad you got your car back and the issue was only software related

 

[HC_79]

Oh they have heard the riot act more than once. Customer Care was actually worse than Urgently on that evening. Thus the reason for my telecon that continues to be pushed back. There is only the front tow hook location and it's not intended to be used to drag the vehicle.

Did you have your call? How did it go?

 

[Empty Nest]

Lucid did not replace my 12V and when I pressed them, the response was the 12V died due to a problem with the HV and it’s inability to send power to the 12V.

I am requesting our 12V battery be replaced (Lucid has not yet agreed) due to the simple fact that once lead-acid batteries are fully discharged (or even deep cycled if not marine pedigree) will never quite be the same. I am getting the same response with respect to our Luci's 12V system failure, and a new HV battery as you have received.

Did you have your call? How did it go?

Yes I did. It was supposed to be with the manager of Customer Care and the manager of Roadside Assistance. Well it turns out there is churn going on at that level as well, I got to speak with one manager and from the best I could figure out she was transitioning from one manager role and assuming the customer care manager role. I will provide a better synopsis of the telecon in another post later, but I can say I left it feeling less than satisfied. Lots of well rehearsed party line language but not much true understanding of the actual issues. Not to mention she was an hour and a half late.

 

[Steveinarizona]

I just picked up my AGT and John my advisor, said it was a software issue. The 2 12V batteries were fine. The car will always protect the HV battery system. If something goes awry it will shut down and let the 12V system take over. Obviously the 12V wont last long.

So does the car warn you when it is shifting to running off the 12 volt batteries so you have time to get off the highway?

 

[LuciPearl]

So does the car warn you when it is shifting to running off the 12 volt batteries so you have time to get off the highway?

My experience in the garage is the time from notification to dying is 10 minutes. I recall reading elsewhere on this board that a software change was made to make the time be 10 minutes rather than an imminent shutdown.