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3000+ Mile Air Touring Winter Road trip Diary

Day 3 (summary) - Manchester Twp, NJ to West Orange, NJ


Day 3 was mostly a visiting family day.


I left the hotel in Manchester Twp, NJ around 8:21AM EST, and visited family nearby before heading up to West Orange, NJ to visit more family.

Though I started the day with 57% SoC, so it seemed to have lost 3% overnight even though it wasn't really very cold. I'm guessing the BMS recalibrating itself after driving and fast charging all day.

Since I didn't charge, I ended the day at 20% SoC.

Despite only starting at 57%, I ended up not having to charge at all today, plus tonight's hotel has a free L2 charger I'll be able to use. Only 3-4kw but that should get me a fair bit of juice overnight.

- 12.5 hours total, about 2hrs of that was driving.
- Temps started in the 50s and dropped into the mid-30s again as it got dark, and a windy front came in.
- 83.3 miles driven (mostly at 65-70mph plus some city driving)
- 29Wh electricity used (0 kWh delivered by chargers)
- $0 charging cost
- N/A ¢/mi
- 2.91 mi/kWh efficiency (Based on Trip B meter, not the 'since last charge' meter)
- 0 charging stops totalling 0 minutes (actual charging time) for an average of N/A min charging per stop. Plus free charging overnight tonight. I estimate I'll get about 48kw delivered overnight, we'll see how much of that ends up in the battery at 30° temps.


Thoughts:

Very smooth day. No issues with the car, and no charging to report.

It was very windy on the way up to Northern Jersey, but otherwise uneventful. Though I do wish NJ would join us in the 21st century and do pay by mail for the Garden State Parkway like everyone else in the civilized world instead of considering it a penalty or REQUIRING EXACT CHANGE at the on/off ramps. I haven't had exactly 85¢ at my fingertips in probably a decade or more. At least the Turnpike dispensed a ticket then let me pay at the end, but no such luck on the GSP.

For tonight at the hotel, I'll take as much free juice as I can get, but tomorrow I'm going to try to top off as much as possible after lunch because I need to pick up someone from the airport late afternoon (fingers crossed their flight isn't too late) and then immediately drive straight up to near Rochester, NY which is nearly a 5hr drive even without charging stops. So if I can keep it to one stop that'll be great.

Hopefully the weather on the way up doesn't get too bad either. Hoping to get there by midnight or so but once again I'm prepared to stop somewhere overnight if things get too bad.
 
Leftlane said:
Glad it’s going well - surprised at how much more expensive your second day was with charging. More $$ but significantly fewer miles - just more expensive chargers along the way? $142 for 589 miles - an ICE sedan that gets 30 mpg would cost maybe $50.
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I suspect it has to do with the chargers being more expensive in more populated East Coast areas? And I haven't crunched more specific numbers but possibly I took more power from EA chargers (using Plus Subscription so it's discounted) on the first day?
 
Almost forgot the Day 3 Wild coincidence addendum:

While driving to dinner (In my family's car) my uncle asked what kind of car my EV was, and literally at that EXACT moment a Lucid Air was pulling out of a driveway we were passing, so I just pointed and said "One of Those". And then on the way back to their house, I saw another one! I've only seen 3 in the wild since I got my car 10 months ago, and now I encounter 2 in one day (plus with some incredible timing). That's a trend I hope continues to increase over time.
 
Really happy to hear you are having good luck with chargers. They have absolutely improved over the past couple of years, but even this summer on a 1,200 mile trip, we had multiple EAs on the I-95 corridor that were atrocious. I'm sure the performance you're receiving is very much appreciated in the winter.

Something appears off (optimistic) with the Trip B calculation.
589 miles / 220 kWh used is less than 2.7 miles per kWh. Somehow it read above 3 on day 2.
 
doubletwist said:
Day 3 (summary) - Manchester Twp, NJ to West Orange, NJ


Day 3 was mostly a visiting family day.


I left the hotel in Manchester Twp, NJ around 8:21AM EST, and visited family nearby before heading up to West Orange, NJ to visit more family.

Though I started the day with 57% SoC, so it seemed to have lost 3% overnight even though it wasn't really very cold. I'm guessing the BMS recalibrating itself after driving and fast charging all day.

Since I didn't charge, I ended the day at 20% SoC.

Despite only starting at 57%, I ended up not having to charge at all today, plus tonight's hotel has a free L2 charger I'll be able to use. Only 3-4kw but that should get me a fair bit of juice overnight.

- 12.5 hours total, about 2hrs of that was driving.
- Temps started in the 50s and dropped into the mid-30s again as it got dark, and a windy front came in.
- 83.3 miles driven (mostly at 65-70mph plus some city driving)
- 29Wh electricity used (0 kWh delivered by chargers)
- $0 charging cost
- N/A ¢/mi
- 2.91 mi/kWh efficiency (Based on Trip B meter, not the 'since last charge' meter)
- 0 charging stops totalling 0 minutes (actual charging time) for an average of N/A min charging per stop. Plus free charging overnight tonight. I estimate I'll get about 48kw delivered overnight, we'll see how much of that ends up in the battery at 30° temps.


Thoughts:

Very smooth day. No issues with the car, and no charging to report.

It was very windy on the way up to Northern Jersey, but otherwise uneventful. Though I do wish NJ would join us in the 21st century and do pay by mail for the Garden State Parkway like everyone else in the civilized world instead of considering it a penalty or REQUIRING EXACT CHANGE at the on/off ramps. I haven't had exactly 85¢ at my fingertips in probably a decade or more. At least the Turnpike dispensed a ticket then let me pay at the end, but no such luck on the GSP.

For tonight at the hotel, I'll take as much free juice as I can get, but tomorrow I'm going to try to top off as much as possible after lunch because I need to pick up someone from the airport late afternoon (fingers crossed their flight isn't too late) and then immediately drive straight up to near Rochester, NY which is nearly a 5hr drive even without charging stops. So if I can keep it to one stop that'll be great.

Hopefully the weather on the way up doesn't get too bad either. Hoping to get there by midnight or so but once again I'm prepared to stop somewhere overnight if things get too bad.
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I've had reasonably good results with the EA chargers in upstate and WNY. They have added a bunch which are likely to be along your route. Some of the new ones are not branded as EA. They are a partnership with NYS and are labeled EVolveNY. They show in the EA app but I don't know if they show up as EA chargers in ABRP or not. So, if you still have free EA and want to use them, be sure to check the EA app directly. Safe travels.
 
Supplemental note on cold weather charging...

So I'm on the way up to near Lake Ontario, and it's 23°and windy as hell.

After 2.5hrs of driving, the car Nav had me stopping at the 400kWh chargers at Sheetz/Ionna in Scranton, which I was excited to try.

As per usual, the car automatically started preconditioning about 45min before reaching the charging site.

Amazingly, the SoC estimate was dead perfect. When we left, it estimated we'd arrive at 30% and that's exactly what we arrived at, having driven 70-75 the whole way.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the 45min of preconditioning was NOT sufficient.

I plugged in and got a whopping 92kW peak. I let it charge for a few minutes and decided it would take long enough that it was worth it to unplug to go up the block and get something that we could eat while charging, turn came back and plugged in again.

Normally I think I was still getting over 200kW (or darn close) at 30%. It's been getting over 100kW until like 73% so far this trip.

I checked the battery temp and saw that it had only gotten up to about 67°, whereas the other day in nice weather, preheating had gotten it up near 100°. The first peak is during the first charging and the second at the very end is when I plugged in again after getting food.

So yeah, I think it's safe to say that the cold definitely has a massive effect on charging speed. I'll TRY to remember to manually start preconditioning earlier on the next charge stop and see if it makes a significant difference.
 
j4gates said:
.

Something appears off (optimistic) with the Trip B calculation.
589 miles / 220 kWh used is less than 2.7 miles per kWh. Somehow it read above 3 on day 2.
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Not sure, I may have used the wrong numbers. I had just driven a 12hr day right after driving a 17hr day, so I'm going to cut myself some slack. 😁

When I get home next week I plan to go through all the notes and screenshots I've taken at every stop.

Here's the screenshot I took when I got to the hotel on day 2. Looks like it was 665.6 miles on 220kWh, for 3.02mi/kWh.
 

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3000+ mile Air Touring Winter Road Trip - Day 4 Emergency Update...


Well shit. I got the dreaded Drive System Fault. So now my niece and I are sitting on the shoulder of I-90 in NY at 1am waiting for a tow truck from the NY State Thruway, because it's a restricted road and Lucid can't tow me until they tow me off of I-90.

They did say I'd get reimbursed at least. I'll have to call customer care in the morning, and I'm assuming they'll have to arrange a loaner for me.

The fun part is going to be getting my car back to Texas once they fix it at whatever service center they end up getting it to.

Fun!

It could probably have been worse though. The lucid nav AND Waze had routed me up a smaller highway along the coast of the lake, but there's winter storms. As I got on that highway I realized that it was not well traveled, completely covered in packed snow, and with wind blowing snow around making visibility difficult, and I realized on the map that it was talking me along the shoreline. My Spidey senses were tingling like mad and I know lake effect snow storms can be dangerous, so I turned around and went back to take I-90 instead. So we could have been stuck on a crappy little highway with no shoulder to speak of to pull off to, in the middle of blizzard conditions, in the middle of nowhere instead of on a major highway with nicely plowed shoulders where there's barely a snow flurry.
 
Holy crow that's terrible. I commend you for having a such a great attitude about a very unfortunate event. This certainly doesn't make me any more comfortable about taking my AGT on a trip. 😲
 
Now, after going through the Drive System Fault megathread, I am concerned. This actually has me questioning my decision to get an AGT.
 
Oh no - that is awful. I hope you can salvage the rest of your trip and everyone is safe.

If it was me I’d be selling or trading as soon as I got it back. Can’t believe this is a reality in 2025. Your attitude seems much better than mine, that’s for sure.
 
Very sorry to hear this. The reliability of these cars is definitely a concern. I have first hand experience. Fortunately, my first car failure occurred in my driveway and not on the road. Actually, all of the serious issues I've had have occurred when I was parked somewhere. Scary thought about having it happen on the road especially a long way from home. Thankfully you are still under warranty. Me? Not so much.

Not sure if you saw my earlier comment about the chargers up here. But, I live in Buffalo area. If there's anything I can do to help, you're nearby. Send me a DM and I'll do what I can.
 
L-Dude said:
Holy crow that's terrible. I commend you for having a such a great attitude about a very unfortunate event. This certainly doesn't make me any more comfortable about taking my AGT on a trip. 😲
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I figure life happens, and it's not worth getting overly upset, at least not as a starting point. If Lucid fails to step up and support me, then I'll be ready to throw some colorful words around. 😉
 
Leftlane said:
Oh no - that is awful. I hope you can salvage the rest of your trip and everyone is safe.

If it was me I’d be selling or trading as soon as I got it back. Can’t believe this is a reality in 2025. Your attitude seems much better than mine, that’s for sure.
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The rest of the trip should be fine, other than needing to go back to where the car is for Lucid to tow it.

The fun part is going to be figuring out how to get the car back to Texas, because I doubt it'll get picked up, fixed and returned to me before I have to go back to Texas on Saturday morning.

Can't trade or sell it as it's a lease but this is hardly the only car that has ever had an issue under warranty. As long as Lucid fixes it, and it doesn't keep breaking, it's fine. If they don't, or it keeps breaking, then I'll look into other options.
 
Halodde said:
Thankfully you are still under warranty. Me? Not so much.

Not sure if you saw my earlier comment about the chargers up here. But, I live in Buffalo area. If there's anything I can do to help, you're nearby. Send me a DM and I'll do what I can.
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One of the reasons I leased was due to a bad out of warranty (by ONE month) issue with a BMW. I didn't ever want to be out of warranty on a technically advanced luxury performance vehicle again.

I appreciate the offer of assistance. My family came and picked us up so we're safe at their house, which is where we were going anyway.
 
doubletwist said:
I figure life happens, and it's not worth getting overly upset, at least not as a starting point. If Lucid fails to step up and support me, then I'll be ready to throw some colorful words around. 😉
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You’re thinking about it right. I had to have my battery replaced in the early days, but they took care of it and I’ve not had any issues since.

As long as it gets taken care of without giving you any kind of runaround, I think about this like you.

Moreover, it’s not my first car that’s had this kind of issue; our Kia Sorento had to have the entire engine replaced, literally.

Our Ioniq5 couldn’t charge for months because they kept having to replace the ICCU since it kept being broken. That took seven tries (not exaggerating). In that time, I couldn’t take it anywhere because I couldn’t charge it.

And yet, so many people I talk to love their Ioniq5. Hell, my wife loved her Ioniq5 until the day we sold it for the Gravity, even if she couldn’t charge it lol.

Things happen. It’s how they’re dealt with that matter more, imho.

All - please don’t come at me and say things shouldn’t happen. Of course they shouldn’t. But, and this is important - they do, whether we think they should or not. And it isn’t limited to Lucid.

I hope they take care of you well <3
 
The number of new cars that are leaving people stranded on the side of the road is absolutely minuscule. The only time I have ever been totally stuck like this was in a 1976 Fiat when I was in high school, certainly not by any newer car I’ve owned in the last 30 years. There is really no reasonable excuse and unfortunately it seems to be not that unusual so far with Lucid. So now what - will they fix his car and transport it back to Texas for him, or does he get the pleasure of disrupting his life to deal with it now?

I guess my pain threshold is significantly lower than most Lucid owners - no way I could deal with this and then have any confidence in driving it in the future.
 
This isn't my first rodeo with this, even in the last 12 months!

The only reason I even have the Lucid is because my BMW engine cratered, leaving me stranded in a parking lot waiting for a tow last January. I was 1 month out of the CPO warranty.

If, BMW had stepped up (because the issue HAD to have been present when they had the car a few months prior for some other service), not lied repeatedly, not tried to blame me, and at the end of the day, not screwed me out of $12k, I'd still be diving it, or at least possible driving another BMW.

Taking care of your customers matters, especially for luxury brands.
 
Leftlane said:
now what - will they fix his car and transport it back to Texas for him, or does he get the pleasure of disrupting his life to deal with it now?

I guess my pain threshold is significantly lower than most Lucid owners - no way I could deal with this and then have any confidence in driving it in the future.
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Well, we haven't gotten to that part yet. No point in acting like they've screwed me over until they actually screw me over.

If they fix the issue and get the car to me in Texas without too much hassle, then there's not much for me to lose confidence in from that standpoint, which is a separate issue from confidence in the mechanical aspects of the car.
 
Fingers crossed it all works out and it ends up being just an isolated glitch - this is a great opportunity for Lucid to earn your loyalty in a way that BMW didn’t.
 
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