Air 2~5 months Waiting Game

[northernstar]

This is my first EV. My last car was a Honda Clarity, a PHEV with a 47 mile battery. The 'real world' range on it was 40 when it was new. Three and a half years later, it was 33. I'm planning on keeping this car for a long time. I'm hoping that the Air battery doesn't degrade that quickly, but it obviously will degrade some. So I figured it was best to start with the highest number possible.

If I may ask, what range are you getting with regular, day-to-day drive with your GT?
Given that I'll be installing level 2 charger at home (with monthly surplus of over 300kwh from the solar panels) + discount at my workplace for DC stations......
I feel comfortable with regular Tour trim's ~300 (expected real-world) range.
I try not to rely on fast-DC Charging Station as my understanding is those are one of the reasons that battery storage degrades faster than slow level 2 charging.
This will be my first EV, jumping from the ICE vehicles. Tesla never caught my eyes. Never had PHEV/Hybrid.

 

[hmp10]

I'll have to stop by the store again and see if the GT's backseat with extra battery is really a big deal in terms of a seating ergonomic position.

Whether it's a big deal depends on how often the backseat is used, by whom, and for how long. The fore/aft legroom in the Air with either battery pack is astonishing for a car of its exterior dimensions -- literally like nothing else on the market and vastly more accommodating than our Model S. I have not yet put any adult back there who found it uncomfortable, even with our larger battery pack on 2-hour drives across the state.

However . . . dropping the rear floorboard that additional 3.15" does make a noticeable difference by reducing the knee angle significantly. Lucid's early advertising focused a lot of attention on its cabin size compared to the Mercedes S Class and BMW 7 Series, two cars with the most comfortable rear seats I've ever sat in. Any Lucid Air matches or beats those cars in cabin length. But it is only with the smaller pack that the Air's rear seats fully hold their own against the big Germans.

 

[hmp10]

If I may ask, what range are you getting with regular, day-to-day drive with your GT?
Given that I'll be installing level 2 charger at home (with monthly surplus of over 300kwh from the solar panels) + discount at my workplace for DC stations......
I feel comfortable with regular Tour trim's ~300 (expected real-world) range.
I try not to rely on fast-DC Charging Station as my understanding is those are one of the reasons that battery storage degrades faster than slow level 2 charging.
This will be my first EV, jumping from the ICE vehicles. Tesla never caught my eyes. Never had PHEV/Hybrid.

Hope you don't mind if I weigh in . . .

Since you're going to have home charging, set the charge limit to 80% and don't be shy about keeping your car plugged in whenever it's parked. It's actually recommended by Lucid, as the battery management system that controls the pack temperature can pull line power instead of depleting the pack.

Unless you have an extraordinarily long commute, it would be very hard to exhaust the charge in any Lucid model in everyday local driving no matter what the weather or traffic conditions. However, planning on 300 miles of real-world range on a road trip might be pushing it a bit. (Our car with 21" wheels gets about 77-78% of its rated range when driving at a sustained 80mph in flat roads in warm weather.) You could do it in a Pure or Touring, especially with 19" wheels, but you would be using a very large portion of the pack's capacity, and it is at the extremes of charge and discharge that the pack experiences the most stress. You would also leave yourself very little margin for unexpected delays or detours.

On road trips, we usually plan our charging stops as close to the 230-240 mile mark as we can get. That's three hours of driving at 80mph and is about as far as we want to go without a rest break, anyway. The stops are a little longer than in our ICE vehicles, but there are no more of them.

It seems that you've really thought things through about getting an EV. We've driven them for nine years, and the Air is hands-down the best car we've ever owned, ICE or EV. You're gonna have a blast.

 

[Lucken]

This is my first EV. My last car was a Honda Clarity, a PHEV with a 47 mile battery. The 'real world' range on it was 40 when it was new. Three and a half years later, it was 33. I'm planning on keeping this car for a long time. I'm hoping that the Air battery doesn't degrade that quickly, but it obviously will degrade some. So I figured it was best to start with the highest number possible.

The Honda Clarity was a great car, hugely underrated largely, IMO, because of its looks. We had one and the car was really well made. Unfortunately it met its demise in an accident.

 

[Amster]

If I may ask, what range are you getting with regular, day-to-day drive with your GT?
Given that I'll be installing level 2 charger at home (with monthly surplus of over 300kwh from the solar panels) + discount at my workplace for DC stations......
I feel comfortable with regular Tour trim's ~300 (expected real-world) range.
I try not to rely on fast-DC Charging Station as my understanding is those are one of the reasons that battery storage degrades faster than slow level 2 charging.
This will be my first EV, jumping from the ICE vehicles. Tesla never caught my eyes. Never had PHEV/Hybrid.

I'm seeing about 70‰ of advertised range. But, I don't drive it for maximum range. I take off quickly from lights, am often over the speed limit. I live on a hill that eats miles off the range of an EV. I really noticed it in the Clarity since the battery was so small. I'd start at the bottom with the battery reading 20, drive the 1.5 miles to my house and be down to 16.

 

[Amster]

The Honda Clarity was a great car, hugely underrated largely, IMO, because of its looks. We had one and the car was really well made. Unfortunately it met its demise in an accident.

It was a really solid car. I didn't mind the looks. My brother has it now. Since he seldom drives further than 10 miles, it's essentially an EV for him.

 

[Tesla2Lucid]

GTP is no longer offered.

Learn something new, every day: I just did! Thank you!

 

[Tesla2Lucid]

Dream/GT production was completely different than it is now. Dream customers got 1 choice, pick a color and wait for it to be produced.

Bingo!

 

[Tesla2Lucid]

You are more than welcome to ask them to stop offering you other vehicles, and just wait; I’m certain they’d have no problem with that.

There you go again, Borski! There's a problem and you're always trying to fix it!
Great solution!

 

[northernstar]

Hope you don't mind if I weigh in . . .

Since you're going to have home charging, set the charge limit to 80% and don't be shy about keeping your car plugged in whenever it's parked. It's actually recommended by Lucid, as the battery management system that controls the pack temperature can pull line power instead of depleting the pack.

Unless you have an extraordinarily long commute, it would be very hard to exhaust the charge in any Lucid model in everyday local driving no matter what the weather or traffic conditions. However, planning on 300 miles of real-world range on a road trip might be pushing it a bit. (Our car with 21" wheels gets about 77-78% of its rated range when driving at a sustained 80mph in flat roads in warm weather.) You could do it in a Pure or Touring, especially with 19" wheels, but you would be using a very large portion of the pack's capacity, and it is at the extremes of charge and discharge that the pack experiences the most stress. You would also leave yourself very little margin for unexpected delays or detours.

On road trips, we usually plan our charging stops as close to the 230-240 mile mark as we can get. That's three hours of driving at 80mph and is about as far as we want to go without a rest break, anyway. The stops are a little longer than in our ICE vehicles, but there are no more of them.

It seems that you've really thought things through about getting an EV. We've driven them for nine years, and the Air is hands-down the best car we've ever owned, ICE or EV. You're gonna have a blast.

Thanks for your input and for sharing your range management.
Based on your two recent posts, it looks like you have an Air GT with 21" wheels?
Or do you also see that the Touring model (with 21") would make it difficult to get to the (real-world) 300-mile range?

Florida probably has better road conditions than Southern California. Some freeways and local roads are literally pot-hole minefields...
Therefore, I'm really reluctant to go with 21" wheels. Even 20" would be a fast track to damage the car in many ways here in San Diego ~ Los Angeles areas.

Thanks for the 80% charging tips and know-how recommendations.
Based on my research, it looks like the brand Wallbox Pulsar Plus + Power Meter will work for me most of the time to rely only on electricity generated from the solar panels.
One good thing about California... the sunny weather.

 

[northernstar]

I'm seeing about 70‰ of advertised range. But, I don't drive it for maximum range. I take off quickly from lights, am often over the speed limit. I live on a hill that eats miles off the range of an EV. I really noticed it in the Clarity since the battery was so small. I'd start at the bottom with the battery reading 20, drive the 1.5 miles to my house and be down to 16.

Thanks for your input.

It seems like I live not too far away from you. I live near Bressi Ranch, Carlsbad area... So I know one or two things about all the up and down hills here. haha
It might be fun to test out how much the regenerative brakes will put back into the battery storage as I take the Palomar Airport Road or Pointsettia Lane down to the Freeway 5.

 

[hmp10]

Based on your two recent posts, it looks like you have an Air GT with 21" wheels?

Dream Edition Performance with 21" wheels. EPA rated at 451 miles (471 with 19" wheels).

On road trips we usually charge to 95% at a charging stop and drive pretty steadily at 80-85mph with occasional blasts to higher speeds to break away from traffic clusters. We usually aim for the next charging station somewhere around 225-250 miles. We have never arrived at a charging station with less than 28% of battery charge remaining. (These trips are usually in warm weather.) This nets out to about 3.1-3.2 miles/kWh compared to the 3.9 of the EPA rating.

 

[northernstar]

Dream Edition Performance with 21" wheels. EPA rated at 451 miles (471 with 19" wheels).

On road trips we usually charge to 95% at a charging stop and drive pretty steadily at 80-85mph with occasional blasts to higher speeds to break away from traffic clusters. We usually aim for the next charging station somewhere around 225-250 miles. We have never arrived at a charging station with less than 28% of battery charge remaining. (These trips are usually in warm weather.) This nets out to about 3.1-3.2 miles/kWh compared to the 3.9 of the EPA rating.

It would be almost a sin to drive this beautiful monster at 60mph to meet the EPA range/rating…
My 90% of driving patterns would be mixed highway/city here in Southern California.. ~200 miles max…
Therefore I feel Touring would be good enough… (with Fathom Blue / Stealth)
I’m going to see if (GT) cosmo silver / quantum gray + Platinum would still capture my interest this weekend.

 

[hmp10]

It would be almost a sin to drive this beautiful monster at 60mph to meet the EPA range/rating…
My 90% of driving patterns would be mixed highway/city here in Southern California.. ~200 miles max…
Therefore I feel Touring would be good enough… (with Fathom Blue / Stealth)
I’m going to see if (GT) cosmo silver / quantum gray + Platinum would still capture my interest this weekend.

You're going to be fine with the range of any of the Air models, so just have fun shopping the other features that most appeal to you.

 

[segbrk]

I have a Touring, 200 miles mixed is definitely reasonable even on 21s and care-free driving. My average on 21s was 3.2 mi/kWh mixed. That means a cushy 80-20% range is about 176 miles. My average this winter on 19” A/S is 3.5, meaning 193 miles. If you have a longer trip, 95-10% would be 273 miles. Not factoring in that highway driving is more efficient than my average.

 

[Genghis]

It would be almost a sin to drive this beautiful monster at 60mph to meet the EPA range/rating…
My 90% of driving patterns would be mixed highway/city here in Southern California.. ~200 miles max…
Therefore I feel Touring would be good enough… (with Fathom Blue / Stealth)
I’m going to see if (GT) cosmo silver / quantum gray + Platinum would still capture my interest this weekend.

That's the beauty of the Air. You can drive for maximum range if you need to or you can drive for fun and performance if you don't need the range. The car can do both better than any EV out there! And yes, the Cosmo Silver GT with 21" is the best choice

 

[hmp10]

That's the beauty of the Air. You can drive for maximum range if you need to or you can drive for fun and performance if you don't need the range. The car can do both better than any EV out there!

So true.

And yes, the Cosmo Silver GT with 21" is the best choice

But have you seen Zenith Red? Just sayin' . . . .