I had a very easy and positive experience with an Ionna and they are expanding rapidly- I hear Mercedes chargers are also very good
Almost Ready to Pull the Trigger. Any last-minute advice?
- Thread starter Glaze
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I had a very easy and positive experience with an Ionna and they are expanding rapidly- I hear Mercedes chargers are also very good
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I bought a Lucid air GT three years ago and I absolutely loved the car pretty much everything about it. I just sold it and bought the gravity GT and I’m completely in love again. You won’t find a car that is better driving better handling and just gives you the feel of being king of the road. My advice is by the car.
I have owned my Fathom Blue metal roof '23 AWD Air Pure for 2.5 years. Without question the best car buying decision I ever made. 80k miles in, still drives like new, only tires replaced. I drive up and down the east coast and EA and EVGo are everywhere. Most hotels I stay also allow overnight charging. I connected my 2nd gen iPod (that I put a new battery and expanded memory) and I now have a 10k song jukebox seamlessly connected without any ads, streaming issues or interruptions ... Just pure, fast, highway bliss... Welcome to the party!
According to Gemini there are 8,182 supercharger locations at the end of 2025 and reports 8500+ currently with 77,682 plugs. It's not just the count that's important, it's the placement and reliability. I see some comments that tesla isn't the most reliable network which is false.
Since I travel the east coast quite a bit tesla is most convenient. They are densely placed along i95 and I find EA is generally a bit more of a journey off the highways. I can't comment on reliability as t this point but I had my fair share of issues but that's a bit dated. My last CCS roadtrip was 2022. My EQS now supports NACS and charges similarly to CCS. Not that the Benz is a fast charger (tops off near 200kW) like the Lucid.
I've yet to be able to try IONNA, Vivian, MBZ, or GM ultium. More choices and locations the better.
It would be nice for IONNA to grow given the charger speeds.
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Go for it!
As for snow, the Air is heavy enough (and weight is distributed) that RWD Pure with all-season tires will be better in snow than any RWD gas vehicle. Depending on your situation (region and driving needs in snow), it could be fine and dandy. (The sales and service folks at Natick MA affirmed that when I did my initial order) Most snowy regions are well-plowed during storms, so roads are readily passable…and as for me, being retired, I just hunker down til the next day anyway. BUT, if your work or play lifestyle has you driving during big winter snow events, the AWD may be more crucial.
I had been aiming for a Pure, but got pulled into a Touring by an available car matching my specs otherwise. Though I didn’t really feel I needed it, I justified it by thinking AWD would help with resale here in Maine, and give me a tad more safety as well (even on wet roads). The resale thing is real for sure, around here.
The big benefit of the Pure is being free of the front motor whine of the Touring. Though mine is a 2025, so has the updated isolation gaskets/pads, there is still very noticeable whine from about 30-45mph or so. I’ve gotten used to it (music helps!), but it was a niggling regret for the first few months. (I can’t imagine living with more whine than that…not sure if older ones were just louder, or if it continued more into higher speeds). While the range of the Touring and Pure are similar (which is what matters most), the efficiency-nut in me also kind of misses being in the 4.25-5 mi/kWh range, rather than the 3.7-4.4 of the Touring….
Enjoy your new Pure!
As for snow, the Air is heavy enough (and weight is distributed) that RWD Pure with all-season tires will be better in snow than any RWD gas vehicle. Depending on your situation (region and driving needs in snow), it could be fine and dandy. (The sales and service folks at Natick MA affirmed that when I did my initial order) Most snowy regions are well-plowed during storms, so roads are readily passable…and as for me, being retired, I just hunker down til the next day anyway. BUT, if your work or play lifestyle has you driving during big winter snow events, the AWD may be more crucial.
I had been aiming for a Pure, but got pulled into a Touring by an available car matching my specs otherwise. Though I didn’t really feel I needed it, I justified it by thinking AWD would help with resale here in Maine, and give me a tad more safety as well (even on wet roads). The resale thing is real for sure, around here.
The big benefit of the Pure is being free of the front motor whine of the Touring. Though mine is a 2025, so has the updated isolation gaskets/pads, there is still very noticeable whine from about 30-45mph or so. I’ve gotten used to it (music helps!), but it was a niggling regret for the first few months. (I can’t imagine living with more whine than that…not sure if older ones were just louder, or if it continued more into higher speeds). While the range of the Touring and Pure are similar (which is what matters most), the efficiency-nut in me also kind of misses being in the 4.25-5 mi/kWh range, rather than the 3.7-4.4 of the Touring….
Enjoy your new Pure!
Except New Jersey as the state made the asinine decision of giving a third rate charging company exclusivity to the rest stops on the turnpike
I think IONNA is going to give them a run for their money. I have used one, and everything I hear about them is very positive. All we need is more of them, which they are working on.
Very true but it can worked around. I love u central jersey so when I head south it's not an issue to charge post the "turnpike" section of 95.
I truly hope they do but for now Tesla is the most widespread and reliable network. I looked at the ionna map and it seems they have dozens of locations with hundreds of ports. That needs to grow to 1000s of locations and 10s of thousands of ports.
IONNA is also owned by a conglomeration of legacy automakers who aren't making money, in fact losing money, on EVs.
Hi John,
My thoughts as a non car enthusiast girlie, Lucid air is the best electric car I have driven. I previously owned Tesla Model S and also have a Rivian R1S in the family. Lucid Air Touring is the best electric engineered car I have driven, it is smooth, responsive and the most energy efficient car on the market. I do not have experience with EA, since i charge at home. Just a few things to keep in mind so you can make an informed decision, this car was designed by very cool folks who live in California and probably cannot fathom some of us mortals live in places where temperatures dip below freezing so the Frunk isn't usable in the winter because water seeps in and freezes causing all sorts of issues, the software is glitchy (growing pains) and the dreamdrive pro is no where near Tesla's FSD just FYI so you can have realistic expectations. The keyfob and mobile key are mostly reliable, I have to wait on a few occasions for 10 seconds or so for the car to unlock. The App takes forever to connect to the car (known issue, Lucid is working on it). Audio via bluetooth/carplay/Android auto does not pause/stop when you park and open the front driver door, the car always expects you to return so be prepared to pause your audiobook/podcast etc when you walkout of the car.
The seats are way more comfortable and customizable compared to Tesla and Rivian, overall a much better car compared to the other two (strictly my opinion), also be prepared to be annoyed with the cupholders, probably some cool europeans designed them without realizing our coffee mugs are huge in America.
My thoughts as a non car enthusiast girlie, Lucid air is the best electric car I have driven. I previously owned Tesla Model S and also have a Rivian R1S in the family. Lucid Air Touring is the best electric engineered car I have driven, it is smooth, responsive and the most energy efficient car on the market. I do not have experience with EA, since i charge at home. Just a few things to keep in mind so you can make an informed decision, this car was designed by very cool folks who live in California and probably cannot fathom some of us mortals live in places where temperatures dip below freezing so the Frunk isn't usable in the winter because water seeps in and freezes causing all sorts of issues, the software is glitchy (growing pains) and the dreamdrive pro is no where near Tesla's FSD just FYI so you can have realistic expectations. The keyfob and mobile key are mostly reliable, I have to wait on a few occasions for 10 seconds or so for the car to unlock. The App takes forever to connect to the car (known issue, Lucid is working on it). Audio via bluetooth/carplay/Android auto does not pause/stop when you park and open the front driver door, the car always expects you to return so be prepared to pause your audiobook/podcast etc when you walkout of the car.
The seats are way more comfortable and customizable compared to Tesla and Rivian, overall a much better car compared to the other two (strictly my opinion), also be prepared to be annoyed with the cupholders, probably some cool europeans designed them without realizing our coffee mugs are huge in America.
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I know this happens (some or a lot) to some folks, though others have posted here about winter regular winter ski trips with no issues. I live in Maine (where we had a 45 day period that only got barely above freezing on 6 intermittent days), and my frunk never had an issue—though it is garaged.
So not sure if this a no-frunk-all-winter situation, or more like “maybe don’t count on it when it’s wet then freezing” until you have some experience with your car’s resiliency (and seals). But in any case, wipe the hinge end of frunk and trunk before opening with snow on it! (or lots of rain? It’s been fine for me in light rain but others report inflow when opened very wet, like after a car wash)
Thank you for the Lonna information; never heard of them until now. I’ll look for them during my next trip now that my 3 year included EA charging has expired.Let's put it this way, if my car was totaled tomorrow, I'd by the same one.
Just put the location in on the map, and the car will give you the charging options you need. EA is fine, but expensive. Ionna is your friend.
Find a Rechargery
Find IONNA EV charging stations near you. Fast DC charging, Plug & Charge, no app required. New sites added weekly.www.ionna.com
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Ionna, not Lonna. Yes, it’s a terrible name.
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The Gravity is the best sports SUV out there - gas or EV. This is thee best EV out there. (Posted the same response on FB). I can drive in smooth and wife and dogs (small and medium size) have a comfortable ride while cruising on long trips on the freeway. I can then go into Sprint or Swift for mountain roads or times I want sharper steering and handling. These settings also affect the immediate power output as well. Therefore, you get a vehicle that you can adjust and 'tune' to what you are doing. I can default the experience of the drive at '5', turn it up to '8' when I want, or turn it up to '11'. The vehicle is just so good, entertaining, and handles well. Get the Gravity and never look back.
I agree with the bad experience with Tesla SCs and really tired of Tesla enthusiasts owners acting like Tesla gets everything right, they don’t. I own both Tesla Model S and Lucid AGT and on occasion during travels, I also rent Teslas. To make a long story short, Tesla SCs has its problems however the 3rd generation is much better. One example of an issue that I had during a rental, I went to a SC to charge before turning it back in while in Atlanta, it was only charging at about 5 mph or so and with no other stalls available, I had to leave without fully recharging it so I could make my fight. I was lucky to have an Hertz agent that didn’t charge me for not recharging it after I told him the issue. Apparently, it was a problem on that area.
As others mentioned, see what chargers work for you in the area that you will use.
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Not disagreeing about the name, but explaining it...ion North America. Similar to Ionicity in Europe.
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My rule for every startup I have ever mentored: “If you have to spell the name to someone, change the name. Sure, Google got away with it. But you are not Google.”
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I have a 2026 Touring and so far in my experience the charging speeds have been incredibly disappointing. Not being compatible with the majority of Tesla superchargers means that I likely won’t take the car very far on a trip.
Easy to drive, smooth ride, handling is fine, quick at all speeds.
Easy to drive, smooth ride, handling is fine, quick at all speeds.
While Tesla is the the largest network, they are not the only network. I have gotten good speeds (200+ kw in my Pure) from Rivian, Electrify America, Vialynk, Mercedes, Chargepoint and others. Traveling around Northern Vermont were there are few interstates and fewer chargers has never been a problem