Battery pack water proof?

[Curvehound]

Hi,
I am looking into leasing an Air Pure. Just test drove one and was blown away by the ride, handling, and quality of the interior, and the incentives being offered for the '23's are very appealing. My only question is that I live in South Florida and our local roads flood after every rain. It usually is only a few inches deep, but sometime 4-5 inches. The Lucid sales assoc said it is no problem because the battery is sealed, but I just wanted to check if anyone has an additional information or experience with this issue.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

Ian

 

[DeaneG]

All EVs are well sealed against water. In general they fare better than ICE vehicles in high water. Like ICE vehicles, they can be flood damaged in very high, life-threatening water.
Our Volvo EV, for example, is rated to ford 18" of water at walking speed.

 

[hydbob]

I was told the car can negotiate water up to the pilot panel and be fine. Was also told not to test that out

 

[borski]

I was told the car can negotiate water up to the pilot panel and be fine. Was also told not to test that out

Just for what it’s worth, the warranty (in the manual) explicitly states that damage caused by driving through water deep enough to cause intrusion into any component, like the powertrain, is not covered.

So while I think you’re right, based on info I’ve been given, I also won’t be testing unless I have to.

 

[hmp10]

Hi,
I am looking into leasing an Air Pure. Just test drove one and was blown away by the ride, handling, and quality of the interior, and the incentives being offered for the '23's are very appealing. My only question is that I live in South Florida and our local roads flood after every rain. It usually is only a few inches deep, but sometime 4-5 inches. The Lucid sales assoc said it is no problem because the battery is sealed, but I just wanted to check if anyone has an additional information or experience with this issue.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

Ian

Since moving to south Florida I've owned two Teslas and a Lucid Air. There is absolutely no problem driving them in this climate. In fact, in the nine-day power outage following Hurricane Irma during which seven friends were hunkering down with us, our Tesla was the only car any of us could keep on the road. Service stations were down except for emergency vehicles, but we kept the Tesla charged off our generator. One day while taking friends to check on their houses, I hit what I thought was a shallow stretch of water on the highway that turned out to be so deep that it tore an air foil out from under the bottom of the car. But the battery pack was completely unscathed.

The powertrain of that 2015 car was engineered by Peter Rawlinson of Lucid. I have no reason to think the Lucid would be any less secure in such circumstances.

There's another reason I prefer driving our EVs in heavy rains down here. Their traction control systems can cycle much faster than similar systems In internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, and they thus give much better traction in the rain, all things relating to tires being equal. In our Honda Odyssey (with all-season tires), I have to feather the accelerator very carefully to get underway from a stop in heavy rains lest the front wheels break away. With our Lucid and our Tesla and their summer performance tires, I just punch it and let the cars handle the traction.

In fact, I've lived all over the country from Vermont to Chicago to Los Angeles to Florida, and there is no weather in which I'd rather drive an ICE vehicle over an EV.

 

[ViperSSD]

Since moving to south Florida I've owned two Teslas and a Lucid Air. There is absolutely no problem driving them in this climate. In fact, in the nine-day power outage following Hurricane Irma during which seven friends were hunkering down with us, our Tesla was the only car any of us could keep on the road. Service stations were down except for emergency vehicles, but we kept the Tesla charged off our generator. One day while taking friends to check on their houses, I hit what I thought was a shallow stretch of water on the highway that turned out to be so deep that it tore an air foil out from under the bottom of the car. But the battery pack was completely unscathed.

The powertrain of that 2015 car was engineered by Peter Rawlinson of Lucid. I have no reason to think the Lucid would be any less secure in such circumstances.

There's another reason I prefer driving our EVs in heavy rains down here. Their traction control systems can cycle much faster than similar systems In internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, and they thus give much better traction in the rain, all things relating to tires being equal. In our Honda Odyssey (with all-season tires), I have to feather the accelerator very carefully to get underway from a stop in heavy rains lest the front wheels break away. With our Lucid and our Tesla and their summer performance tires, I just punch it and let the cars handle the traction.

In fact, I've lived all over the country from Vermont to Chicago to Los Angeles to Florida, and there is no weather in which I'd rather drive an ICE vehicle over an EV.

In very cold winter areas, the range penalty from EVs is tough. I plan to take my Air to Tahoe this winter for ski season so I can experience it a bit, will be interesting doing the 3hrs there and back for the day trips I usually take.

 

[hmp10]

In very cold winter areas, the range penalty from EVs is tough.

True enough. I was talking in terms of handling dynamics.

However, a lot of winter range penalty concerns go away with a robust charging infrastructure. Take Norway and Iceland -- both countries with ubiquitous EV public charging stations. In the past year, 83.5% of car sales in Norway were full electrics, and 6.5% were plug-in hybrids. When we went to Iceland in 2022, Teslas were everywhere, along with a good dollop of Mustang Mach-Es and Hyundai Ionic 5s. There is a large Tesla dealership in Reykjavik, and the Tesla Model Y recently broke the annual sales record for any car model in Iceland.

The tax codes in these countries strongly incentivize EV car purchases over ICE purchases, but surveys in Norway have shown that households that have both ICE and EV cars drive the EVs much more frequently. I suspect that one of the reasons -- besides the cost of gas in these countries -- is that the great majority of driving of any personal vehicle is for relatively short distances where EV range does not come into play even in winter conditions. And EVs are just so much more fun to drive for most people in most conditions.

 

[Curvehound]

All,
thanks so much for your helpful replies. It doesnt sound like the water issue should be a dealbreaker for me down here. That being said, i defintely get the message from several of you that a healthy amount of caution when approaching standing water is prudent.
thanks again
Ian

 

[Haggy]

Since moving to south Florida I've owned two Teslas and a Lucid Air. There is absolutely no problem driving them in this climate. In fact, in the nine-day power outage following Hurricane Irma during which seven friends were hunkering down with us, our Tesla was the only car any of us could keep on the road. Service stations were down except for emergency vehicles, but we kept the Tesla charged off our generator. One day while taking friends to check on their houses, I hit what I thought was a shallow stretch of water on the highway that turned out to be so deep that it tore an air foil out from under the bottom of the car. But the battery pack was completely unscathed.

The powertrain of that 2015 car was engineered by Peter Rawlinson of Lucid. I have no reason to think the Lucid would be any less secure in such circumstances.

At some point around 2015, I read about somebody with a Model S that went through water on a flooded road with water only deep enough that the line of cars kept going through it. It did reach battery level, and shortly after that, the owner got all sorts of error messages. Tesla said that it wasn't covered under warranty. A few years later, somebody posted a video of a Tesla in much deeper water and Musk commented that they could be used as a boat for short periods of time. Since then, I read about another Tesla owner who had to pay dearly for driving through standing water. So even though they should do fine, I wouldn't count on it.

I'd like to hear from actual Lucid owners who have gone though water that other drivers typically would have gone through. I'd expect a Lucid to be able to handle it, but I'm not the one who would handle warranty issues. It would be nice to see something official from Lucid.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I95 South was completely flooded on the way to work this AM. They had 4 lanes merging onto the shoulder to get to the most shallow part of the water which was still higher than the bottom Lucid door sill. There were 3 other disabled cars on the side of the road that didn’t make it, I was totally fine in the Lucid. I was also very nervous but the car was completely non-flustered.

 

[Haggy]

I95 South was completely flooded on the way to work this AM. They had 4 lanes merging onto the shoulder to get to the most shallow part of the water which was still higher than the bottom Lucid door sill. There were 3 other disabled cars on the side of the road that didn’t make it, I was totally fine in the Lucid. I was also very nervous but the car was completely non-flustered.

Sorry to hear about the flooding. Glad to hear about the car having no problems. Now if we can convince those who are sure that getting the car wet will electrocute you....

 

[hydbob]

Sorry to hear about the flooding. Glad to hear about the car having no problems. Now if we can convince those who are sure that getting the car wet will electrocute you....

Well, @Bunnylebowski hasn't posted in the last 5 minutes, so he must have succumb to the electrons in his car being wet.

 

[hmp10]

Sorry to hear about the flooding. Glad to hear about the car having no problems. Now if we can convince those who are sure that getting the car wet will electrocute you....

I once had a guy refuse to work on a door dent because the car was electric. He told me that if he dropped a tool in the door he could get electrocuted. There was no convincing him otherwise.

 

[Curvehound]

I95 South was completely flooded on the way to work this AM. They had 4 lanes merging onto the shoulder to get to the most shallow part of the water which was still higher than the bottom Lucid door sill. There were 3 other disabled cars on the side of the road that didn’t make it, I was totally fine in the Lucid. I was also very nervous but the car was completely non-flustered.

Glad to hear it. That is reassuring. Our Pure is on its way to Florida
thanks
Ian

 

[borski]

Sorry to hear about the flooding. Glad to hear about the car having no problems. Now if we can convince those who are sure that getting the car wet will electrocute you....

That’s why I don’t drive in the rain. Don’t wanna take the chance