Battery Range

[KySerenity]

I am a current Lucid reservation holder and have read with interest many of the recent posts related to battery range. Especially interesting are the recommendations to limit charging to 90% due to a lack of buffer and multiplying the stated range by 0.7 for a realistic expected mileage when driving 78-80mph. While driving my 2016 MS 90D on good days (no rain, not cold) throughout the midwest and deep south, the car frequently obtains the stated range if driven conservatively at 68-70 mph. It is important to know if the current range stated by Lucid is a hyperbole or obtainable if driven conservatively. Current owners must know how far they can stretch their range, and potential buyers need to know the truthful range to assist their decision when finalizing their purchase. Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[hydbob]

I've responded before in another thread, but if you drive conservatively in good conditions, I'm confident you could reach the stated range. To get the stated range of 451 miles with the 118 kwh battery pack, you need to maintain efficiency of 3.82 mi/kwh. It's doable, if you want to be super conservative. Without having to worry I got 360 miles out of the stated 451 one a single charge, an average of 3.05 mi/kwh. I've done in a short stint (30 miles) an average of 4.8 mk/kwh, but just doing mixed city/highway driving it's pretty easy to maintain a 3.0 mi/kwh without worrying about range.

 

[manitou202]

Tom Moloughney at InsideEVs is going to do a 70mph range test on a Lucid in the next couple of weeks. He has done the 70mph range test on many other EVs including the Model S Plaid. This would be the best data to use as a comparison versus anecdotal data from other individuals.

https://insideevs.com/reviews/543687/tesla-model-s-range-test/

 

[hydbob]

Yea, we've all been waiting! I wonder if he's just waiting until cruise control is active...

 

[Bill55]

I would agree with hydbob, from my experience getting 3.0 is achievable without being too careful. 65-80 is probably a range hit around ~20%. The 0.7 is conservative. On my commute I am averaging ~2.5. That's with lots of stops/starts. When I find myrself up front it's always tempting to experience what the car can do. I think cruise control will help me a lot when I'm wanting to get more range. The 3 longer drives I've done have all been ~3.0.

 

[Alex]

Yea, we've all been waiting! I wonder if he's just waiting until cruise control is active...

It's hard to maintain a single speed, even in flat terrain, without cruise control in this car. The slightest tweak of the accelerator can change your speed by a few mph. It's been a real pain to drive this car at a constant speed. I'm scheduled to drive the car about 120 miles (each way) at the end of month to have it PPF wrapped, and I'm dreading it. Maybe the Dream Drive Update will be release by then.

 

[Bill55]

I think if the regular regeneration had a little bit of a coast before going into regen, the car would be much smoother. I rarely use cruise in my ice cars and my wife has a lot of miles as a passenger with me. For the first time ever In the Lucid, especially in stop and go traffic, she finds it to be a little nauseating as the car is constantly in either acceleration or deceleration. A little bit of coast would be nice.

 

[hydbob]

I've learned to really feather the throttle to keep it as smooth as possible, especially with the high regen setting. It's possible to keep it constant, once you find the optimal position maintaining within 1mph is not difficult.

 

[Alex]

I think if the regular regeneration had a little bit of a coast before going into regen, the car would be much smoother. I rarely use cruise in my ice cars and my wife has a lot of miles as a passenger with me. For the first time ever In the Lucid, especially in stop and go traffic, she finds it to be a little nauseating as the car is constantly in either acceleration or deceleration. A little bit of coast would be nice.

If they had a very small dead area, so when you lifted your foot, ever so slightly, off the accelerator, it would coast, that may work. But this dead area would not work well if the accelerator was barely depressed and one wanted the car to come to a regen stop.

 

[hmp10]

The 3 longer drives I've done have all been ~3.0.

This is close to what I'm seeing. I have not yet seen a trip end -- whether local, mixed, or highway -- with better than a 3.4 m/kWh figure.

However, I have noticed that at sustained interstate speeds (close to 80 mph), the efficiency average for the trip begins to climb. The squares with the EPA ratings, which show the Lucid's efficiency actually improves at highway speeds -- a very desirable outcome and the opposite of what happens in most EVs.

 

[Bill55]

I think it could vary by speed. I don’t think we can fully evaluate the Lucid until the advanced features are activated. Driving the 405 in LA in it’s typical stop and go was no fun with the current software build. A lot of things are shitty with the current software build. I haven’t commented on the Audio controls as they are so bad, I don’t know where to start. Carplay will fix audio except am/fm radio. Unfortunately, I bet CarPlay takes 30-40 seconds to boot. Subconsciously, today I could drive my GMC AT4 or the Lucid for some errands with a few stops. The Lucid is so exhausting, I drove the GMC. The GMC didn’t red alert me to fasten my seat belt because I touched the brake, homelink just worked, park distance and cameras started immediately and didn’t “yell” at me backing out, the audio started in under 10 seconds, it unlocked and locked as expected. Yes, it is slower to accelerate, handles worse, burns gas, but it is light speed compared to the Lucid for all the software. I can close the garage door without looking and one touch, I can park easily in a small space, I don’t get “yelled at” to fasten my seatbelt, it unlocks when expected and only when I want it to, I can turn it off when “I” want, and it locks when I want. I never took my key out of my pocket. I‘m not going to make excuses for this car. It has a long way to go to be a “luxury” car, or even be comparable to a Honda Accord.

 

[hmp10]

My screens freeze or blackout so often that I haven't used the software features enough to develop the fuller impression you have.

However, Homelink is a mess. When I arrive home, there is no geofencing, so I have to press the Homelink icon. My driver profile comes up, and I have to press the Homelink icon again within that menu. Then I have to press and hold the button for a couple of seconds until the garage door begins to open. Sometimes it works on the first try; sometimes it doesn't. I also have to have the car aimed directly at the door, so I can't start this process until I'm already sitting in front of it.

In my Honda, I give a button on the rearview mirror a quick tap as I turn off the street into our fairly long driveway, and the door is usually all the way up by the time I reach the garage.

In our Tesla, the geofencing brings up the Homelink button automatically. Although the car has to be aimed at the door, one touch activates it.

On one of my calls to Customer Care about the car not switching from WiFi to the LTE signal after leaving home, I was told that many owners have found things work better if you wait 2-3 minutes for everything in the car to spool up before attempting to drive off. Say what???

 

[Alex]

I think it could vary by speed. I don’t think we can fully evaluate the Lucid until the advanced features are activated. Driving the 405 in LA in it’s typical stop and go was no fun with the current software build. A lot of things are shitty with the current software build. I haven’t commented on the Audio controls as they are so bad, I don’t know where to start. Carplay will fix audio except am/fm radio. Unfortunately, I bet CarPlay takes 30-40 seconds to boot. Subconsciously, today I could drive my GMC AT4 or the Lucid for some errands with a few stops. The Lucid is so exhausting, I drove the GMC. The GMC didn’t red alert me to fasten my seat belt because I touched the brake, homelink just worked, park distance and cameras started immediately and didn’t “yell” at me backing out, the audio started in under 10 seconds, it unlocked and locked as expected. Yes, it is slower to accelerate, handles worse, burns gas, but it is light speed compared to the Lucid for all the software. I can close the garage door without looking and one touch, I can park easily in a small space, I don’t get “yelled at” to fasten my seatbelt, it unlocks when expected and only when I want it to, I can turn it off when “I” want, and it locks when I want. I never took my key out of my pocket. I‘m not going to make excuses for this car. It has a long way to go to be a “luxury” car, or even be comparable to a Honda Accord.

You forgot to mention the Navigation system which must have outdated maps and marbles (to be kind) for brains: It always wants me to go past the entrance of my neighborhood and make a U-turn, instead of turning at the dedicated left turn lane (which has been there for at least 20 years). And when you don't go the way it wants, it has a hard time "Recalculating" the route. I took a short cut yesterday and it kept on trying to recalculate (and failing) until I got back on the route it had selected for me – on the return trip it routed me using the shortcut.

Street name pronunciation is probably a bit worst than most other nav systems. It has a hard time with street suffixes such "Place", which are abbreviated as PL (it wants to spell out each letter). The voice seems to be inconsistent too, as sometimes it sounds very kind, but other times it is very stern. It says, "TURN LEFT NOW!" about 500-750 feet before a street. Of course, it's use of both screen at the expense of the entertainment sources, is a well known limitation.

It's a shame they don't have a better navigation system. It reenforces the need for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Once they have that worked out, I doubt I will be using much of their UI, which is really sad, considering the "effort" they put into it and the waste of resources in the car I paid for. I'm sure they are trying to figure out how to properly display the CarPlay/Auto information, given their non square upper panel. Maybe it will be a smaller area and possibly a swipe down will reveal a larger UI in the lower panel. CarPlay has a dual screen function, and I hope they use that, otherwise it would be a waste of screen real estate – it may work especially well in the left center part of the screen which is currently occupied by the words "Air".

 

[Bill55]

I got similar answers when asking how to handle taking the Car to a full service car wash. “We recommend you only hand wash the car”. Did you test the car at car washes? “ we recommend you hand wash the car “.

 

[Alex]

However, Homelink is a mess. When I arrive home, there is no geofencing, so I have to press the Homelink icon. My driver profile comes up, and I have to press the Homelink icon again within that menu. Then I have to press and hold the button for a couple of seconds until the garage door begins to open. Sometimes it works on the first try; sometimes it doesn't. I also have to have the car aimed directly at the door, so I can't start this process until I'm already sitting in front of it.

HomeLink works "Great™" for me: I have 3 garage doors (Left, Middle & Right). I approach the house from the left side. The car pops up only the Left garage HomeLink setting. Unfortunately, I want to park at the Right door. By the time I get to the right door, however, the Left garage door is no longer displayed. I have to press the upper part of the screen (which I thought were individual buttons, but not). Usually all the HomeLink settings for my garage location pop up – actually I get more than the 3 garage doors, because I decided to program some gates for other locations at my current location - but I ignore those. It's obvious that his was designed in a vacuum, or at least in an office behind a development system. They need to eat their own dog food, but I don't think they have a concept of what that is.

 

[Bill55]

You forgot to mention the Navigation system which must have outdated maps and marbles (to be kind) for brains: It always wants me to go past the entrance of my neighborhood and make a U-turn, instead of turning at the dedicated left turn lane (which has been there for at least 20 years). And when you don't go the way it wants, it has a hard time "Recalculating" the route. I took a short cut yesterday and it kept on trying to recalculate (and failing) until I got back on the route it had selected for me – on the return trip it routed me using the shortcut.

Street name pronunciation is probably a bit worst than most other nav systems. It has a hard time with street suffixes such "Place", which are abbreviated as PL (it wants to spell out each letter). The voice seems to be inconsistent too, as sometimes it sounds very kind, but other times it is very stern. It says, "TURN LEFT NOW!" about 500-750 feet before a street. Of course, it's use of both screen at the expense of the entertainment sources, is a well known limitation.

It's a shame they don't have a better navigation system. It reenforces the need for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Once they have that worked out, I doubt I will be using much of their UI, which is really sad, considering the "effort" they put into it and the waste of resources in the car I paid for. I'm sure they are trying to figure out how to properly display the CarPlay/Auto information, given their non square upper panel. Maybe it will be a smaller area and possibly a swipe down will reveal a larger UI in the lower panel. CarPlay has a dual screen function, and I hope they use that, otherwise it would be a waste of screen real estate – it may work especially well in the left center part of the screen which is currently occupied by the words "Air".

Having a great drive train is not enough. The rest needs to be good also. When you have 1 million cars on the road, if your wrong 1% of the time on 20 decisions per vehicle, per day, you will be wrong 200,000 per day. When this car chooses for me, it is no where close to 99%.

 

[CLTGT]

Reading all of these comments has me seriously questioning whether the Lucid GT is the right “first EV“ for me. I might be happier just getting another M5. If things do not improve by the time they ask me to pay, I fear Lucid just might not be the car for me at this time, if ever.

 

[Alex]

Reading all of these comments has me seriously questioning whether the Lucid GT is the right “first EV“ for me. I might be happier just getting another M5. If things do not improve by the time they ask me to pay, I fear Lucid just might not be the car for me at this time, if ever.

I think in the next few months, before they ask you to pay, you will get a better sense of how far along they are, especially with the software. Although I have other EVs to drive, I was hoping the software, as shipped, would have been more stable and more feature complete (and I'm not talking about the Dream Drive software).

 

[hydbob]

Having a great drive train is not enough. The rest needs to be good also. When you have 1 million cars on the road, if your wrong 1% of the time on 20 decisions per vehicle, per day, you will be wrong 200,000 per day. When this car chooses for me, it is no where close to 99%.

Hey Bill, you sound super frustrated and unhappy. Out of curiosity, what was your expectation purchasing a 1st gen and within the first 100 cars? Also, how long are you willing to put up with the current iteration before you just sell the car?

 

[Bill55]

I expected it to do the basic things all the cars I've owned for the last 10 years can do, like lock and unlock the doors, homelink, cameras/park distance, audio controls. I have lots of patience for the advanced features, but this car doesn't do things I use every time I get in the car at even a passable level. It's not that they are not best in class, they are awful. Using Mercedes, BMW, or Audi as benchmarks they are not even close. My 2013 Corvette is better and Corvettes are not really known for their feature set. At 185K out the door my expectations are high.

Look at Lucid's web site. I expect what they say to be true. I don't know how long I will give them to get the software fixed. I've floated the car to a few places, resale on these cars is very soft with 1000+ miles on the odometer. Now that reviewers are getting more time with the car, reviews are getting steadily more critical of car because of the software. The honeymoon is almost over.

I could put a garage door opener on the visor, and I could dig the remote out of my pocket and then use the valet key to get in the car when both proximity and the remote don't work, I could sit and wait 30 seconds for the cameras to come on line, I could get out of the car and look because the park distance is horrible, I could be fine with the settings on my profile resetting for no apparent reason, I could be ok with the nav freezing, I could be ok it doesn't have cruise control or Car Play, or that the streaming music and FM radio freeze and don't restart.

Get lock and unlock the doors right, then you can move on to LIDAR.

I don't think it is a high bar to expect those things to work. These are things on other cars I don't even think about. No new ground was broken for these items.