Beyond the Charging Curve: What Are Your Real-World DCFC Speeds?

[LucidDropkick]

Two years and ~32,000 miles into my Lucid Air ownership, I've got some thoughts on DC fast charging. Like many early adopters, I initially faced major frustrations, largely due to the well-documented issues with the Electrify America network (a network, let's remember, born from VW's 'Dieselgate' settlement, but I digress).

As EA improved and Lucid began discussing 'charging curve' improvements, I always envisioned significant increases in charging speeds, not just minor, consistency gains. It seems many others interpreted these 'curve' improvements differently, focusing on smaller, more incremental changes. As you'll see in the rest of this post, my experience has not aligned with those initial expectations for dramatic speed increases.

I've been hearing some seriously impressive numbers from people:

• Routinely hitting 200kW+ from low SOC with preconditioning
• Maintaining speeds above 100kW well into the 70-80% range
• Seeing 300kW+ on the right chargers
• Hitting close to 200kW without preconditioning!

Now, I am not one of those people, and I have never been one of those people. I've had my Air for over two years now, and I haven’t seen those kinds of speeds (and mostly assumed that no one else was either)

I'm driving a '22 Air Grand Touring, which is on the 19" wheels. Just a note for newer owners: the 2022 GT models came fully-loaded; there were no options available beyond your exterior color and wheel selection (all other stuff, DreamDrive, SurrealSound, etc were standard).

My DC Fast Charging Experiences​

Never Experienced:

• I've never hit charging speeds over 170kW, regardless of the SOC, preconditioning, or charger type (including both 150kW and 350kW chargers, pre and post EA's charging network and stall updates).
• I've never been able to sustain a charge speed over 150kW for any appreciable length of time.
• That "10% to 80% in 20 minutes" claim? Yeah, not even close for me, and I’ve been on a lot of DCFC chargers.

Sometimes Experienced:

• I’ll briefly see 140-150kW, but it almost immediately drops, regardless of the battery level or if I’ve preconditioned.

Regularly Experienced:

• It usually takes me around 30 minutes (or even longer) to charge from 40% to 80%.
• I'm usually averaging around 70-110kW charging rate in the first half of my charging sessions.

Almost Guaranteed:

• When I’m charging to 100% for a road trip, the speed tanks to below 10kW once I hit 86%. I’ve heard others are still pulling 50kW+ at that point, and I'd love to hear from you if that's the case.

My Charging Habits​

Just to give you some context, here are my charging habits:

• I’m pretty consistent about preconditioning before DC fast charging. I’ll give it anywhere from 5 minutes to almost an hour (especially on road trips since the car starts preconditioning when I navigate to a charger). Doesn't seem to make too much of a difference for me.
• I typically charge daily on L2 chargers for 1 to 8 hours.
• I don’t usually charge past 80% unless I’m road tripping.
• I generally don't use the AC or heating while DC fast charging. I'm not usually even in the car.

I generally have a lot of patience for growing pains. I knew buying an early-production car from a new company meant some challenges, and I've accepted a fair share of them. In fact, some of you might be surprised by what I've been willing to let slide. I've been patient with both Lucid and EA, but if 200+ kW charging speeds are the expected standard, then I think it's time I hold everyone accountable. Especially since my free charging is going to end relatively soon.

So, to be clear: I'm not here to bash Lucid or EA, nor do I want to engage in unconstructive arguments. If your immediate response is 'well, my car charges fine,' that's great, and I'm genuinely happy for you. However, my strategy of 'wait and see' has had mixed results. While I've been pleased with the progress on software, the charging speeds continue to feel more like a theoretical possibility than a consistent reality, akin to the EPA mileage estimates. My suspicion is that many others are experiencing the same charging limitations, and I'm hoping to identify trends and patterns to bring forward so that maybe I can give Lucid some more actionable data (assuming they don't already know).

 

[Spaniard]

I wouldn't have written it any different in my case. I have a 22 GT w/19" wheels. My experience is totally similar whether I charge near home, or somewhere on the road. I have taken several trips from the SF Bay Area to Seattle, and every time is around 40+ minutes to charge the car (not necessarily to 100%). Once it started at 211Kw, but it lasted about 20 seconds before it went down to 170Kw, and then it was downhill from that. If needed to charge to 100% the last 20% could take another 40-45 minutes. In my opinion, I think that EA could improve it dramatically when we charge up to 80%.

 

[CoulombsCruiser]

Two years and ~32,000 miles into my Lucid Air ownership, I've got some thoughts on DC fast charging. Like many early adopters, I initially faced major frustrations, largely due to the well-documented issues with the Electrify America network (a network, let's remember, born from VW's 'Dieselgate' settlement, but I digress).

As EA improved and Lucid began discussing 'charging curve' improvements, I always envisioned significant increases in charging speeds, not just minor, consistency gains. It seems many others interpreted these 'curve' improvements differently, focusing on smaller, more incremental changes. As you'll see in the rest of this post, my experience has not aligned with those initial expectations for dramatic speed increases.

I've been hearing some seriously impressive numbers from people:

• Routinely hitting 200kW+ from low SOC with preconditioning
• Maintaining speeds above 100kW well into the 70-80% range
• Seeing 300kW+ on the right chargers
• Hitting close to 200kW without preconditioning!

Now, I am not one of those people, and I have never been one of those people. I've had my Air for over two years now, and I haven’t seen those kinds of speeds (and mostly assumed that no one else was either)

I'm driving a '22 Air Grand Touring, which is on the 19" wheels. Just a note for newer owners: the 2022 GT models came fully-loaded; there were no options available beyond your exterior color and wheel selection (all other stuff, DreamDrive, SurrealSound, etc were standard).

My DC Fast Charging Experiences​

Never Experienced:

• I've never hit charging speeds over 170kW, regardless of the SOC, preconditioning, or charger type (including both 150kW and 350kW chargers, pre and post EA's charging network and stall updates).
• I've never been able to sustain a charge speed over 150kW for any appreciable length of time.
• That "10% to 80% in 20 minutes" claim? Yeah, not even close for me, and I’ve been on a lot of DCFC chargers.

Sometimes Experienced:

• I’ll briefly see 140-150kW, but it almost immediately drops, regardless of the battery level or if I’ve preconditioned.

Regularly Experienced:

• It usually takes me around 30 minutes (or even longer) to charge from 40% to 80%.
• I'm usually averaging around 70-110kW charging rate in the first half of my charging sessions.

Almost Guaranteed:

• When I’m charging to 100% for a road trip, the speed tanks to below 10kW once I hit 86%. I’ve heard others are still pulling 50kW+ at that point, and I'd love to hear from you if that's the case.

My Charging Habits​

Just to give you some context, here are my charging habits:

• I’m pretty consistent about preconditioning before DC fast charging. I’ll give it anywhere from 5 minutes to almost an hour (especially on road trips since the car starts preconditioning when I navigate to a charger). Doesn't seem to make too much of a difference for me.
• I typically charge daily on L2 chargers for 1 to 8 hours.
• I don’t usually charge past 80% unless I’m road tripping.
• I generally don't use the AC or heating while DC fast charging. I'm not usually even in the car.

I generally have a lot of patience for growing pains. I knew buying an early-production car from a new company meant some challenges, and I've accepted a fair share of them. In fact, some of you might be surprised by what I've been willing to let slide. I've been patient with both Lucid and EA, but if 200+ kW charging speeds are the expected standard, then I think it's time I hold everyone accountable. Especially since my free charging is going to end relatively soon.

So, to be clear: I'm not here to bash Lucid or EA, nor do I want to engage in unconstructive arguments. If your immediate response is 'well, my car charges fine,' that's great, and I'm genuinely happy for you. However, my strategy of 'wait and see' has had mixed results. While I've been pleased with the progress on software, the charging speeds continue to feel more like a theoretical possibility than a consistent reality, akin to the EPA mileage estimates. My suspicion is that many others are experiencing the same charging limitations, and I'm hoping to identify trends and patterns to bring forward so that maybe I can give Lucid some more actionable data (assuming they don't already know).

My experience is very minimal as I’ve had ownership of my GT-P for about a week, but on the ride back from NJ I hit an EA station in Richmond with 75 miles left (~15% SOC) and preconditioned for the 25 minutes prior to arriving. I can honestly say my FIRST charging experience couldn’t have been better: right off the bat I gained speeds just over 270kW! I think I gained just over 200 miles in 20 minutes. I was extremely impressed (my next stop I was not so fortunate, but can’t win them all).

 

[BS8899]

I have the same car as you, 2022 AGT, 19" wheels. I have ~13,500 miles on my car. Most of it accumulated on road trips between AZ and CA (I-10/I-5). My road trips between my two homes, 780 miles door-to-door. I rotate between my Lucid AGT and my Rivian R1S.

I leave my home L2 charged to 100%. With the Lucid AGT, I can make this (780 mile) trip with 2 DCFC charging stops. Like you, I have free charge (until Nov 2025) on EA.

With respect to your questions:

> on my first EA charging stop, I typically run the car from 100% SoC down to 10% or less. Most of the time, I precondition, but not always. If I plug it into a EA 350kW charger, I can get over 200kW, perhaps 220kW. However, this charging rate typically last for about 5-6min and then it tapers off into 150Kw and then lower and lower. By the time I reach 80% SoC, it will be in the 30kW or so regime. Charging from ~10% to 80% SoC at EA 350kW chargers takes about an hour. I you average the charging rate (10% to 80%), that's onboarding ~80kWh onto the AGT, or an average charge rate of ~80kW/hr. Sometimes it can be 5-10m faster than that or 5-10 slower. It takes longer than I like. If you look at Lucid's charging curve, the high charge rate (200kWh plus) really only last 5-6minutes, and then it drops off very rapidly.
> I typically travel at night. As such, there are few people at the charging stations. You are probably aware that EA stations with multiple chargers share the available power at the station. As such, even though the charger might be 350kW capable, it is very seldom you get any thing over 250kW, and only for a short time (perhaps limited by Lucid's charging curve).
> with all of that in mind, I found no discernable differences in the charge duration (time from 10% to 80% SoC) between EA's 350 kW and 150kW chargers.
> In terms of the AGT's efficiency on my road trips, it is around 3.5 mi/kWh, about ~73-75% of AGT's EPA rating. I drive the speed limit, 75mph in AZ on the I-10, 70mph in CA.

Since I also drive my Rivian R1S on this same route, for comparison:
> where possible, I much prefer to charge at Rivian's Adventure charging stations. The Rivian chargers are rated at 300kW. They typically deliver 250kW or so at the beginning (low SoC) and tapers off to 40kW or so (as you get to 80% SoC). It also takes me ~60m to charge the Rivian. Since the R1S (Large Pack) battery is larger than the AGT's, the Rivian chargers are faster than the EA chargers. I have to charge 3X (sometimes 4X) to cover the same trip as the Rivian is not as efficient as the AGT.
>my road trip efficiency on my Rivian is ~2.3-2.4 mi/kWh.

Not sure if I am answering all your questions. Food for thought.

 

[LucidDropkick]

My experience is very minimal as I’ve had ownership of my GT-P for about a week, but on the ride back from NJ I hit an EA station in Richmond with 75 miles left (~15% SOC) and preconditioned for the 25 minutes prior to arriving. I can honestly say my FIRST charging experience couldn’t have been better: right off the bat I gained speeds just over 270kW! I think I gained just over 200 miles in 20 minutes. I was extremely impressed (my next stop I was not so fortunate, but can’t win them all). View attachment 25164

 

[Reddy kW]

I am in total agreement with you LucidDropkick. I just passed 6 months with my 2024 Air Pure and I am experiencing much the same.

 

[DeaneG]

• I’m pretty consistent about preconditioning before DC fast charging. I’ll give it anywhere from 5 minutes to almost an hour (especially on road trips since the car starts preconditioning when I navigate to a charger). Doesn't seem to make too much of a difference for me.

Imagine your oven at home with a 1.5 ton hunk of metal in it, and you are trying to warm the metal up to 85 degrees. You brought the metal in from outside, so it starts at 40 degrees. It;s going to take quite a while for the oven to heat that metal up by 45 degrees. Five minutes is almost negligible. 45 minutes would be mostly effective.

I am in total agreement with you LucidDropkick. I just passed 6 months with my 2024 Air Pure and I am experiencing much the same.

The Pure, due to its lower-voltage battery, will accept fewer kW at every point on its charging curve than a GT.
I've seen 275kW on my GT a few times when I remembered to precondition for long enough and the Electrify America station cooperated.

...Once it started at 211Kw, but it lasted about 20 seconds before it went down to 170Kw, and then it was downhill from that. If needed to charge to 100% the last 20% could take another 40-45 minutes. In my opinion, I think that EA could improve it dramatically when we charge up to 80%.

This has nothing to do with EA - it is due to the physics and chemistry of charging lithium ion batteries.

Read up on "Charging curve" for your Air, or any other EV.

 

[LucidDropkick]

Imagine your oven at home with a 1.5 ton hunk of metal in it, and you are trying to warm the metal up to 85 degrees. You brought the metal in from outside, so it starts at 40 degrees. It;s going to take quite a while for the oven to heat that metal up by 45 degrees. Five minutes is almost negligible. 45 minutes would be mostly effective.

The full sentence says "I’ll give it anywhere from 5 minutes to almost an hour". In my case it doesn't make much difference. I do understand the physics of preconditioning though! In addition, I talked to a Lucid owner yesterday who has seen 200 kW without preconditioning.

I don't think this is a physics issue, I think after talking to @borski he may be right, I think this is actually legitimately an issue with my car (and maybe similarly others!).

 

[BS8899]

Imagine your oven at home with a 1.5 ton hunk of metal in it, and you are trying to warm the metal up to 85 degrees. You brought the metal in from outside, so it starts at 40 degrees. It;s going to take quite a while for the oven to heat that metal up by 45 degrees. Five minutes is almost negligible. 45 minutes would be mostly effective.


The Pure, due to its lower-voltage battery, will accept fewer kW at every point on its charging curve than a GT.
I've seen 275kW on my GT a few times when I remembered to precondition for long enough and the Electrify America station cooperated.


This has nothing to do with EA - it is due to the physics and chemistry of charging lithium ion batteries.

Read up on "Charging curve" for your Air, or any other EV.

While I agree that preconditioning helps, as the reaction rates are driven by thermodynamics, nevertheless, when you are road tripping the battery was discharging many kWhr of energy just prior to arriving at the charging station. It might not be at an optimal 85F temp, but I don't think it is @40F either. As such, I'd expect preconditioning to have a beneficial effect, but perhaps not as much as one thinks. Now, if my car was sitting overnight in a snow storm in Fargo ND in the dead of winter, and I rolled it into a DCFC station without preconditioning, that's a different story.

Not saying I know all the nuances about charging batteries, just my intuition.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

After one year almost exclusively charging at EA, I find myself wondering the degree to which my limited charging speeds are the result of EA's limitations vs. Lucid's software attempting to manage my battery life.

I find that it doesn't much matter what my starting point is. It's going to take me about 35 minutes to get to an 80% SOC. With a low initial SOC, the starting kW rate will be high, and then drop like a rock. Start at a higher SOC, and the initial kW rate will be lower, but drop on a more linear basis. Preconditioning might make a five minute difference, if that, and 150 kW vs. 350 kW chargers seems to make no difference at all.

I can live with this, as it's what I would want if the battery only had a three year warranty, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to see a more aggressive charging curve if it could be done with a reasonable rate of degradation.

 

[borski]

If you don't precondition for 30-45 minutes, you will not see the speeds you are looking for unless the battery happens to already be at temp. Preconditioning for 5-10 minutes doesn't do nothing, but it won't make an appreciable difference.

That said, if the temps are already good, you should be regularly seeing >250kW at low SOC in a GT.

Let's go charge together and compare. I currently have a Touring loaner; I can run down the battery and we can compare.

 

[Lucken]

Two years and ~32,000 miles into my Lucid Air ownership, I've got some thoughts on DC fast charging. Like many early adopters, I initially faced major frustrations, largely due to the well-documented issues with the Electrify America network (a network, let's remember, born from VW's 'Dieselgate' settlement, but I digress).

As EA improved and Lucid began discussing 'charging curve' improvements, I always envisioned significant increases in charging speeds, not just minor, consistency gains. It seems many others interpreted these 'curve' improvements differently, focusing on smaller, more incremental changes. As you'll see in the rest of this post, my experience has not aligned with those initial expectations for dramatic speed increases.

I've been hearing some seriously impressive numbers from people:

• Routinely hitting 200kW+ from low SOC with preconditioning
• Maintaining speeds above 100kW well into the 70-80% range
• Seeing 300kW+ on the right chargers
• Hitting close to 200kW without preconditioning!

Now, I am not one of those people, and I have never been one of those people. I've had my Air for over two years now, and I haven’t seen those kinds of speeds (and mostly assumed that no one else was either)

I'm driving a '22 Air Grand Touring, which is on the 19" wheels. Just a note for newer owners: the 2022 GT models came fully-loaded; there were no options available beyond your exterior color and wheel selection (all other stuff, DreamDrive, SurrealSound, etc were standard).

My DC Fast Charging Experiences​

Never Experienced:

• I've never hit charging speeds over 170kW, regardless of the SOC, preconditioning, or charger type (including both 150kW and 350kW chargers, pre and post EA's charging network and stall updates).
• I've never been able to sustain a charge speed over 150kW for any appreciable length of time.
• That "10% to 80% in 20 minutes" claim? Yeah, not even close for me, and I’ve been on a lot of DCFC chargers.

Sometimes Experienced:

• I’ll briefly see 140-150kW, but it almost immediately drops, regardless of the battery level or if I’ve preconditioned.

Regularly Experienced:

• It usually takes me around 30 minutes (or even longer) to charge from 40% to 80%.
• I'm usually averaging around 70-110kW charging rate in the first half of my charging sessions.

Almost Guaranteed:

• When I’m charging to 100% for a road trip, the speed tanks to below 10kW once I hit 86%. I’ve heard others are still pulling 50kW+ at that point, and I'd love to hear from you if that's the case.

My Charging Habits​

Just to give you some context, here are my charging habits:

• I’m pretty consistent about preconditioning before DC fast charging. I’ll give it anywhere from 5 minutes to almost an hour (especially on road trips since the car starts preconditioning when I navigate to a charger). Doesn't seem to make too much of a difference for me.
• I typically charge daily on L2 chargers for 1 to 8 hours.
• I don’t usually charge past 80% unless I’m road tripping.
• I generally don't use the AC or heating while DC fast charging. I'm not usually even in the car.

I generally have a lot of patience for growing pains. I knew buying an early-production car from a new company meant some challenges, and I've accepted a fair share of them. In fact, some of you might be surprised by what I've been willing to let slide. I've been patient with both Lucid and EA, but if 200+ kW charging speeds are the expected standard, then I think it's time I hold everyone accountable. Especially since my free charging is going to end relatively soon.

So, to be clear: I'm not here to bash Lucid or EA, nor do I want to engage in unconstructive arguments. If your immediate response is 'well, my car charges fine,' that's great, and I'm genuinely happy for you. However, my strategy of 'wait and see' has had mixed results. While I've been pleased with the progress on software, the charging speeds continue to feel more like a theoretical possibility than a consistent reality, akin to the EPA mileage estimates. My suspicion is that many others are experiencing the same charging limitations, and I'm hoping to identify trends and patterns to bring forward so that maybe I can give Lucid some more actionable data (assuming they don't already know).

With the exception of your experience with DCFC over 86% (I’ve only gone past 80% twice and both times were on my home charger), my charging speeds mirror yours exactly. Admittedly I have a Pure which should charge inherently slower than your AGT.

 

[BS8899]

If you don't precondition for 30-45 minutes, you will not see the speeds you are looking for unless the battery happens to already be at temp. Preconditioning for 5-10 minutes doesn't do nothing, but it won't make an appreciable difference.

That said, if the temps are already good, you should be regularly seeing >250kW at low SOC in a GT.

Let's go charge together and compare. I currently have a Touring loaner; I can run down the battery and we can compare.

No one is disputing that if the battery is at the optimal temperature for charging, it should take the charge more readily. That said, if you and Buffalo Bob drove two identical cars for 2 city blocks with the same SoC to the charging station, one car was preconditioned, the other not, you might indeed see a difference in the charging rate.

The scenario we were discussing pertains to the efficacy of preconditioning on road trips, where the battery was already discharging at a significant rate (commensurate with say a 70-75mph speed), perhaps for a several hours. The question herein is whether additional preconditioning would result in a significantly higher charging rate? Obviously, the ambient temperature is another modulating factor.

Remember, preconditioning is not a freebie. It consumes energy from the battery. Your recharge will have to compensate for that as well.

I am NOT against preconditioning nor am I dispute its merits. The question at hand is whether preconditioning makes a tangible difference when charging on long road trips.

 

[borski]

No one is disputing that if the battery is at the optimal temperature for charging, it should take the charge more readily. That said, if you and Buffalo Bob drove two identical cars for 2 city blocks with the same SoC to the charging station, one car was preconditioned, the other not, you might indeed see a difference in the charging rate.

The scenario we were discussing pertains to the efficacy of preconditioning on road trips, where the battery was already discharging at a significant rate (commensurate with say a 70-75mph speed), perhaps for a several hours. The question herein is whether additional preconditioning would result in a significantly higher charging rate? Obviously, the ambient temperature is another modulating factor.

Remember, preconditioning is not a freebie. It consumes energy from the battery. Your recharge will have to compensate for that as well.

I am NOT against preconditioning nor am I dispute its merits. The question at hand is whether preconditioning makes a tangible difference when charging on long road trips.

Thanks for clarifying; that was exactly what I understood, and everything you said is correct.

I believe preconditioning makes a difference even then, but you're right that it's not free; don't use it if it will cause you not to make it to a charging station, haha.

 

[Neurio]

My N of 1 from today:
I preconditioned for about 45 minutes before plugging in at 18%. It immediately went up to 177 kw before stalling and being station limited because the BMW i4 next to me was also at a relatively low state of charge. I'm fairly certainly it would have peaked well over 200 kw if the BMW wasn't there, as that's been my experience in the past with good preconditioning and low SOC (see attached pics from 2 different sessions a few months ago). No idea why you can't break 170 kw @LucidDropkick. Have you tried asking Millbrae?

 

[Pragmatic]

70 - 75 mph is a 20kw draw on the battery. It will warm it up but depending on ambient it may not be enough. If the driving does bring the battery to optimum temperature, then preconditioning will not require any additional energy.

 

[LucidDropkick]

My N of 1 from today:
I preconditioned for about 45 minutes before plugging in at 18%. It immediately went up to 177 kw before stalling and being station limited because the BMW i4 next to me was also at a relatively low state of charge. I'm fairly certainly it would have peaked well over 200 kw if the BMW wasn't there, as that's been my experience in the past with good preconditioning and low SOC (see attached pics from 2 different sessions a few months ago). No idea why you can't break 170 kw @LucidDropkick. Have you tried asking Millbrae?
View attachment 25191
View attachment 25192

See, these speeds are just mind-boggling to me. If I don't see these pictures (as I seem to be more regularly now that I'm actively looking), I'm almost completely unconvinced that my car is even capable of charging this fast. On my way back up from SoCal, I was preconditioning for almost a full hour (since I only wanted one charge stop and I wanted it to be as quick as possible), and even though Kettleman City was completely empty when I charged, I couldn't get faster than 130 kW at 40%.

 

[BS8899]

70 - 75 mph is a 20kw draw on the battery. It will warm it up but depending on ambient it may not be enough. If the driving does bring the battery to optimum temperature, then preconditioning will not require any additional energy.

In certain climates, as you are charging at a DCFC, you might hear cooling fans blowing away to keep the battery cool when it is charging. That happens in AZ and in CA.

Thus, I am all for getting the battery to an optimal temperature for charging. That said, whether you need preconditioning or not, depends a lot on the prevailing thermal conditions of the car as it arrives at the DCFC and the weather. If I have just driven 200 miles at highway speed from AZ in the summer @ 70-75mph, chances are, I don't really need preconditioning. More likely, the cooling fans will kick in soon after charging commences.

But, as others pointed out, preconditioning is a "thermostat". Yes, it might be unnecessary and might waste some energy. But it is not a run away train.

 

[ViperSSD]

I have an August 2022 build AGT and have hit 300kw on more than one occasion. It's always on a non-shares station, low state of charge (5-10%) and preconditioned.
Interestingly my charging speeds got worse recently and I just assumed one of the variables between the car, environment and the charger was to blame .....however, I had to take my car in for a frunk issue and they called me to say they're swapping the HV battery. I'm wondering if yours needs to get swapped out too.... perhaps they're waiting until it's brought in for something else.

 

[Neurio]

See, these speeds are just mind-boggling to me. If I don't see these pictures (as I seem to be more regularly now that I'm actively looking), I'm almost completely unconvinced that my car is even capable of charging this fast. On my way back up from SoCal, I was preconditioning for almost a full hour (since I only wanted one charge stop and I wanted it to be as quick as possible), and even though Kettleman City was completely empty when I charged, I couldn't get faster than 130 kW at 40%.

Starting at 40%, you should be a bit higher, but not over 200kw. Here is the charging curve Tom Moloughney made for the DE. The 22 GTs charge slower, so we wouldn't be at 200 kw, but I'd still expect higher than 130 kw starting speed.