Couple of Questions on Charging from a New Owner

[bobr]

Just picked up my 2026 Air Touring a week ago and this is my first EV. It came with the Mobile Charging Cable and today I had the NEMA 14-50 outlet installed.

A couple of questions.

Do folks leave it plugged in all the time? The light stays on and the body does get a little warm.
I have seen in other threads that it came with a mounting plate, but it was not in the package. Is it no longer supplied?
Is there a way to view a history of the charging session? Or do you just need to see what is on the dash?

I did look through the threads for this info but quit after page 4.

Thanks.

Bob

 

[varneytjv172]

Hi, I took delivery of my Air touring on the 22nd and also had a NEMA 14-50 outlet installed.
I read that Lucid recommended that the car should be left plugged in even when charging limit had been reached, however at the moment I don't feel comfortable with that....dont ask me why. When not charging I just turn the breaker off. I didn't get a mounting plate.
Unfortunately I don't have an answer regarding history of charging session, perhaps someone more experienced with these cars may provide an answer.
Regards....

 

[lucidtouringman]

Congratulations on the new car. If you poured through some of the recommendations on the photo, you will recognize that the most recommended installation practice is too hardwire the charger. I have it hardwired and leaves it on and plugged into the car without any issues

 

[bobr]

Clarification: When i asked about keeping it plugged in, I meant the charger to the wall outlet, as it keeps the 'Lucid' light on and gets a little warm. Wondering how much power it is using when it is plugged into the wall but not the car.

It is charging right now and the breaker is hotter than all the others. It is 100F while the rest are at 86.1F. Is that normal?

EV Breaker:

Other breakers:

 

[varneytjv172]

Sorry if my reply was ambiguous. I unplug the charger from the car and then turn the breaker off which turns off the Lucid light on the charger. I leave the charger plugged into the NEMA socket but it's not receiving any power . I understand that unplugging the charger from the NEMA socket should be kept to a minimum to avoid the pins being damaged over time. The electrician recommended a hardwire charger but meant buying another as the portable charger cannot be hardwired,

 

[socktucker]

Congratulations on the new car. If you poured through some of the recommendations on the photo, you will recognize that the most recommended installation practice is too hardwire the charger. I have it hardwired and leaves it on and plugged into the car without any issues

Can’t hardwire the mobile charger

 

[socktucker]

Sorry if my reply was ambiguous. I unplug the charger from the car and then turn the breaker off which turns off the Lucid light on the charger. I leave the charger plugged into the NEMA socket but it's not receiving any power . I understand that unplugging the charger from the NEMA socket should be kept to a minimum to avoid the pins being damaged over time. The electrician recommended a hardwire charger but meant buying another ?

I just Velcro mine to the wall by the plug and charge on Sundays

 

[Tâm]

Just picked up my 2026 Air Touring a week ago and this is my first EV. It came with the Mobile Charging Cable and today I had the NEMA 14-50 outlet installed.

A couple of questions.

Do folks leave it plugged in all the time? The light stays on and the body does get a little warm.
I have seen in other threads that it came with a mounting plate, but it was not in the package. Is it no longer supplied?
Is there a way to view a history of the charging session? Or do you just need to see what is on the dash?

I did look through the threads for this info but quit after page 4.

Thanks.

Bob

1) I keep the car plugged in when not driving.
2) Mobile connector is meant to be portable so mine did not come with any mounting accessories at all.
3) It does get warmer than ambient temperature when it's charging. That's expected.
4) Some one needs to write up some programming codes so we can read the historical logs.

 

[rkaye]

You mentioned getting the plug installed but not the amperage of the circuit it's connected to. Excess heat can be an indication of an underpowered circuit, or wire that's not rated to handle more amps.

 

[bobr]

You mentioned getting the plug installed but not the amperage of the circuit it's connected to.

Breaker is 50 amp. The GT limits the rate to 40 amps.

 

[TahoeMichael]

Hi, I took delivery of my Air touring on the 22nd and also had a NEMA 14-50 outlet installed.
I read that Lucid recommended that the car should be left plugged in even when charging limit had been reached, however at the moment I don't feel comfortable with that....dont ask me why. When not charging I just turn the breaker off. I didn't get a mounting plate.
Unfortunately I don't have an answer regarding history of charging session, perhaps someone more experienced with these cars may provide an answer.
Regards....

Please do not turn the breaker off! While breakers look like switches, and act like switches, they aren't actually designed to be switches. Specifically that means that they're not design to withstand a daily cycle of being flipped on and off, and you're going to cause your breaker to die an early death. The number of mechanical cycles expected out of a typical residential breaker is only a few thousand.

Both chargers (technically an EVSE, the charger itself is built into the car) and EVs are designed to function well when left plugged in for long periods of time.

 

[TahoeMichael]

Sorry if my reply was ambiguous. I unplug the charger from the car and then turn the breaker off which turns off the Lucid light on the charger. I leave the charger plugged into the NEMA socket but it's not receiving any power . I understand that unplugging the charger from the NEMA socket should be kept to a minimum to avoid the pins being damaged over time. The electrician recommended a hardwire charger but meant buying another as the portable charger cannot be hardwired,

The standards are a bit complicated, but a NEMA 14-50 receptacle is designed for about the same number of mechanical cycles a breaker is designed for, as long as the plug/unplug operation is performed when there's no significant current flowing. If you plug/unplug under load, it's a whole different story, and the outlet could easily fail within a year.

 

[TahoeMichael]

Clarification: When i asked about keeping it plugged in, I meant the charger to the wall outlet, as it keeps the 'Lucid' light on and gets a little warm. Wondering how much power it is using when it is plugged into the wall but not the car.

It is charging right now and the breaker is hotter than all the others. It is 100F while the rest are at 86.1F. Is that normal?

EV Breaker: View attachment 35394 Other breakers: View attachment 35395

This is 100% fine. The amperage flowing through the breaker is substantial, and resistance causes some of the current to convert to heat. 100F is far below the temperature the breaker is designed to handle, and a 14F rise over ambient is not at all unusual for the current the vehicle draws while charging. It's a different story if you see elevated temperatures when the vehicle isn't charging. Although do keep in mind that electrical panels aren't well ventilated, and the breaker may take quite a while to cool off after the end of a charging session.

You'd have to consult the spec sheet for the specific breaker used, but the lowest temperature rating I'm aware of for breakers is 140F, and higher than that is common. That 140F rating isn't the failure point of the device, it's the acceptable normal operating temperature of the device.

 

[varneytjv172]

Please do not turn the breaker off! While breakers look like switches, and act like switches, they aren't actually designed to be switches. Specifically that means that they're not design to withstand a daily cycle of being flipped on and off, and you're going to cause your breaker to die an early death. The number of mechanical cycles expected out of a typical residential breaker is only a few thousand.

Both chargers (technically an EVSE, the charger itself is built into the car) and EVs are designed to function well when left plugged in for long periods of time.

Ok good to know. I will leave things be. Thanks to the original poster for this thread!

 

[bohica1956]

I would check the receptacle and make sure they installed an EV rated receptacle. I have had EV's for 5 years and went through some receptacles and plugs. Newer will have a green symbol on them. Standard receptacles cannot take the constant 8 hour load of an EV. You do not want to ruin both and it well over time.

 

[chazglenn3]

I made sure to have the electrician install an industrial grade NEMA 15-40 receptacle when I leased my Polestar 2. The difference is night and day in build quality (robustness ) compared to a standard receptacle. HIGHLY recommended!

Hubbell Store

store.hubbell.com

 

[bobr]

This is 100% fine. The amperage flowing through the breaker is substantial, and resistance causes some of the current to convert to heat. 100F is far below the temperature the breaker is designed to handle,

Thank you for the answer.

I would not use the breaker as a switch. I will open the breaker panel door when charging though. The NEMA 14-50 outlet did not get warm.

Still wondering how much current the Mobile Charging Cable uses when not charging the car. That white Lucid light stays on and it stays warm. Right at the top is a spot that gets 99.1F at rest while the main body is 93.4F and the wall is 76.8F.

So I pulled the breaker box cover off and put a clamp ammeter on each of the three wires, black, red and white. Also took readings on the lines coming into the mains.

While the readings fluctuated a bit, the highest was 0.06 A on the white, which translates to about 13 watts. I am paying $0.163 per kWh at home, so that is no more than $7.04 per month to leave it plugged in, as that was the highest reading observed. Not a problem.

 

[Saksak]

Best practices that I’ve found:

- Use an EV rated NEMA 14-50 outlet as others have said. Don’t go cheap and risk overheating/melting/fire.
- Keeping the mobile charge plugged in all the time is fine. Unplugging when not in use is also fine to eliminate standby power. As others have mention, don’t use the breaker as a regular on/off switch.
- Although not strictly necessary, a permanent wall mounted charger is recommended for home charging. They give faster charging, are more efficient, and have smart features such as scheduled charging (typically better than the car), monitoring, and logging. This also allows the mobile charger to be kept permanently in the car for when you need it away from home.

For battery health:

- Charge daily. Many small charges is better than a single 0% - 100% charge.
- When possible, stay close to 50% between charges and charge within the “daily” range. For example, plan for 40% - 60%, 30% - 70%, 20% - 80%, etc.
- Occasionally charging to 100% and depletion to 0% is fine for NMC (Lucid batteries) but minimize the time spent below 20% or above 80%. Drive soon after reaching 100%, and charge as quickly as you can near 0%, especially in hot climates.
- Practically speaking, you can ignore all of the above and charge/drive as you desire, and your battery will outlast the vehicle. Just avoid keeping the car at 100% charge or 0% charge for very long periods of time without driving/charging.