Cross Country Trip-Dreams & Nightmares?

[raleighone]

Apologies for a super long post but adding a lot here in case others have issues: I planned a camping trip leaving April 20th from NC to Portland, OR with many stops along the way before settling in Colorado for the Summer starting June 1. As you may have seen in my other posts, I did a lot of prep work with adding crossbars and a platform that holds a tent awning on one side and a shower awning on the other. I built out shelves in the back.

First off, with my build, the car is incredible. SO much room in back both lengthwise and widthwise worked perfectly for a 30" wide mattress on one side. I sleep great in the car. Using a privacy curtain and window blocks I made, it's pitch black and private. Driving this car is just SO amazing. Comfortable, quiet, fast charging, etc. I love this car. However...

ISSUE 1-CHARGING UNAVAILABLE
2 days before I left, I got a "Charging Unavailable" warning. I was nervous, but this was pre-3.6 when errors were normal. After a deep sleep, the error went away. I took it for a test drive one day before I left and of course, a local truck threw a rock at my windshield. Nice cracked glass...luckily not in driver's view so moving on as-is for now.

However, within a day or two, the charging error came on again...as I was in Missouri with no fast chargers within 2 hours. But again, letting car sleep and being away from it for 20-30 min, the error went away. I called Lucid and they said they could see the error and didn't think it was causing any damage...so since I couldn't bring it in, I had to keep going.

Over the course of the next 3 weeks, this error happened regularly. Nearly daily. It was constant stress every time I stopped the car. Several times, I stopped for a 5 min bathroom break, only to return to he un-drivable car. So, my 5 min break turned into me walking around random towns for 30 minutes every time, rain or shine, waiting for the car to sleep. Ugh.

I made it to Portland (to see my son, who luckily drove his car the few days I was there). I consider it very lucky to have made it...as I just knew one of these times the "sleep" wouldn't work. Well, in Portland, the error would not go away...zero charging available. I luckily had about 180 miles to get to Seattle SC 200 miles away. I decided to "go for it" and get as close as I could before a tow. Well, by going just 55-60mph, I actually made it.

Seattle had my car for a full week and finally figured out the error: a pinched cable going to the TCU. The techs were awesome...really sympathetic to my cause and everyone understood my case was an odd one since I was roadtripping. They had to order an entire wiring harness and then use the one part they needed to replace mine. They also had "trip interruption" coverage so paid for my rental car, my hotel in Vancouver (where I went to hang while repairs happened) and meals, etc. They sent a direct deposit for the total reimbursements within 2 weeks...very nice. They communicated well during the week and sent me on my way after a week to continue my trip now heading towards Colorado.

ISSUE 2-12v ERROR
Not even a day later, I started getting 3 errors when first starting car: "Service 12v Battery-Car is Undrivable," "Rear Wheel Steering Unavailable" and "Brakes Need Service (this would always go away after :05...not sure of wording). The only way to get the car to drive? Yep...let it go to deep sleep. More random walks around towns nearly every day.

I made it limping into Colorado and got it to the "SC" in Denver. The 2 techs there were both awesome and did everything they could to figure things out. They gave me a rental and over the course of the next 2.5 weeks, were dealing with engineering daily trying to figure out the errors. They replaced both 12v batts, all 3 junction boxes, etc. FInally, they figured it out: a single pin/plug had come loose. Once they re-seated it, all 3 errors immediately went away. I picked up the car that afternoon after they put it back together and did a 22 mile test drive along with several starts/sleeps to make sure it was good. It was. (When I say techs were awesome, I mean it. They had to take out ALL of my camping stuff in the back, my beds, the shelves that were tightly attached with ratchet straps, etc. and had to put it all back in after. Way above and beyond...(I had emptied the frunk but not the back since didn't think they'd need to get back there. They did for the rear junction box replacement.)


So I'm back to LOVING my Gravity. They had given me a RangeRover to drive and I couldn't stand it. lol Gas, break, gas, break, gas, break. One pedal driving is SO SO much better in these mountains out here with constant switchbacks and turns!!

My overall view on my experience: The "on the ground" service techs at Lucid that I met were all awesome. Every single one seemed to really care and wanted to help. That said, without anyone saying anything to me, I could sense their frustrations with lack of support from corporate. They said engineering usually got back to them within 24 hours...which meant every time they'd try something and sent it...it killed a day. Not ideal. A couple times a part that was supposed to ship, didn't, so another full day delay. ;-( But they texted me every day with an update, which goes a LONG way in my book. I was very stressed about this situation, but constantly updating me helped a lot.

My car is back. It's driving great, so far, though I have a little PTSD still. ;-) Back to loving Gravity. Hoping the rest of my Summer travels go on with no errors from the car. These things caused a TON of stress but didn't ruin my trip. I've seen a ton of this country and more to come, car-willing.

Attached are the 2 main errors I had in case other ever get them. At least now, they'll be able to diagnose much quicker without the stress I went through. You're welcome. lol

 

[DeaneG]

I'm so glad that service came through. Quite an ordeal! Hope your Gravity is now as trouble-free as ours.

 

[Leftlane]

Ugh - that’s almost unbearable. 2 1/2 weeks to reseat a plug? Too bad customers are the only QC that Lucid seems to use.

 

[DeaneG]

...2 1/2 weeks to reseat a plug?...

Not making excuses, but the root cause of an intermittent electrical problem can be very difficult to find. I've personally spent weeks on a few in my lifetime on systems that I designed.
It sounds like one pin was backing out of a multipin connector. A latent manufacturing defect from a wiring harness supplier.

 

[Coyote]

Ugh - that’s almost unbearable. 2 1/2 weeks to reseat a plug? Too bad customers are the only QC that Lucid seems to use.

As a former electronics tech, that kind of problem can be exceedingly difficult to find. Reseating the plug likely took a couple of minutes.  Finding the pushed pin is what took most of the time, along with testing and verifying the fix.

 

[raleighone]

Yes, you guys get it. And that's why I'm posting this novel. Had this happened to anyone else previously, they'd have it in a database and would know what to check. Moving forward, they will.

One other story between these two major errors. Just when you thought I was stressed enough, here's another one for ya from this trip:

After leaving Seattle and getting the 12v errors, I pulled into a camping site in bear country in Utah. I pulled in around 7p and nobody was at this self-serve campsite. I was just pulling in and it started to rain. I tried to close my window which was all the way down. Nope. Window wouldn't move. Rain turned to hail...bouncing balls of ice into my car. I moved under a tree but it barely helped. When rain stopped, I let it sleep and walked around for 30 minutes. Nope...didn't work. I put some trash bags over the open window. Later, after only asleep for an hour, I woke up realizing it was bear country and I had food in the car. Gulp. Didn't sleep much after that.

About 5am, I awoke to a whooshing sound and my legs started raising up a foot in the air. Bleary eyed, I thought something had crawled under my mattress. I quickly pulled the plugs and went to the net. Yep...when an inner seam breaks in these air/foam mattresses, all the air goes to one part of the mattress. It was bizarre at the moment...when half asleep. Drove to SLC REI who luckily had a Hest FOAM ONLY mattress ;-)

As soon as service opened, I called and pleaded for them to get my window fixed. They had one guy in Salt Lake City...and he does a huge area of service. They got me booked with him 2 days later. I moved to a non-bear-threat campground and hunkered down for 2 days (no driving). Then, I drove 2.5 hours to the mobile service guy's house in SLC (I told them I was happy to do that if they could get me in his schedule!) and he fixed the window.

I'll attach a great clip of me driving through a dirt devil, unable to close the window, so just watching the dirt flow into my car. LOL (No videos allowed? I put 3 pics instead...video is funnier.)

 

[socktucker]

of me driving through a dirt devil, unable to close the window,

 

[L-Dude]

Super interesting and enjoyable post(s). Geez you have incredible patience, but I gather you see the potential in these cars when they are working right, and they all seem to be moving in that direction. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[Lycra]

How many miles was the total drive? Nice road trip? Long vacation or retired?

 

[Saksak]

[…] I drove 2.5 hours to the mobile service guy's house in SLC (I told them I was happy to do that if they could get me in his schedule!) and he fixed the window. […]

What was the problem with the window and how did he fix it?

I’m glad service was able to find the root causes of your other problems and fix it! I’m wondering if the software glitches some people have been having is rooted in hardware instead of software.

 

[raleighone]

What was the problem with the window and how did he fix it?

I’m glad service was able to find the root causes of your other problems and fix it! I’m wondering if the software glitches some people have been having is rooted in hardware instead of software.

It needed a new regulator which is inside the door. It took about an hour to do. I had met him at 8 so he had me on the road again around 9am. I think you are right in your guess: some of these issues people are having may be hardware OR the constant trying to fix it might be burning things out as people keep clicking and clicking...

 

[raleighone]

How many miles was the total drive? Nice road trip? Long vacation or retired?

Hmm...I'm not totally sure. I think between 6k and 7k so far? It was an amazing road trip car camping in this car, even despite the stresses. Once the car started moving each day, it was a total joy to drive long distances on the highway. So comfortable, great stereo, great DDPro2 (before hands free-still great). And when I landed at campsites, it was amazingly comfortable and easy to get set up. So I'm hoping for the rest of the summer I can have the stress-free version. ;-)

Retired? I don't know. Maybe. lol I'm self employed as a reality TV show editor and have no show I'm working on currently so at 58 yrs old, I may be car camping quite a bit. ;-)

 

[socktucker]

Hmm...I'm not totally sure. I think between 6k and 7k so far? It was an amazing road trip car camping in this car, even despite the stresses. Once the car started moving each day, it was a total joy to drive long distances on the highway. So comfortable, great stereo, great DDPro2 (before hands free-still great). And when I landed at campsites, it was amazingly comfortable and easy to get set up. So I'm hoping for the rest of the summer I can have the stress-free version. ;-)

Retired? I don't know. Maybe. lol I'm self employed as a reality TV show editor and have no show I'm working on currently so at 58 yrs old, I may be car camping quite a bit. ;-)

Got any pics of your shelving setup?

 

[doubletwist]

I've been wondering for awhile if a lot of the random issues some seem to have with their vehicles was wiring and/or connection issues.

I hope the engineers have been considering this in there designs of the Cosmos (and future updates to Air/Gravity) to avoid pinch points, and endure connectors are solid and reliable.

Not to mention considering the ability to detect these kinds of issues in software.

 

[gaskiller]

Apologies for a super long post but adding a lot here in case others have issues: I planned a camping trip leaving April 20th from NC to Portland, OR with many stops along the way before settling in Colorado for the Summer starting June 1. As you may have seen in my other posts, I did a lot of prep work with adding crossbars and a platform that holds a tent awning on one side and a shower awning on the other. I built out shelves in the back.

First off, with my build, the car is incredible. SO much room in back both lengthwise and widthwise worked perfectly for a 30" wide mattress on one side. I sleep great in the car. Using a privacy curtain and window blocks I made, it's pitch black and private. Driving this car is just SO amazing. Comfortable, quiet, fast charging, etc. I love this car. However...

ISSUE 1-CHARGING UNAVAILABLE
2 days before I left, I got a "Charging Unavailable" warning. I was nervous, but this was pre-3.6 when errors were normal. After a deep sleep, the error went away. I took it for a test drive one day before I left and of course, a local truck threw a rock at my windshield. Nice cracked glass...luckily not in driver's view so moving on as-is for now.

However, within a day or two, the charging error came on again...as I was in Missouri with no fast chargers within 2 hours. But again, letting car sleep and being away from it for 20-30 min, the error went away. I called Lucid and they said they could see the error and didn't think it was causing any damage...so since I couldn't bring it in, I had to keep going.

Over the course of the next 3 weeks, this error happened regularly. Nearly daily. It was constant stress every time I stopped the car. Several times, I stopped for a 5 min bathroom break, only to return to he un-drivable car. So, my 5 min break turned into me walking around random towns for 30 minutes every time, rain or shine, waiting for the car to sleep. Ugh.

I made it to Portland (to see my son, who luckily drove his car the few days I was there). I consider it very lucky to have made it...as I just knew one of these times the "sleep" wouldn't work. Well, in Portland, the error would not go away...zero charging available. I luckily had about 180 miles to get to Seattle SC 200 miles away. I decided to "go for it" and get as close as I could before a tow. Well, by going just 55-60mph, I actually made it.

Seattle had my car for a full week and finally figured out the error: a pinched cable going to the TCU. The techs were awesome...really sympathetic to my cause and everyone understood my case was an odd one since I was roadtripping. They had to order an entire wiring harness and then use the one part they needed to replace mine. They also had "trip interruption" coverage so paid for my rental car, my hotel in Vancouver (where I went to hang while repairs happened) and meals, etc. They sent a direct deposit for the total reimbursements within 2 weeks...very nice. They communicated well during the week and sent me on my way after a week to continue my trip now heading towards Colorado.

ISSUE 2-12v ERROR
Not even a day later, I started getting 3 errors when first starting car: "Service 12v Battery-Car is Undrivable," "Rear Wheel Steering Unavailable" and "Brakes Need Service (this would always go away after :05...not sure of wording). The only way to get the car to drive? Yep...let it go to deep sleep. More random walks around towns nearly every day.

I made it limping into Colorado and got it to the "SC" in Denver. The 2 techs there were both awesome and did everything they could to figure things out. They gave me a rental and over the course of the next 2.5 weeks, were dealing with engineering daily trying to figure out the errors. They replaced both 12v batts, all 3 junction boxes, etc. FInally, they figured it out: a single pin/plug had come loose. Once they re-seated it, all 3 errors immediately went away. I picked up the car that afternoon after they put it back together and did a 22 mile test drive along with several starts/sleeps to make sure it was good. It was. (When I say techs were awesome, I mean it. They had to take out ALL of my camping stuff in the back, my beds, the shelves that were tightly attached with ratchet straps, etc. and had to put it all back in after. Way above and beyond...(I had emptied the frunk but not the back since didn't think they'd need to get back there. They did for the rear junction box replacement.)


So I'm back to LOVING my Gravity. They had given me a RangeRover to drive and I couldn't stand it. lol Gas, break, gas, break, gas, break. One pedal driving is SO SO much better in these mountains out here with constant switchbacks and turns!!

My overall view on my experience: The "on the ground" service techs at Lucid that I met were all awesome. Every single one seemed to really care and wanted to help. That said, without anyone saying anything to me, I could sense their frustrations with lack of support from corporate. They said engineering usually got back to them within 24 hours...which meant every time they'd try something and sent it...it killed a day. Not ideal. A couple times a part that was supposed to ship, didn't, so another full day delay. ;-( But they texted me every day with an update, which goes a LONG way in my book. I was very stressed about this situation, but constantly updating me helped a lot.

My car is back. It's driving great, so far, though I have a little PTSD still. ;-) Back to loving Gravity. Hoping the rest of my Summer travels go on with no errors from the car. These things caused a TON of stress but didn't ruin my trip. I've seen a ton of this country and more to come, car-willing.

Attached are the 2 main errors I had in case other ever get them. At least now, they'll be able to diagnose much quicker without the stress I went through. You're welcome. lol

Great service by Lucid. But they really need to dial down the suppliers and self inflicted quality issues. Hopefully new team knows how to run a car company.

 

[Leftlane]

As a former electronics tech, that kind of problem can be exceedingly difficult to find. Reseating the plug likely took a couple of minutes.  Finding the pushed pin is what took most of the time, along with testing and verifying the fix.

Totally get that, but sometimes you start with the simplest things and make sure all the connectors are, you know, connected. There is no problem in the universe of cars that should take 2 1/2 weeks to figure out.

 

[dbsb3233]

As a former electronics tech, that kind of problem can be exceedingly difficult to find. Reseating the plug likely took a couple of minutes.  Finding the pushed pin is what took most of the time, along with testing and verifying the fix.

Like the old days before strings of LED miniature Christmas lights, where you had to pull every bulb one at a time until you found the bad one. Praying that there weren't 2 bad ones.

 

[Saksak]

Totally get that, but sometimes you start with the simplest things and make sure all the connectors are, you know, connected. There is no problem in the universe of cars that should take 2 1/2 weeks to figure out.

How many of us threw out Christmas tree lights because one light burned out and we couldn’t figure out which one was causing the entire strand to go bad? (I see the previous post - we posted at nearly the same time with the same thought )

EV’s have miles of wiring, scores of wiring harnesses, and many hundreds to a thousand connectors. These are all buried under other components that must be removed/disassembled for access. Granted, the symptoms help isolate the set of wires, but it’s not a trivial task.

 

[dbsb3233]

I've been wondering for awhile if a lot of the random issues some seem to have with their vehicles was wiring and/or connection issues.

I hope the engineers have been considering this in there designs of the Cosmos (and future updates to Air/Gravity) to avoid pinch points, and endure connectors are solid and reliable.

Not to mention considering the ability to detect these kinds of issues in software.

Yep. Connections jarring loose over miles of bumps are likely the cause of a lot of intermittent problems. Especially as cars have gotten more electronic and computer-based.

Our Mustang Mach-E had such a problem. One of the coaxial connections to the camera unit used for ACC distance detection would come loose just enough to break the circuit, and we'd get the warning message saying ACC was unavailable. A minute later I'd hit a bump and poof, back to working again. It was a known issue for many of the vehicles.

While the source is unconfirmed, I think the same thing is happening in our Porsche Macan now. ACC randomly goes out and throws a bunch of weird errors, then I hit a bump and it comes right back.

There's a few intermittent issues on the Gravity that wouldn't surprise me if that's the cause.

 

[borski]

Fwiw, a “deep sleep” of the car only takes about 1-3 mins. You don’t need to wait 30.

(Also, what a story!)