Driving Experience During Cold Spell In New York

[DET]

Like all companies, Lucid is not perfect. However, I have to say I have had the complete opposite experience so far. I live in suburban Chicago and this winter regularly drove the car in -15F actual temps. The car sat outside in that cold and performed flawlessly when I drove away. I do have an indoor personal charger at home for my Lucid and an Audi (my condo building is very progressive in that regard), and a public charger at work that I occasionally use. I sometimes use public chargers, and the fast chargers in my area work well. The Level 2 chargers work fine, too. The EV industry is in its infancy. The problems of charging and performance will dissipate, of course. But some people should definitely stick with ICE cars if the nuances and occasional challenges of early adoption are problematic. That said, I sympathize with those going through these frustrations. When everything seems to be going wrong, you just want it to get better.

 

[hmp10]

Good assessment. Not only do we need chargers, we need chargers that work and real time accurate updates. Charging companies need to get their act together.

I think there is a huge hole in U.S. policy thinking, such as it is. The focus seems to be all about L3 charging on highways. There is very little focus on home charging which, to me, is the real key to a smarter EV policy in this country. EVs are of most value in urban commuter settings, and 83% of the U.S. population lives in such settings. Pollution is a bigger issue there. EVs are most efficient in city driving. Range concerns are minimal. Yet urban settings -- where many residents live in multi-residence buildings -- are where home charging is the most difficult to attain.

Federal, state, and local governments need to get on this bandwagon if EVs are to become the most practical vehicles for the most owners. The leverage point is building codes. State and local governments need to require that no building permits are issued for new construction or major renovations without installation of electrical capacity for home charging installations for every resident. Every new residential garage or parking space in or near a home, condominium development, or apartment building needs to have access to a L2 charger for every car that might be parked there. The federal role would be some form of tax incentive for homeowners and developers who must comply.

If everyone had access to home charging, I believe that EV sales would accelerate more rapidly, and that wide ownership would in turn generate more pressure for L3 charging infrastructure for long-distance travel. No matter how easy charging becomes on that occasional road trip, having to leave home to find a charger week-in and week-out for daily living will remain a big disincentive for EV ownership for many people.

Some people argue this is government overreach. However, building codes are some of the most thorough and complex forms of housing regulation in existence. In Florida where we deal with hurricanes, building codes even specify the types of nails and how far apart they can be in framing construction. Building codes specify types and gauging of wiring, what roofing material can be used, and on and on. A requirement to accommodate 240-volt L2 charging would be but an added ripple to the tsunami of code provisions that wash over every building project.

 

[Thinjake]

When we got there, all the plugs had a green light on but all four were duds. (Strike 1 for Lucid GPS/Charger Data).

Next, Lucid pointed out another one, about 2 miles away in Greenpointe. 1 out of 2 available. Great! When we got there, there is a fenced out lot undergoing demolition or construction, but there is no possibility of a charger there. (Strike 2 for Lucid).

I called the customer support, downloaded the EVGo app, and the former told me "oh, it's totally dead. Sorry.", and the app told me "last used 4 weeks ago." (Strike 3 for Lucid).

I head out to WholeFoods, and arrive at a parking lot that's just absolutely devoid of any chargers. Just empty. Asked the guy moving the carts back to the corral, and he tells me "they are no longer here. They were removed some time ago." (Strike 1 next At Bat for Lucid).

There it is ... one about 950 Ft away. Chargepoint. Drove 950ft, the GPS says "you have arrived. It's on your right." There's a well sealed, access-controlled apartment building on my right. (Strike 2 for Lucid.)

Literally no more than a mile away from the first two chargers that Lucid took us to last night. This one never appeared on Lucid GPS. (Strike 3 for Lucid)

I found another one called Bed-Stuy Supercharge Hub that never showed up last night either. (Strike 1 for the third at-bat for Lucid).

How are these Lucid Strikes? This is an industry wide problem. You can't expect a car company to have real-time data on charging functionality.

 

[joec]

Far too many people seem to be relying on the car to do their research for them. I agree, this would be ideal. Just tell the car "I need to charge" and it automatically figures out where the best charging situation is based on charging speeds, whether or not the charger is functioning, how busy that station is, etc.

But that's a pipe dream. No one resource has all that information currently. (Guess what: No one has that information for gas stations, either.)

So in the meantime, we need to go to individual charging apps, rely on people who have recently reviewed, etc. Not ideal, but that's the situation.

And yeah, sometimes even looking things up yourself, you're still going to occasionally get wrong information and get stuck waiting every now and then. That's where we are.

The car cannot solve this for you magically, though. No one can.

What we can do in the meantime is charge at home as much as possible. (I know this differs for different people.) Use public charging sparingly. And plan ahead.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I even got burned by EA on a road trip, in which the site had a perfect plug score of 10 including a good review posted the day before, but then checked EA app 15 min before arriving at 11% SOC, and all of the stations said not available. I assumed they were in use, but what had happened is 3/4 literally all failed except for 1 remaining that worked with 2 cars ahead of me. When I put that charger into the Lucid navigation that morning I had no cause for concern. So I did the maximum research I could do, didn’t rely only on the car navigation, and still had a bad experience. It’s the Wild West for charging infrastructure still, and although getting better, nowhere near as convenient as a gas station, but I put up with it because 95% of the time I’m not on a road trip and I charge at home or work and almost never go near gas stations anymore, which is a great trade off!

 

[Deisic]

Charging hell happens to all of us

 

[kort6776]

I even got burned by EA on a road trip, in which the site had a perfect plug score of 10 including a good review posted the day before, but then checked EA app 15 min before arriving at 11% SOC, and all of the stations said not available. I assumed they were in use, but what had happened is 3/4 literally all failed except for 1 remaining that worked with 2 cars ahead of me. When I put that charger into the Lucid navigation that morning I had no cause for concern. So I did the maximum research I could do, didn’t rely only on the car navigation, and still had a bad experience. It’s the Wild West for charging infrastructure still, and although getting better, nowhere near as convenient as a gas station, but I put up with it because 95% of the time I’m not on a road trip and I charge at home or work and almost never go near gas stations anymore, which is a great trade off!

the moral to your story is that you should try to have backups in case this happens. depending on location there are usually chargers on other networks that can be used

 

[kort6776]

Far too many people seem to be relying on the car to do their research for them. I agree, this would be ideal. Just tell the car "I need to charge" and it automatically figures out where the best charging situation is based on charging speeds, whether or not the charger is functioning, how busy that station is, etc.

But that's a pipe dream. No one resource has all that information currently. (Guess what: No one has that information for gas stations, either.)

So in the meantime, we need to go to individual charging apps, rely on people who have recently reviewed, etc. Not ideal, but that's the situation.

And yeah, sometimes even looking things up yourself, you're still going to occasionally get wrong information and get stuck waiting every now and then. That's where we are.

The car cannot solve this for you magically, though. No one can.

What we can do in the meantime is charge at home as much as possible. (I know this differs for different people.) Use public charging sparingly. And plan ahead.

part of the road tripping experience in an EV is the pre trip planning. I spend a bit of time mapping out the route, the planned charge stops and alternative places to charge prior to the trip.
I hand write the locations of the stops so I don't have to rely on the car's nav to locate chargers for me.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

the moral to your story is that you should try to have backups in case this happens. depending on location there are usually chargers on other networks that can be used

Yeah this was a case where I did have a backup charger but chose to skip it, cuz this one had a perfect plug score and EA app said all 4 stations were active that morning before I left.

 

[Steveinarizona]

the moral to your story is that you should try to have backups in case this happens. depending on location there are usually chargers on other networks that can be used

Even with Lucid's huge range, long distance travel with an EV is still a big hassle. Finding working and accessible fast chargers is very, very difficult and one rarely has access to overnight charging on a trip. I am probably a minority on this forum but I think until the fast charger network is significantly improved, renting an ICE car makes more sense for these kinds of trips. There are enough stressors on a trip without adding finding working chargers. Many have focused on the availability of fast chargers on the interstates but I think the problem of charging at one's destination is at least as big a problem.

But for any driving in and around one's city, if one has overnight charging capability, EVs make perfect sense no matter how much one drives. I drive around 12K miles a year and have never gotten close to 20% and I only charge to 80% each night.

 

[victoryroad]

Sorry about the OP's experience.

I must live a charmed life. I drove from NH to CO in mid-March last year (AGT with 19" wheels with winter compound tires) when the OTA averaged 32 degrees (and a few snow storms) with no charging problems at EA locations. Got only 3.3 miles/kWh on that trip. I charge at about 20% SOC and usually start at 90%. I plan to drive to the East Coast at the end of April from Denver so should have well above freezing OTA's. There are zero EA stations in WV so the route will take me a bit south from about Lexington KY to Nashville then northeast to eastern VA. I tend to drive no more than 250 miles at a time close to the speed limit so that I do not get into an existential SOC situation with non-existent or broken chargers. Also, I need to get out, walk my dog, etc. every 3.5-4 hours and I am not in a race. 500 miles a day is more than enough for me and sitting at a charging station mid-drive gives me time to check messages, etc. I would still stop every 4 hours so in my former ICE vehicles and never went below a 20% full tank anyway. Sure it is easier to find a gas station, but there is no comparison between driving the AGT or my most recent Panamera GTS or Audi allroad. My drive east may differ, but I try to plan as much as practical regarding charging and trust that there will be no adverse situations--that could happen in any vehicle.

 

[Volund]

I find Plugshare to be the best app for finding chargers, getting user ratings and seeing when the last person used a station. If you are traveling, pick hotels or parking garages with level 2 chargers and leave your car overnight to charge to 90% if staying in that area, or 100% if leaving shortly for a longer drive. The Tesla situation in Chicago was largely people not understanding that you cannot charge a cold battery. You can precondition it on your way, or plug it in and wait for many minutes for the charging current to warm the battery enough to start charging.. People where plugging in, not seeing the charge start, then moving to another charger to start the cycle over again. Those charging who did not precondition were taking much longer to charge, creating a backlog. Lucid has preconditioning.

I second Plugshare, never had issues and I've been cross country

 

[kort6776]

Even with Lucid's huge range, long distance travel with an EV is still a big hassle. Finding working and accessible fast chargers is very, very difficult and one rarely has access to overnight charging on a trip. I am probably a minority on this forum but I think until the fast charger network is significantly improved, renting an ICE car makes more sense for these kinds of trips. There are enough stressors on a trip without adding finding working chargers. Many have focused on the availability of fast chargers on the interstates but I think the problem of charging at one's destination is at least as big a problem.

But for any driving in and around one's city, if one has overnight charging capability, EVs make perfect sense no matter how much one drives. I drive around 12K miles a year and have never gotten close to 20% and I only charge to 80% each night.

I'm going to argue with you but there are many hotels with L2 chargers but finding one that is available or working properly can be challenging.
there is a converter called a teslatap which allows cars that are not teslas to use the L2 tesla units. consider getting one, then on the tesla site search for hotels with their chargers. as for fast charging there are many alternatives to the very flawed EA network.

 

[borski]

Even with Lucid's huge range, long distance travel with an EV is still a big hassle. Finding working and accessible fast chargers is very, very difficult and one rarely has access to overnight charging on a trip. I am probably a minority on this forum but I think until the fast charger network is significantly improved, renting an ICE car makes more sense for these kinds of trips. There are enough stressors on a trip without adding finding working chargers. Many have focused on the availability of fast chargers on the interstates but I think the problem of charging at one's destination is at least as big a problem.

But for any driving in and around one's city, if one has overnight charging capability, EVs make perfect sense no matter how much one drives. I drive around 12K miles a year and have never gotten close to 20% and I only charge to 80% each night.

With all due respect, your first five words are doing a *lot* of heavy lifting here.

Your experience, as described, perfectly fits my experience with my wife’s Ioniq 5 which gets 260 EPA, quite *literally* half of my DE’s EPA range (I’ve got performance and 21s, so I’m fibbing a little, but you get the point). Which would make sense that that would fit your experience with your GV60, as they are essentially the same vehicle.

I just mapped out a trip to Tahoe in a couple weeks that I’m taking. From 100% SOC, the Ioniq would have to stop at a DC charger twice, at minimum, which doesn’t take into account the temperature and snow. My suspicion is 3 times to be comfortable.

The Lucid would make it all of the way there and still have 18% left to go, starting at 100% SOC. I’d stop somewhere in the middle to pee and eat, and charge while I’m at it, which also works to adjust for the fact that it’s cold and snowing.

Easy peasy. There are tons of fast chargers between here and Nevada. I don’t see renting a gas car in my near future for a road trip, unless I’m in the middle of the country somewhere and wouldn’t have had my car anyway. The only thing stopping me from taking the Lucid by default to Tahoe is potential road clearance depending on how much snow there is; my wife can’t wait for Gravity to come, haha.

But even so - stopping twice is not a big deal, as the Ioniq does charge generally quite fast and the *total time* to destination changes by exactly 13 minutes. Call it a half hour for peeing and charging and futzing with a cable or switching stations. These stations are not jam packed; they are not near any major cities.

Also, nearly every motel now has an RV charger - that’s also an EV charger; same 14-50. More and more hotels have overnight chargers, too.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

With all due respect, your first five words are doing a *lot* of heavy lifting here.

Your experience, as described, perfectly fits my experience with my wife’s Ioniq 5 which gets 260 EPA, quite *literally* half of my DE’s EPA range (I’ve got performance and 21s, so I’m fibbing a little, but you get the point). Which would make sense that that would fit your experience with your GV60, as they are essentially the same vehicle.

I just mapped out a trip to Tahoe in a couple weeks that I’m taking. From 100% SOC, the Ioniq would have to stop at a DC charger twice, at minimum, which doesn’t take into account the temperature and snow. My suspicion is 3 times to be comfortable.

The Lucid would make it all of the way there and still have 18% left to go, starting at 100% SOC. I’d stop somewhere in the middle to pee and eat, and charge while I’m at it, which also works to adjust for the fact that it’s cold and snowing.

Easy peasy. There are tons of fast chargers between here and Nevada. I don’t see renting a gas car in my near future for a road trip, unless I’m in the middle of the country somewhere and wouldn’t have had my car anyway. The only thing stopping me from taking the Lucid by default to Tahoe is potential road clearance depending on how much snow there is; my wife can’t wait for Gravity to come, haha.

But even so - stopping twice is not a big deal, as the Ioniq does charge generally quite fast and the *total time* to destination changes by exactly 13 minutes. Call it a half hour for peeing and charging and futzing with a cable or switching stations. These stations are not jam packed; they are not near any major cities.

Also, nearly every motel now has an RV charger - that’s also an EV charger; same 14-50. More and more hotels have overnight chargers, too.

Yeah when I stop to charge with the Lucid mostly it’s as an insurance policy, not a necessity. The TeslaTap is a little problematic but I used it in Jay Peak VT. It did get stuck on the Tesla end of the plug which required some serious force to remove, and the charger did fault out at 77%, but that just made me happy I had the Lucid because even with the mishaps I still made it to my planned stop at the Merrimack NH outlets with 14% SOC to spare in cold snowy weather. No other EV could have pulled that off at 77% SOC. The more I’ve road tripped this car, the less range or charger anxiety I’ve had. I do get charger anger, but that’s only been due to delays caused by chargers not having their functional status at that time accurately represented with only 1 working instead of the 3-4 that should have been, adding to my total trip time, but never stranding me. And every time I’ve tried to use a hotel L2 charger, except for once, it worked, but I knew ahead of time it might be busted thanks to PlugShare so I had a Plan B (100kw Evolve NY one) and that worked fine.