EA Charging Issues

[Haggy]

I know. It sucks. But there is a massive difference in efficiency between 70 and 80. It’s exponential with speed, not linear.

Years ago, I read in an unrelated thread about Tesla that once you go above 70 mph, what you make up for in driving time is lost in charging time. I can't attest to its accuracy, and it wont apply across all vehicles and types of chargers, but it's worth considering how much longer it would take to get to the next charging station, how much less range you will have, and whether a difference in charging time would be relevant. Given the variability among chargers, I don't think it would be easy to come up with a reliable figure. Tesla Superchargers, especially in recent years, have been more consistent.

I've also been in the opposite situation where sacrificing travel time was needed to keep from running out of range. Tesla is good at telling you when you need to slow down to make it to the next charger comfortably, and once when I tried to second guess it, it told me that I would need to slow down. When I later calculated how much time I lost, driving in the truck lane at 55 for about a half hour, it didn't work out to a lot. But it did leave me with some range to spare.

It will probably be a while before I feel comfortable enough with the Lucid that I'd go by remaining range if it says that I have enough miles to get to my destination with little to spare.

You definitely don’t want to charge to 95%. Unless you need to in order to reach the next station. Charging from 80-95 will take longer than charging from 20-80.

In my experience, it's for that reason, or because you are stopped for a meal anyway. But it was also generally true that such trips weren't ones that tied up chargers that people were waiting to use. If I'm stopped at a full service restaurant, I don't want to leave my meal to unplug, and an hour stop might be better than two 20 minute stops if I'm going to be there anyway.

 

[kurious]

I thought through this exact tradeoff earlier today on a 245-mile trip over a 4,600' mountain pass.
I started with 83% charge, and at the halfway point reached the charger with 43% charge.
The deeper you go into your charge (lower % when you charge), the higher power the car will pull.
Mine started at 164kW and gradually came down in power/rate the higher the charge got.
If I'd done 60mph I'd have reached the charger at maybe 50%, lower/slower recharge rate.
So the fun I had doing 69mph vs 60mph got me down into me the faster part of the recharging.

 

[Keith58]

I thought through this exact tradeoff earlier today on a 245-mile trip over a 4,600' mountain pass.
I started with 83% charge, and at the halfway point reached the charger with 43% charge.
The deeper you go into your charge (lower % when you charge), the higher power the car will pull.
Mine started at 164kW and gradually came down in power/rate the higher the charge got.
If I'd done 60mph I'd have reached the charger at maybe 50%, lower/slower recharge rate.
So the fun I had doing 69mph vs 60mph got me down into me the faster part of the recharging.

164 kW was is the maximum rate I saw as well. is that the most we can pull from what five America based on voltage and current through the dispenser?

 

[segbrk]

164 kW was is the maximum rate I saw as well. is that the most we can pull from what five America based on voltage and current through the dispenser?

You can definitely go higher. This was an EA 350kW stand after preconditioning. I've seen 170+ on 150kW stands as well. Depends on the charger, state of charge, temperature, preconditioning time, how many others are there charging - lots of factors.

 

[brian]

According to the app it has. I’ll try again today on the way home. I was very surprised by my range actually. We drove 350 miles between Atlanta Georgia and Gainesville Florida. We averaged about 80 miles an hour and 2.8 miles/ kWh. Our actual range was insufficient to make the trip without stopping. I estimate a practical range of 315 miles. We do have the big wheels but that’s a pretty disappointing result.

I just had a similar experience driving from carlsbad to Santa Barbara (190miles) started with a supposed 406 range. Drove 70-80 mph. Good weather but had only 130 miles left at the end. I figured 80-90 mile range “lost”. Is that due to speed?

 

[DeaneG]

I just had a similar experience driving from carlsbad to Santa Barbara (190miles) started with a supposed 406 range. Drove 70-80 mph. Good weather but had only 130 miles left at the end. I figured 80-90 mile range “lost”. Is that due to speed?

Speed and possibly headwinds.
The car displays a calculated range based on EPA efficiency, which you can get by driving around 40-50mph.

 

[brian]

Speed and possibly headwinds.
The car displays a calculated range based on EPA efficiency, which you can get by driving around 40-50mph.

Wow. Ok. Not going that slow on the freeway

 

[Tâm]

EA app has been giving erroneous available status so this is not the first time:

I visited EA at Brea Mall, CA, early Saturday morning. The app said 2 were in use and 2 were available.

When I arrived, those 2 available were broken. Four other cars were in line waiting:

I asked others in line, and they said they stopped by last Friday and reported this error to EA already, but the erroneous availability in the app is still not corrected.

 

[chips]

Hi

Apologize if this has been asked on this forum.

I arrived at an EA charging location today with a low state of charge. (2%).

I connected to three different 350KW chargers and every time - the Lucid said "Charging error - please plug and unplug"
I called EA and they reset the stations and the error continued to happen.
I then called Lucid customer care and they reset the car but the error still continued. They offered to tow the car to the shop.

Before they did , I said, let me try a 150KW charger and this time - lo and behold the charging worked.

So my question is, is it wrong to use a 350KW charger when you have a low state of charge? Or should that not have been an issue?

Thanks

/chips

 

[Tâm]

Hi

Apologize if this has been asked on this forum.

I arrived at an EA charging location today with a low state of charge. (2%).

I connected to three different 350KW chargers and every time - the Lucid said "Charging error - please plug and unplug"
I called EA and they reset the stations and the error continued to happen.
I then called Lucid customer care and they reset the car but the error still continued. They offered to tow the car to the shop.

Before they did , I said, let me try a 150KW charger and this time - lo and behold the charging worked.

So my question is, is it wrong to use a 350KW charger when you have a low state of charge? Or should that not have been an issue?

Thanks

/chips

It has nothing to do with your low state of charge at 2%.

It is more like trials and errors among different stalls until you got the one that works.

Just because it is labeled 350kw that doesn't always mean faster and smoother. In my experience, sometimes 150kw even charges faster than 350kw that might have the message "power reduced by station."

 

[Sandvinsd]

EA still has massive issues. I was in Pismo this weekend trying to charge to get home. 4 chargers, two were broken ( was told one was out of order for months). The one I started to charge at would only pull 50 kW. Got enough juice to go town the road to Los Alamos where I was finally able to pull 220.

 

[chips]

It has nothing to do with your low state of charge at 2%.

It is more like trials and errors among different stalls until you got the one that works.

Just because it is labeled 350kw that doesn't always mean faster and smoother. In my experience, sometimes 150kw even charges faster than 350kw that might have the message "power reduced by station."

Thanks, you may be right - but all three 350KW stations I used were used successfully by other cars (including another LUCID) before I attempted to charge my own. Thats why I thought it had to do with my low state of charge. I'll report back in if this happens again.

 

[segbrk]

Thanks, you may be right - but all three 350KW stations I used were used successfully by other cars (including another LUCID) before I attempted to charge my own. Thats why I thought it had to do with my low state of charge. I'll report back in if this happens again.

One of the things that can affect your DCFC rate is how recently the station was used. They get too hot and self-throttle. One of many things that makes it annoying/unreliable to benchmark.

 

[Tâm]

Thanks, you may be right - but all three 350KW stations I used were used successfully by other cars (including another LUCID) before I attempted to charge my own. Thats why I thought it had to do with my low state of charge. I'll report back in if this happens again.

I would defend EA that it has to work with so many brands so its interoperability might have some bugs.
I would say that's one of the frustrating parts in EA: they are inconsistent.

If it works for it Lucids, it should work for you but it didn't.

Since Tesla has just opened its chargers to Ford and soon to others and Lucid next year, let's see if there's any complaints about interoperability, starting today.

 

[Lucken]

Here’s one I’ve never seen. I was charging my wife’s i4 at the EA chargers near me this morning. When I plugged in, I noticed a zero charging speed on both the EA screen as well as the i4’s screen, yet charging was taking place at what appeared to be a normal charge rate.

Has anyone seen this type of error?

 

[niejelow]

What drives me insane is when EA retards the charging speed.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

One of the things that can affect your DCFC rate is how recently the station was used. They get too hot and self-throttle. One of many things that makes it annoying/unreliable to benchmark.

That makes sense. I had that happen last fall. Pulled into the EA chargers behind the Rivian factory team doing the Denver - Glenwood test run. EA is like a box of chocolates. Never know what you are going to get.

 

[ButMahElectrons]

I'm only speculating, but I've read around the internet, and watched that Out of Spec YouTube channel where they did a Cannonball Run with a Lucid Air.
Seems like many ("people are saying!") issues with EA chargers and the 900 volt system?
The nickname is "Signet surge" with a certain brand of EA charger, and potential software bug, where the car and charger don't often play nice.

Might be something to it, until someone does a software update. Although I wouldn't hold my breath on the EA side.

 

[Unmutual]

"Signet surge" hasn't been a thing for a while now, at least not for me.

 

[Sandvinsd]

"Signet surge" hasn't been a thing for a while now, at least not for me.

Yes. That used to be the case, but I have not that happen in a long time. I think they did a software update which corrected it.