EA free charging is a joke.

[nal802]

I wonder how much Lucid is paying EA for our 3 years of “free” charging? We have brand new stations at a Walmart near us (even ripped out and reinstalled within last 60 days) and we never get a charge above 150 .. and after 10 minutes it steadily drops to 4kW. We are getting the leftover muffin bottoms folks!(Sienfield reference)
I am concerned how we are going to drive 1200 miles up the east coast this April without it taking several days due to charging issues.

 

[mcr16]

I wonder how much Lucid is paying EA for our 3 years of “free” charging? We have brand new stations at a Walmart near us (even ripped out and reinstalled within last 60 days) and we never get a charge above 150 .. and after 10 minutes it steadily drops to 4kW. We are getting the leftover muffin bottoms folks!(Sienfield reference)
I am concerned how we are going to drive 1200 miles up the east coast this April without it taking several days due to charging issues.

Hi, @nal802.

Thanks for sharing. I just sent you a DM.

Regards,
Marqie

 

[HC_79]

Welcome to the club! EA is a complete disgrace and probably wins the award for most unreliable and poorly maintained network in the US. Even when the chargers are working they struggle to deliver the speeds Lucid says the car can achieve. I feel whatever deal Lucid did with EA they got scammed like every other car manufacturer who partnered with them.

Pack a picnic basket for your 1200 trip because you'll have nothing but issues with EA so you may as well enjoy a snack while your car is charging at power limited EA stations which seems to be a majority of them these days

 

[borski]

Welcome to the club! EA is a complete disgrace and probably wins the award for most unreliable and poorly maintained network in the US. Even when the chargers are working they struggle to deliver the speeds Lucid says the car can achieve. I feel whatever deal Lucid did with EA they got scammed like every other car manufacturer who partnered with them.

Pack a picnic basket for your 1200 trip because you'll have nothing but issues with EA so you may as well enjoy a snack while your car is charging at power limited EA stations which seems to be a majority of them these days

Tell us how you really feel lol

(But I’m biased - I haven’t had issues with EA yet )

 

[Drendino]

Tell us how you really feel lol

(But I’m biased - I haven’t had issues with EA yet )

You are either the luckiest person I know or you simply have not visited too many EA stations in the last few months. I actually think there is going to be a Netflix special on EA soon. It’s going to be like Tiger King, except an EA executive is going to be interviewed from jail.

Note to self, make EA documentary.

 

[borski]

You are either the luckiest person I know or you simply have not visited too many EA stations in the last few months. I actually think there is going to be a Netflix special on EA soon. It’s going to be like Tiger King, except an EA executive is going to be interviewed from jail.

Note to self, make EA documentary.

Got your title: “Charged. With fraud.”

 

[HC_79]

Tell us how you really feel lol

(But I’m biased - I haven’t had issues with EA yet )

it wasn’t always this way…….The e-Tron back in 2019 was my first EV. Even with its low EPA, the driving experience made me realize I’d never consider buying an ICE vehicle again.

I had the car at a time where EA was in its infancy and have watched the network grow into the hot mess that it is today. In the early days the chargers worked, hardly anyone used them and more often than not it seemed like an exclusive network for e-Tron and Taycan drivers but as time went on the cracks really started to show the more the network was being used. So seeing the network from the early days to what it is today is disappointing to say the least.

I love a good road trip and often do many any given year. So I’m caught in the middle, I love EV’s and road trips but one thing I need to enjoy both is completely unreliable, the charging network.

Before anyone says get a Tesla or just rent a car, I shouldn’t be put in a position to have to make that decision. I really enjoy the Lucid, I got it for the high EPA because you know it, it’s a road tripper. Sadly, EA is destroying that choice and they don’t seem to give a damn. You know it’s bad when friends say we either need to take a Tesla or rent a car because EA will leave us frustrated or potentially stranded.

Like I said, go buy that lotto ticket @borski because for now, you’re the luckiest man alive when it comes to your EA experience.

To be clear, I don’t blame Lucid for this at all but it does bug the shit out of me seeing them still recommending EA. Not much they can do, even I know my slight annoyance at Lucid for what appears to be ignoring the situation isn’t warranted. This is all on EA

 

[Adnillien]

I will admit that I am not a big EA user. I have used it about 8-9 times in the 11 months that I have had my Lucid. Only one time did I encounter any problems, the charger would stop charging with an error after three or four minutes. All other sessions have been plug-n-charge on the first attempt, I have not even had to use the Lucid app to start, just hit continue on the charger.

Around Phoenix the EVGo stations seem to have lower PlugShare ratings than EA. Since EVGo owns PlugShare, I am skeptical of the EVGo ratings. Yes, EA has problems, but so do all of the CCS networks. This is not an excuse for EA, they all need to get fixed to make road trips enjoyable. This forum has made me a bit concerned about road trips.

 

[Coho]

Each day brings me closer to a planned 1200 mile trip Scottsdale to WA State. And each day I look to build confidence in the charging network but it’s not happening. Perhaps the trip up the Lucid gets shipped. I hate to do that as it is such a great driver. A secondary issue for me is that now I question the entire VW brand. I used to think it was the best thing going based on my problem-free A7. But given their shady dealings with the EPA and car pollution followed by their total mess with EA, not sure I would every consider a VW lineage car. I used to say ‘when Audi gets the EV thing going, Im all in’. Forget that nonsense.

 

[hmp10]

Yes, EA has problems, but so do all of the CCS networks. This is not an excuse for EA, they all need to get fixed to make road trips enjoyable. This forum has made me a bit concerned about road trips.

Agree. I posted elsewhere about my first (and only) attempt to try out a ChargePoint charger, since I wanted to use it as a backup if needed. The cable was not long enough to reach the car unless I straddled two parking spaces in order to line the charge port up precisely in front of the cable outlet. (This charger was at a Harley dealer, so maybe it was only meant for charging electric motorbikes. But there was no warning of such a limitation on the ChargePoint app or in the Lucid's nav system.)

I downloaded the app and set up an account, but the session would not initiate. After two attempts to reach ChargePoint customer service, I finally got through. After over 15 minutes on the phone, the service rep finally figured out that the charge station was out of service.

Three YouTube powerhouse EV reviewers -- Tom Moloughney, Kyle Conner, and Marquess Brownlee -- have all recently posted videos sending out warnings that the sorry state of CCS charging is beginning to threaten EV adoption. Kyle Conner, a fan of many EV brands, went so far as to recommend that buyers currently planning an EV purchase should only consider a Tesla until the CCS vendors get their acts together.

 

[pjdcorp]

I wonder how much Lucid is paying EA for our 3 years of “free” charging? We have brand new stations at a Walmart near us (even ripped out and reinstalled within last 60 days) and we never get a charge above 150 .. and after 10 minutes it steadily drops to 4kW. We are getting the leftover muffin bottoms folks!(Sienfield reference)
I am concerned how we are going to drive 1200 miles up the east coast this April without it taking several days due to charging issues.

We just made the 900 mile trip from Ft. Pierce to Milton, Delaware. What a nightmare EA charging, or lack thereof was!! Every stop required (1) a call to EA, (2) multiple attempts to reconnect (3) extended conversations with EA reps while they processed the reboot of their charger(s) and (4) processing a complimentary charge. What should have been a 30-minute charge often took almost an hour (leaving out the time required to wait for one of the few working chargers to become available). The charging speeds ranged from 40kw to 165kw (once only). When you add in the range anxiety caused by the apprehension associated with the ever-present uncertainty surrounding an upcoming charge at an EA station, it was a horribly stressful trip. A final tip - on one of those extended conversations with an especially helpful EA agent, she mentioned that Lucid's inability to connect merely by plugging in to an EA charger has been a continuing problem whose resolution is indeterminate at this time. Both Lucid & EA are well aware of the problem, but no one seems to know what, or when, a solution will be implemented.
As depressing as that tidbit was, it was infinitely more helpful than one EA agent who went into a 5-minute spiel about how EA is investing in new technology that would lessen the frequency of the need for such calls to EA. All this at b.s. at 11pm in the middle of a 18-hour trip when all I wanted was to charge & get some sleep. Good grief Charlie Brown !!!

 

[DBV]

We just made the 900 mile trip from Ft. Pierce to Milton, Delaware. What a nightmare EA charging, or lack thereof was!! Every stop required (1) a call to EA, (2) multiple attempts to reconnect (3) extended conversations with EA reps while they processed the reboot of their charger(s) and (4) processing a complimentary charge. What should have been a 30-minute charge often took almost an hour (leaving out the time required to wait for one of the few working chargers to become available). The charging speeds ranged from 40kw to 165kw (once only). When you add in the range anxiety caused by the apprehension associated with the ever-present uncertainty surrounding an upcoming charge at an EA station, it was a horribly stressful trip. A final tip - on one of those extended conversations with an especially helpful EA agent, she mentioned that Lucid's inability to connect merely by plugging in to an EA charger has been a continuing problem whose resolution is indeterminate at this time. Both Lucid & EA are well aware of the problem, but no one seems to know what, or when, a solution will be implemented.
As depressing as that tidbit was, it was infinitely more helpful than one EA agent who went into a 5-minute spiel about how EA is investing in new technology that would lessen the frequency of the need for such calls to EA. All this at b.s. at 11pm in the middle of a 18-hour trip when all I wanted was to charge & get some sleep. Good grief Charlie Brown !!!

Thanks for posting. These types of posts just scare me away from buying a Lucid or any non Tesla EV. Just not acceptable when traveling, not to mention my wife would be pissed and I would be embarrassed if I had any guest passengers.

I really want to purchase a Lucid Air Touring, but every time I talk myself into finalizing my order, I read another post like this and makes me apprehensive.

I expect to charge without problem and quickly, which I have always done with the Tesla Supercharger Network. Otherwise, might as well just keep my refresh Model S or go back to an ICE car, which there is no way I would want to do. Really enjoy EV ownership. EA/Lucid need to fix these issues now.

 

[Negan1000]

Tell us how you really feel lol

(But I’m biased - I haven’t had issues with EA yet )

I wonder if there have been design changes, hardware/software modifications since the Dream deliveries. It seems that later GT deliveries and Touring have issues with EA. I have never been able to plug and charge in my 1 1/2 month of Touring ownership.

 

[hydbob]

Thanks for posting. These types of posts just scare me away from buying a Lucid or any non Tesla EV. Just not acceptable when traveling, not to mention my wife would be pissed and I would be embarrassed if I had any guest passengers.

I really want to purchase a Lucid Air Touring, but every time I talk myself into finalizing my order, I read another post like this and makes me apprehensive.

I expect to charge without problem and quickly, which I have always done with the Tesla Supercharger Network. Otherwise, might as well just keep my refresh Model S or go back to an ICE car, which there is no way I would want to do. Really enjoy EV ownership. EA/Lucid need to fix these issues now.

Buy the better car for 90% of your use and rent a car for the road trips IMO. I'd rather do that than have a worse vehicle just because the road trip charging is better. This doesn't hold completely if you don't have access to l2 charging at home.

 

[DBV]

Buy the better car for 90% of your use and rent a car for the road trips IMO. I'd rather do that than have a worse vehicle just because the road trip charging is better. This doesn't hold completely if you don't have access to l2 charging at home.

Good idea and could always use my wife’s X5, but I drive a lot (22,000 miles) a year and just love driving an EV. Really like my Model S, but really want to try a Touring or GT. I would have the best charger at home too.

 

[hydbob]

Good idea and could always use my wife’s X5, but I drive a lot (22,000 miles) a year and just love driving an EV. Really like my Model S, but really want to try a Touring or GT. I would have the best charger at home too.

Do those 22,000 miles require you to use the supercharger network exclusively? Any trip that is 350 miles or less can be done without a charge in the Air.

 

[DBV]

Do those 22,000 miles require you to use the supercharger network exclusively? Any trip that is 350 miles or less can be done without a charge in the Air.

My stats show that 88% of the time I charge at home. 8% Tesla Superchargers and 4% hotel Tesla Destination chargers.

When you say 350 miles or less, that would be the Air GT - right? Guessing Touring is more around 300 or less?

 

[hydbob]

My stats show that 88% of the time I charge at home. 8% Tesla Superchargers and 4% hotel Tesla Destination chargers.

When you say 350 miles or less, that would be the Air GT - right? Guessing Touring is more around 300 or less?

Mm, DE-P for me. I can easily get 360 without sweat and can do up to 420 if I keep the speedo between 65-70. And in your case, it definitely proves the point that you aren't buying the car because of an 8-10% use case. The Touring my guess would be realistically 300-320 mile range.

 

[zebulondanny]

Hi, @nal802.

Thanks for sharing. I just sent you a DM.

Regards,
Marqie

I road trip around Texas quite a bit and have only had one single experience where I got a charge above 150; I got so excited I took a screen shot (it was the station in Ennis, just south of Dallas). The station at Huntsville and Cedar Park NEVER WORK. I do call EA and report the stations but they're always the same when I return to try them. The 150kw units will work - the 350kw will not (unless you're in Ennis).

 

[AZLucidGuy]

I now have over 14,000 miles on my Air GT. I have charged almost always at home on my L2 charger.

At the beginning of my ownership (car delivered early May 2022) I used EA charging for the novelty and to get my “free” perk as well as to learn about it.

The biggest issue I experienced with EA is that all of the charging stalls were frequently in use and I had to wait. But when charging I got pretty high speeds. Would walk into the Wal Mart where the charger was, had a coffee and picked up a few items and charging was completed. During the charge cycle, the rate of charge slows down. It becomes very slow after 80% charge. This is a battery thing not an EA issue. So I usually charge to 80% and leave.

I am not a fan of EA but when I have used it, it has worked as advertised. To date I have charged up over a megawatt worth at EA. But prefer the hassle free charging at home in my garage.