I am currently in Phoenix visiting friends. My Lucid is in Costa Mesa due to charging issues. They will be delivering the car on Monday when I am back in San Diego. I know that they charged the car at an EA station as I received an email from EA. I drove from SD to Phoenix in my model x and had no issues charging at multiple sites. As much as I hate to say this I think the earliest solution to the charging issue is to have Tesla open up their superchargers to other manufacturers
EA Problems
- Thread starter Bill55
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Right now there's no guarantee that the Air will charge reliably at Tesla chargers either.
After picking up the car yesterday, we drove into the mountains for a maiden voyage. Didn't need to charge, but stopped at the EA station in Frisco Co. anyway, to check out the process. First two tries got a "Payment Declined" message. Called service, but in the meantime, my wife was able to get things going by using the app. Charged fine with that, and no issues. Service advisor called back, had definitely heard my story before, and shared what had worked for him and some other clients: 1; Arrive at the dispenser with your app closed. 2 Plug in. 3. Open app, start charging there.
Obviously just one data point, but it worked for us.
Obviously just one data point, but it worked for us.
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Do you need to get the app open before seeing the "payment declined" message? Or is it OK to use the app after the message appears?
From my experience, you open the app right after you plug in. If you’ve already gotten the payment declined msg, you need to unplug and plug back in. Even with this procedure, it can take a couple of tries. I was at an EA last night and had to change to a different charger after multiple times where charging started but then EA issued a failure msg after a few seconds (using lucid app). Next charger worked on second attempt. I did feel better after a EV6 owner told me the first charger didn’t work for him either.
Ditto to the answer above from SDHacker - if you already get the 'payment declined' message on the dispenser, you need to unplug and start again. And yes, it might take a couple of tries.
On the bright side, I got some pretty quick charging- eventually.
On the bright side, I got some pretty quick charging- eventually.
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On my drive back from DC to Greenville I stopped at an EA charger in Richmond VA, plugged in and started charging with no problems.
Then stopped at same station I had no luck with on Thursday in Hillsboro, NC. Thursday we spent 1 hour 36 minutes on the phone and plugged in and unplugged over a dozen times and waited on 4 resets.
Today I tried 2 chargers twice each and left with no luck.
Thursday we spent 3 hours on site and 2 hours on the phone between the location in Hillsborough and Henderson, NC. Plugging in and unplugging over 30 times. Not going to go through that again.
From there went to a 60 kW charge point location and got enough charge to make it home.
Stopped at another EA location in Charlotte. Same result as Hillsborough. Tried 2 charges, twice each, same result.
For these charges, payment is accepted, charging initiates, then get a start error, or charging starts and then within seconds get a session error.
Needless to say the drive home with alternates planned out for if EA didn't work was much more enjoyable.
Would be nice if Lucid sent out the EA sites with issues. I am planning a 1100 mile road trip starting Wednesday, would be nice to know which EA stations I can include in my planning.
I'm not expecting any communication from Lucid other than the "I'm so sorry you are having this problem" "I can schedule a tech for next week"
Then stopped at same station I had no luck with on Thursday in Hillsboro, NC. Thursday we spent 1 hour 36 minutes on the phone and plugged in and unplugged over a dozen times and waited on 4 resets.
Today I tried 2 chargers twice each and left with no luck.
Thursday we spent 3 hours on site and 2 hours on the phone between the location in Hillsborough and Henderson, NC. Plugging in and unplugging over 30 times. Not going to go through that again.
From there went to a 60 kW charge point location and got enough charge to make it home.
Stopped at another EA location in Charlotte. Same result as Hillsborough. Tried 2 charges, twice each, same result.
For these charges, payment is accepted, charging initiates, then get a start error, or charging starts and then within seconds get a session error.
Needless to say the drive home with alternates planned out for if EA didn't work was much more enjoyable.
Would be nice if Lucid sent out the EA sites with issues. I am planning a 1100 mile road trip starting Wednesday, would be nice to know which EA stations I can include in my planning.
I'm not expecting any communication from Lucid other than the "I'm so sorry you are having this problem" "I can schedule a tech for next week"
"I'm sorry" and "I take full responsibility" have long been the most meaningless and nausea-inducing expressions in the English language, IMO.
This mirrors my experience with EA. Assuming the chargers are functioning properly - meaning other cars can charge, either all the chargers work with the lucid or all fail to charge the lucid. And that's what @DeaneG seems to have experienced. At the EA closest to me, I can always charge as long as the chargers are functional. At the next closest EA, I can't charge even tho other cars can. Chargers at both sites appear identical to me. Went to a 3rd EA and I was able to charge.
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Yikes man that trip sounds frustrating. This is exactly what happens to me at all EA chargers at the location near me. Authentication isn’t a problem, it starts for like 1 second then says charging start error in the Lucid app, then 30 seconds later the dumb EA machine realizes it wasn’t charging and says the same thing. Were the ones you had this on ABB units? They’re garbage. I can charge on EVGo and EV Connect totally trouble free, Chargepoint mostly trouble free except one did almost strand me in the rain in Maine.
I hate to say it but Lucid must be partly responsible here, otherwise no cars would be able to charge at that location, but EA has to be partly responsible too since the car charges fine at some locations.
If it makes you feel any better, my 2020 Porsche Taycan has these same issues. I have had the same poor luck with the chargers in Hillsboro and Henderson - hit and miss. Hoping when I get my GT these issues will clear up, but my view it is early days for the charger infrastructure and whether it is a pure Lucid issue, an pure EA issue, or a combination, these kind of things will persist for a while.
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Even if the reported difficulties charging represent a small percentage of Airs that are on the road the situation should be a primary concern for Lucid management. The incidents of charging difficulty reported here may or may not be systemic EA or Lucid problems, but they must be addressed immediately if Lucid wants to deliver thousands of cars now that the capacity to manufacture is ramping up. If not a systemic EA/Lucid problem, a communique from Lucid to that effect would be helpful. One of the main reasons that I bought an AGT is range, but if we cannot reliably and predictably charge, our travel options are limited and I do not want to plan several hours of charging time for a road trip.
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In my experienced two other EVs came, charged without issue, and left, on a charging station that had repeatedly failed me while I spent an hour on the phone with EA. It's definitely Lucid's problem. Could be that the Air's software isn't completely compliant with the CCS spec, or is compliant but not very forgiving. Either one could make the car incompatible with some manufacturer's charging stations, but work OK with others.
Our Air won't be going on any road trips until this is resolved. Our other EV, even with its limited freeway range, is a much safer choice and has been quite reliable with EA stations that are functioning.
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Hillsbourogh and Henderson NC are both ABB as I sat through several reboots. Not sure about the one in Charlotte, NC. Chargepoint and EVgo sites I used as alternates worked as expected, charging within a minute or 2 of pulling into the spot. In fairness to ABB I also charges at Loyalty Nissan in Henderson, NC with a 40kW ABB charger that worked fine. EA not affiliated with that site.
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I'm heading to Sebring later this week. It would be great if I could plan on stopping at an EA station every 200 miles. At this point I will probably stop at every EA station and get a quick charge to 80% where they work. I have mapped out alternates that are in the 40-60kW range. Now that I am planning on EA not working, I'm not concerned about being stranded, but it sure is a lot less convienant.
Maybe you can drive 65 mph to extend your range
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I can probably make it 2 or 3 miles with the cruise set at 65 before the override light comes on.Maybe you can drive 65 mph to extend your range
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Yep it’s agony to drive the car that slow, I’d never driven the speed limit in years until I decided to do a couple range experiments in the Lucid. Not recommended. Mid 3 mi/kwh is fine with me.
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Speaking of charging anxiety, I would love to get the group’s opinion . I live in a charging desert. I had planned on taking 2 trips this spring , one would bring me through Idaho , Utah and all of Nevada on the way to California. Looking at my PlugShare maps is discouraging. If EA stations do not reliably work I could be in a pickle, as most other options are level 2, it seems. And yes, I will have to stop in Winnemucca!!!
I really do not have anxiety about the car, I have anxiety about reliable charging stations. This is why Tesla has and will continue to have a huge advantage. This country needs to get its act together and improve infrastructure.
Anyway, does anyone have hope that EA will rectify their unreliability issues. I just keep on seeing more and more comments here and in PlugShare about stations not working. It’s really a shame.
I really do not have anxiety about the car, I have anxiety about reliable charging stations. This is why Tesla has and will continue to have a huge advantage. This country needs to get its act together and improve infrastructure.
Anyway, does anyone have hope that EA will rectify their unreliability issues. I just keep on seeing more and more comments here and in PlugShare about stations not working. It’s really a shame.
