EA worked for me (sort of)

[Ampere]

I decided to test the range of my three week old Touring. I planned a round-trip between my home in central Illinois and the north Chicago suburb of Evanston. Upon parking in Evanston at 161 miles I had used 51 percent of my charge. With the temperature falling, I had to recharge for the return trip. I headed for the EA charger in the Lincolnwood Town Center shopping mall about five miles away. It was deserted, almost desolate, when I arrived. Four of the six chargers were working. (There was a tiny separate charger for people with Nissan Leafs.) The chargers claimed ultra-speed at 150 kw. I had to plug and replug before the charger recognized a connection to my car. Twice I tried to authenticate and twice failed. I called the "833" toll-free number on the charger and immediately reached a very helpful woman based in the U.S. She took the necessary information and suddenly electrons were flowing into my Lucid. She said they had been having a lot of problems with Lucids and were really trying to work it out. She profusely apologized for my inconvenience. I had pre-conditioned my car for only ten minutes prior to charging, but the speed never exceeded 75 kw and mostly was around 60 kw. I charged from 48 to 80 percent in 30 minutes. There we no other vehicles charging. It would have been nice if I could have used that full 150 and charged in 15 minutes. Perhaps it was because I had not pre-conditioned long enough? Even though I had to jump through a couple of hoops, I was pleasantly surprised by EA's helpfulness.

 

[KenAir]

I charged up my AGT today for the first time at an EA charger in Las Vegas. I parked, opened the charger door, and plugged in the bulky CCS cable. The EA screen flashed about verifying the account and then showed me a screen saying the charge was 0 cents per kwh. I pressed continue, and the power started flowing! I didn't need an app or account or password; nothing. Worked flawlessly. The charger stated it was a 150kw "ultra" unit, but I only got 75 kw. That's still good for about 6 miles of range per minute. It was a very positive, reassuring experience. Next big road trip will charge on the road, and hope it goes this well. I would think 150kw would be great on a typical rest stop.

 

[Mawashi Geri]

I charged up my AGT today for the first time at an EA charger in Las Vegas. I parked, opened the charger door, and plugged in the bulky CCS cable. The EA screen flashed about verifying the account and then showed me a screen saying the charge was 0 cents per kwh. I pressed continue, and the power started flowing! I didn't need an app or account or password; nothing. Worked flawlessly. The charger stated it was a 150kw "ultra" unit, but I only got 75 kw. That's still good for about 6 miles of range per minute. It was a very positive, reassuring experience. Next big road trip will charge on the road, and hope it goes this well. I would think 150kw would be great on a typical rest stop.

Ditto on all accounts. I do not even have to press any buttons. It is plug and play for me also. I get about 70ish kW charge no matter which bay I use (150/350 kW). Enjoy your AGT.

 

[KenAir]

Does anyone know if I need to set something in the Air software or settings to charge at faster than 75kw? Or was the 75kw at a 150kw station just a limitation of the charger?

 

[DAY]

Does anyone know if I need to set something in the Air software or settings to charge at faster than 75kw? Or was the 75kw at a 150kw station just a limitation of the charger?

nothing to set.It's just a limitation of the EA charger.

 

[linnea1]

nothing to set.It's just a limitation of the EA charger.

This is still annoying as we were told with our reservation to expect 100 miles of range increase in 5 minutes on the EA system..

 

[DeaneG]

This is still annoying as we were told with our reservation to expect 100 miles of range increase in 5 minutes on the EA system..

Look for a 350kW charging station, not 150kW. Arrive at the charging station with your battery down to the 10-15% range and preconditioned for at least 20 minutes. If you plug in and get only 50-75kW, unplug and try another dispenser. Sometimes you may try three before getting one with high output because of hardware issues in the EA power cabinet. In some cases low output from an EA station may be due to a software interaction between the car and the dispenser - I've heard that Lucid is aware of this and is working on an OTA fix.

 

[Gandalf]

Just got back from a 1,500 mile road trip from Colorado to El Paso Texas in my AGT. Was a little worried, because there are only about 3 EA chargers between here and there, and those are literally the only fast chargers available. Nevertheless, I had zero problems with any of the EA chargers as far as availability, but charging speed was pretty slow. Best I saw was a little over 200Kw (with a 15% SOC), but most of the time it was between 70-140. All the chargers were in WalMart lots, and I've become disturbingly familiar with the layout of those stores. Only other charger I use regularly is at another WalMart in Dillon, CO (close to skiing) and it's worked for me every time. So I don't know if EA is finally getting its act together, or if the chargers in the Southwest are just used less frequently- hardly ever saw anyone else plugged in.
BTW- in case anyone cares, averaged 3.9 mi/Kwh, driving ~80mph in 35-50 degree temps, 19" wheels.

 

[linnea1]

Look for a 350kW charging station, not 150kW. Arrive at the charging station with your battery down to the 10-15% range and preconditioned for at least 20 minutes. If you plug in and get only 50-75kW, unplug and try another dispenser. Sometimes you may try three before getting one with high output because of hardware issues in the EA power cabinet. In some cases low output from an EA station may be due to a software interaction between the car and the dispenser - I've heard that Lucid is aware of this and is working on an OTA fix.

Are you preconditioning if you have been driving on the highway already? I want to do a road trip and have concerns still about the EA reliability… I hope to see more posts with increased reliability comments..

 

[KenAir]

Are you preconditioning if you have been driving on the highway already? I want to do a road trip and have concerns still about the EA reliability… I hope to see more posts with increased reliability comments..

I have tried EA chargers a few times now and so far they work just fine. The best resource I can suggest is the plugshare.com website. That has a great map of chargers and gives each one a rating between 0 and 10, I assume based upon user feedback. When you charge at a station, you give a rating with the plugshare app. I think EA still has a way to go to catch up to Tesla, but it seems EA is better than all the even worse ones. I would not hesitate to trust an EA charger if plugshare shows a good rating. A lot of the EA chargers at big box stores like Walmart, Smith's, Krogers, Target seem to have a lot of stations and so far for me are very reliable.

We are way better off than just a year ago. I think in another one or two years charging on the road will be a non-issue.

 

[AustinAir]

BTW- in case anyone cares, averaged 3.9 mi/Kwh, driving ~80mph in 35-50 degree temps, 19" wheels.

wow 3.9mi at those speeds is legendary!
Looks like good with the bad. I’m infamous on this forum for bashing Lucids horrid charge curve but the efficiency is amazing. I did a road trip in my KiaEV6, averaged 80mph and got about 2.6mi/ KW

 

[Tesla2.0]

wow 3.9mi at those speeds is legendary!
Looks like good with the bad. I’m infamous on this forum for bashing Lucids horrid charge curve but the efficiency is amazing. I did a road trip in my KiaEV6, averaged 80mph and got about 2.6mi/ KW

You did better than my Rivian R1S 1.7 mi/kWh at same speed. I didn’t mind as this EV wants to stop as much as my bladders asking me to stop.