Electrify America is enraging EV owners

[RichMalden]

Unfortunately, with the amount of driving I do, I actually need to charge away from home more frequently than almost anyone else. These are not road trips per se. 90% of my driving is for work and even 360 (realistically) miles of range means that I have to charge away from home at least once a week. I often will do it a little more often than once a week for convenience and sanity so I am not constantly calculating my efficiency and driving 68 MPH to guarantee I'll have enough juice to get home at night. But, your point is well taken. I charge at home as much as possible even though it frequently means charging to 100% the night before a long day.

As I'm typing that, I just started to wonder about something. They say don't charge to 100% unless necessary. They (yes, those same people) also say don't DCFC more than necessary. Does anyone actually know which one of those two evils is the lesser? Hmmm....

I can only give you my experience for one half your question.

I've had my AGT for 15 months now and I have exclusively used DCFC as I do not have access to anything else. 99.5% of that has been on EA (150/350) chargers. I almost always charge to 80-85% other than road trips when I'll occasionally go to 90-95%. I charge, on average, non-road trip wise, every 1-2 weeks.

My max range hasn't dropped more than about 2 miles, maybe less. (Knock on wood)

 

[Amster]

I've had my AGT for 15 months now and I have exclusively used DCFC as I do not have access to anything else. 99.5% of that has been on EA (150/350) chargers. I almost always charge to 80-85% other than road trips when I'll occasionally go to 90-95%. I charge, on average, non-road trip wise, every 1-2 weeks.

My max range hasn't dropped more than about 2 miles, maybe less. (Knock on wood)

That's good to know. I'm starting to charge it more at home, and I'll do that exclusively once the EA free period runs out. But I do have a very reliable EA about five miles from the house, and we run it over there for for 3/4 of it's charging. It's just hard not to when it's convenient and free. Lucid isn't the only company giving free charging for a couple years with purchase. If companies weren't doing that, availability wouldn't be as big of a problem.

 

[efesese]

Good news (for us, not EA )

Site Maintenance

news.gm.com

 

[RichMalden]

Good news (for us, not EA )

Site Maintenance

news.gm.com

Hopefully those will be up and running by the time our free charging runs out. Plus, competition may move EA to get their act together

 

[DeaneG]

Even with "free" Electrify America, we only charge at home except on road trips. Home charging is just too convenient with zero aggravation. If I couldn't charge at home, I wouldn't buy an EV. We've been driving EVs for 12+ years and have been EV-only for 2.5 years.

 

[efesese]

Even with "free" Electrify America, we only charge at home except on road trips. Home charging is just too convenient with zero aggravation. If I couldn't charge at home, I wouldn't buy an EV. We've been driving EVs for 12+ years and have been EV-only for 2.5 years.

For sure, but while it’s free I’m milking EA dry

 

[hmp10]

For sure, but while it’s free I’m milking EA dry

I think the cow you're milking is named Lucy . . . .

 

[efesese]

I think the cow you're milking is named Lucy . . . .

The cow I’m milking is basically dried up already

 

[blueice89]

My cow says they are suppressing my charging speed

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

If I couldn't charge at home, I wouldn't buy an EV.

Amen, brother. When wife and I were EV shopping, the very best and most forthright EV salespeople said the same thing. "It's not worth the aggravation at this point in time."

It amazes me how many people on this forum put themselves through the daily God awful hell of trying to use LOCAL broken, full, slow, bouncing output and faulty chargers as well as the plethora of inconsiderate assholes charging to 100%, all to save a few bucks. My life is too short for that nonsense. To each, their own.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

Down with EA! Long live Tesla charging, hope they can get us some chargers, am i right?

Sorry, like most things, you are not.

My audio company's web site was attached by Russian trolls. Have we met before?

 

[mardin]

Honestly, it'd probably be OK. The majority of EV owners/future owners need to look at home charging instead of EA.

It depends on what you use the car for most! Home charging works for local or commuting. EA and other required for longer trips... Which is what many if not most folks bought this cruiser for, IMO

 

[Dhimiter]

This is one of Lucid's greatest concerns. It will be interesting to see how the next few years go with all of the changes taking place.

Strike a deal with Tesla to use their network and eventually adopt NACS. A premium vehicle deserves a premium network. This is akin to buying the highest end 8K TV only to watch 480p content from 2001.

 

[Dhimiter]

I've said it many times. If you aren't primarily charging at home, you are missing out on possibly the number 1 benefit of owning an EV. Starting every day (with the exception of road trips a few times a year) with more charge than you will need is so revelatory it makes the idea of buying an ICE car ridiculous.

You want me to what? Stop at a gas station?

I only think of my state of charge a few times per year. THAT's freedom.

This is why I'm consistently shocked at how many posts on this site are complaints about bad charging experiences. Yes, the EA situation is terrible. But I feel like a good number of us are subjecting ourselves to this on a regular basis for no good reason.

It’s Lucid’s fault for making the vehicle so comfortable on long drives.

 

[Tesla2.0]

I quote Rawlinson on EA, ”The one thing we didn’t design”

The one thing overlooked and horrible risk assessment.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

This is akin to buying the highest end 8K TV only to watch 480p content from 2001.

I find that comparison illogical, deeply flawed and unsupportable. An 8k TV absolutely requires high quality 4k or 8k content to even watch and to justify its existence and cost. Trying to watch 480 p video on a 8k is virtually unusable.

There is no such parallel with a BEV. Or especially a Lucid. All Lucid requires is generic 240v AC or high voltage DC. The exact same 240v AC for the last hundred years. The Lucid does not give a shit if the AC or DC to recharge it battery comes from a cheap Amazon power cable, its free portable cable NEMA 14-50 plugged in at home, a ChargePoint unit at the coffee shop, or Tesla destination charger, or a brand new (working) 350kw EA pedestal. Makes no damn difference to the Lucid. Regardless how the Lucid was charged, it will still operate 100%. Some would say: 120%!! Hallelujah.

All a “premium network” does is improve convenience. Sometimes. To some users. If I wanted convenience, I would have bought a crummy Tesla.

Further, I was at CES for several years viewing 8k video screens and there was absolutely no 8k content yet available. Just goofy demo video. But Samsung and Sony built these expensive state of the art displays, with no content, knowing once they were available, others would develop the 8k content. And they did in spades. If you build it, they will come.

More and more BEVs with big batteries are out there, including many more high value EVs. The premium networks are and will come. But my Lucid is still damn fun to drive every day, right now. Lucid “deserves” owners that appreciate that.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

required for longer road trips. Which is what many if not most folks bought this cruiser for, IMO

I strongly disagree. I do not find your generalization or conclusion to be accurate. I have read hundreds and hundreds of posts here, and 99% talk about the DAILY joy of driving their Lucid every single day, to the store, out to dinner or just for an hour on a winding two lane road. Only a small handful talk about epic road trips.

Every driving statistic, from USDOTs, state dots and insurance companies show 95% of all trips are 40 miles or less. And 99% are 100 or less. I see no evidence in the statistics or none in this forum that "most folks bought this cruiser" for long road trips.

Maybe when I am older and retired, with unlimited time on my hands, I might think about long road trips. But as much as I love my Lucid, I ain’t sitting in no car for 8-10 hours in a day. But I applaud those that want to drive their Lucid cross country to see their grandkids. I wish them fun and godspeed.To each their own.

I bought my Lucid to drive: Every day I can. But the wife and I are flying on the next 500 mile trip we have. Just my opinion, of course.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I like the car so much I’d rather drive than fly, but my daughter is 2 1/2 so long ass road trips aren’t a good idea yet. However, the state of flying and airports has become so dismal lately I’d MUCH rather wait for a disappointingly slow EA charging session in the comfort and peace of the Lucid than wait in an airport for a day because my late arriving flight made me miss my connecting flight.

 

[hmp10]

I see no evidence in the statistics or none in this forum that "most folks bought this cruiser" for long road trips.

That's certainly true in my case. I bought the Lucid because I wanted a roomier, more luxurious EV than our 2015 Model S P90D and our 2021 Model S Plaid for all my driving, both local and long distance. Those things I could tell from information in the press and from visits to two Design Studios. What I later found out from owning a Lucid was that it handled appreciably better, had a more compliant ride, had a quieter interior, and was better built. (And after UX 2.0 and its progeny of updates came out, I found I liked its software suite and camera views better than Tesla's.)

But two long roads trips in the Lucid have confronted us with a decision we did not expect to have to make. Delays caused by EA charging issues on these trips (some longer than two hours) has left us debating whether to take our Air or our Model S on our next long road trip. There were also a couple of horrors we saw others experience, including a new Lucid driver who was just learning how EV range indicators really work (and do not work). He arrived at an EA station in Brunswick, GA with 16 miles of range left on his indicator . . . and found the EA chargers would not initiate charging on his car despite several attempts at different stalls.

Fortunately, the range of the Air still makes it our preferred choice for the trips we take across Florida and back, as we are spared the need for roadside charging. But for our next long trip up into north Georgia, we're seriously debating whether the Lucid is the car to take. There's just so much time we want to spend in Walmart parking lots with our fingers crossed.

Would I buy another CCS-charging car? As long as I have a Tesla and/or an ICE car available for long trips, absolutely. As our sole vehicle? Not yet.

 

[BradSholl]

Just had my 3rd experience with EA. My 1st was shortly after the vehicle arrived, just to insure it worked. Philadelphia Premium Outlets on 422. Just charged for 5 min, pulling 70kw/hr (I forget the charger rating). The second was with my Rivian, after a charging stop at EVGo failed. 150kw charger and managed 70ish. Both times my SOC was midrange. Yesterday, I stopped at the Waterloo Premium Outlets on I-90 in NY. (No, I really don’t have an outlet problem…) SOC was about 70% so I didn’t really need the stop, but what the heck. 350kw charger gave me 50kw. Might have been a long stop if I was actually in need of a big charge. Maybe an emptier battery would have allowed for faster charging speed…

Sooo, EA has worked for me, but hasn’t ever come close to speeds touted to be available.