First ever roadtrip coming up

[newkidontheblock]

Even though I have been driving EV's since 2020 I have never taken a road trip.
In 2 weeks I will be taking my first ever road trip from Cumming to Nashville to watch Titans/Vikings game with me son.
I checked the distance and it is only 250 miles.
I plan to charge to 100%. I will drive 70-75 per hour on my Lucid Air.
I hope to stay at a Hotel where I can charge the car over night.
We will drive up on Saturday and return on Sunday evening after the game.
I have never charged my car using a public charger before. I am assuming that Electrify America chargers will work if I open my Lucid app.
Let me know if there is anything else I should prepare for.

 

[newkidontheblock]

I plan to take my tesla tap mini adapter with me.

 

[tonybot]

Good luck with the trip! Usually EA chargers will work just by plugging in. It recognizes the vehicle and services you are entitled to. If not, you are often able to initiate charge through the app. In my experience I never had to us the app.

Use plug share to read about the charging stops and feedback as well as use EA app to see the status of the charger, how busy is the location, etc.

 

[segbrk]

At Electrify America you should be able to just plug in, tap continue on the screen, and charge. Sometimes it fails to recognize the car, then you can open your Lucid app and a new Electrify America button should appear front and center. It will use your phone's location to find the station, and ask which stand you're at, e.g. BLAH-02, printed in big text near the charging stand's screen. You do not need an EA account or the EA app.
Check Plugshare before you head to a charger, and even before you book your hotel. It will likely have recent reviews and a score telling you if the charger actually works well. I've seen an unfortunate number of hotels and other public places advertise EV charging only to have broken equipment that hasn't been maintained in years.

 

[bikeriderbryan]

I'm sure your road trip experience will be AOK. Having the ability to charge at the Hotel is a plus.

 

[dwfallin]

PlugShare app is your friend!! Also - there’s a few non-ea chargers in the area, I’ve registered at ChargePoint, EVgo, and red-e and had no problems with them if ea was down or not in area

 

[coma24]

You'll be more than fine. There's 3 EA chargers in the greater Nashville area, plus you have the overnight hotel charging. Relax. You can bring the adapter, but I'm not sure why you'd need it. The "Range at destination" readout on the far left is your friend.

 

[PaulC]

EA charging I-95, DC to Brooklyn NY - Cold Spring NY - Brooklyn - DC. Charged to 100% on departure with 3.3mi/kwh efficiency in AT with 19" (46psi)/45F. Arrived Brooklyn with 21%/90 mi in battery. Tried charging Abingdon MD enroute-all occupied and line of cars waiting, so decided to try JFK Evolve / 8 chargers, all occupied with 4 car queue waiting at 10:45PM. Able to charge after 20' wait and charged to 85% (recommended stop point online). Drove back to Brooklyn, then on to Cold Spring in Afternoon. In PM wanted to charge for trip next day, so tried New Rochelle EA - all occupied and no semblance of queue with multiple cars waiting, so decided to charge that PM again at JFK - no wait this time, but finished charging to 85% at 11:45 PM. Drove back to Brooklyn that night. Next day temps in low 30s with 2.8 mi/kwh. Drove back to DC next day with I-95 backed up needed to find chargers enroute. Tried New Castle DE WAWA - all chargers occupied, no queue, and lots of cars waiting, so resumed trip and stopped again back at Abingdon MD with 10 minute wait for charger and a reasonable approximation of queue.
This was over Thanksgiving holiday, so heavy traffic/EV charger utilization. EA infrastructure not there yet for this volume. I had no trouble hooking up for free EA charging and at low battery charge 11-21% began at 130-210kW with 45-55' to get to 85%. Disappointed range not more, probably due to winter weather, and not more EA charger infrastructure.

 

[DeaneG]

EA charging I-95, DC to Brooklyn NY - Cold Spring NY - Brooklyn - DC. Charged to 100% on departure with 3.3mi/kwh efficiency in AT with 19" (46psi)/45F. Arrived Brooklyn with 21%/90 mi in battery. Tried charging Abingdon MD enroute-all occupied and line of cars waiting...

Holiday travel is the toughest. We just stay home and travel before or after.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

EA charging I-95, DC to Brooklyn NY - Cold Spring NY - Brooklyn - DC. Charged to 100% on departure with 3.3mi/kwh efficiency in AT with 19" (46psi)/45F. Arrived Brooklyn with 21%/90 mi in battery. Tried charging Abingdon MD enroute-all occupied and line of cars waiting, so decided to try JFK Evolve / 8 chargers, all occupied with 4 car queue waiting at 10:45PM. Able to charge after 20' wait and charged to 85% (recommended stop point online). Drove back to Brooklyn, then on to Cold Spring in Afternoon. In PM wanted to charge for trip next day, so tried New Rochelle EA - all occupied and no semblance of queue with multiple cars waiting, so decided to charge that PM again at JFK - no wait this time, but finished charging to 85% at 11:45 PM. Drove back to Brooklyn that night. Next day temps in low 30s with 2.8 mi/kwh. Drove back to DC next day with I-95 backed up needed to find chargers enroute. Tried New Castle DE WAWA - all chargers occupied, no queue, and lots of cars waiting, so resumed trip and stopped again back at Abingdon MD with 10 minute wait for charger and a reasonable approximation of queue.
This was over Thanksgiving holiday, so heavy traffic/EV charger utilization. EA infrastructure not there yet for this volume. I had no trouble hooking up for free EA charging and at low battery charge 11-21% began at 130-210kW with 45-55' to get to 85%. Disappointed range not more, probably due to winter weather, and not more EA charger infrastructure.

Your tire pressure is low, which didn't help your range any. 19 inch tires should be 49 PSI stone cold. I'm not saying it's approved by Lucid, but in a climate where tires aren't likely to heat up much on the road, I personally tend to kick that up a point or two.

Your wait time for a charger over a holiday weekend didn't surprise me as much as the time it took you to get to 85%. It may have been station limited due to the demand of all chargers operating continuously. Did you initiate preconditioning well before charging?

 

[bassem]

One suggestion I have for longer road trips is to have your focus on using the earth’s gravity to your advantage when there are uphills and downhills or around bends in the road, on my long distance trips I have seen utilizing the regen proactively features to help add miles to my range. Having said that, I find that the Adaptive Cruise or Highway Assist don’t always give me the best use of utilizing gravity to benefit the regeneration feature. For example if you see a bend in the highway coming up and you have a slight downhill, I tend to slightly increase my speed and allow the regen to slow me down for the bend just enough to keep my momentum and pick up that extra energy.

The other recomendation is to disengage the adaptive cruise/highway assist once you see traffic slow to a standstill. The reason I say this is that your mind and eyes can probably see it way before the system taps the brakes which seems a bit of a waste, when you can use regen to slow you down.

For the idea of charging; I am not familiar with the expected temps, however you should expect decreased range depending on the amount of cabin heating you will need or if you experience any headwinds/sidewinds. In the past few weeks I did another 1000 mile trip and found there was a decrease in range because snow/heavy rain along with trying to keep the cabin temp comfortable (please note that I have the glass canopy, which takes significantly more than the aluminum roof)

Weight, on my last long distance trip I calculated that I added about 500 pounds of weight (including my self). This changed the driving dynamics of the vehicle, alongside the understanding that heavy acceleration will tend to exert a penalty in terms of energy required to move the vehicle.

All in all I can say it was a pleasure and I had no issues with charging with Electrify America, especially when I pre-conditioned 20 mins before my next stop. One note is that beyond (at DC chargers) 90% the charging slows down to the point that it’s faster to move to the next station when needed. The only caveat is to pay attention to weather; if you have a winter storm system, go to 100% and keep extra snacks and water.

Enjoy your trip !

 

[DeaneG]

One suggestion I have for longer road trips is to have your focus on using the earth’s gravity to your advantage...

This is why I only plan road trips that are downhill. Works great for hiking too. Much much easier.