First road trip - TX/OK

[Instinctive]

Hey fam!

I'm doing the first road trip in my beautiful AT this week. Just a little bunny to test it out, around 220 miles of nearly pure highway driving from my house to an EA charging station.

Two goals here:
1. Figured I'd check my planning efforts and plan with the gurus here for anything else to do before I go on Thursday morning
2. Will report back with any findings/experience!


First, the planning and plan:
A. I get 3.2 mi/kWh pretty reliably - but all city and all aggressive. I'm thinking I'll get higher if I just cruise at 75-80, but just in case it dips a bit I feel pretty comfortable having input 3.0 as my ABRP efficiency.
B. Night before, charging to 100% instead of my customary 75%. This should give me a solid 300 miles, conservatively
C. ~200 miles to an EA station in Moore, OK, with good reviews on ABRP from this week - seems consistently used, reliable
D. Everything here and at lucidupdates says I should be able to just plug in, given the "free charging" - but I'll have the Lucid app on me of course
E. Then I'm like ~50 miles to hotel, conference site, back to station. Unfortunately no destination charging at conference or hotel.
F. Plan is to charge there twice: once on initial arrival to just get up around 60-70% to make sure I'm good to bop around and get back to it safely, whenever it really starts to slow charging, and second is to get pretty close to 100% (I know, sucky), because I think more traffic at the time I am headed back home means likely worse efficiency. I figure it'll be ok regardless because as I get close to DFW we get more charging options well within range from OK charger.
G. Seems pretty straightforward! This is a test of one of my primary factors for a Lucid purchase - the ability to go from home to OKC on one charge without anxiety.

If any of you veteran Lucid road trippers have tips or think something is overlooked here, feel free to chime in.

Second...I'll report back when I'm done!

 

[Daniel2022AT]

Fast charging to 100% is crazy. Takes too much time and may not be the best for long term battery health. Charging to 90% is better if you have the range. I have found fast charging to about 75% saves a heck of a lot of time as the power curve goes way down after 70% SOC. I use ABRP, EA, and PlugShare apps.

 

[segbrk]

more traffic at the time I am headed back home means likely worse efficiency

Don’t do something you’re not comfortable with of course, but from my experience, traffic doesn’t really hurt efficiency much if at all. I don’t think you need 100% on the way back. Constant stop and go would be less efficient for sure, but not slow with occasional stopping. Going slower is so much more efficient that it makes up for the acceleration at some point. Also don’t forget that regen is inconsistent above about 90% battery. It feels really weird.
I think with your plan you’ll be absolutely fine. Overly fine if you do charge back up to around 100. I’d check plugshare for nearby L2 chargers around the destination (maybe near a dinner spot, for example) just to take advantage of the time there, but that’s just me.

 

[dcase99]

Just did a trip this past weekend in my AT. ~300 miles round trip. No charging and no anxiety either .

 

[BS8899]

Hey fam!

I'm doing the first road trip in my beautiful AT this week. Just a little bunny to test it out, around 220 miles of nearly pure highway driving from my house to an EA charging station.

Two goals here:
1. Figured I'd check my planning efforts and plan with the gurus here for anything else to do before I go on Thursday morning
2. Will report back with any findings/experience!


First, the planning and plan:
A. I get 3.2 mi/kWh pretty reliably - but all city and all aggressive. I'm thinking I'll get higher if I just cruise at 75-80, but just in case it dips a bit I feel pretty comfortable having input 3.0 as my ABRP efficiency.
B. Night before, charging to 100% instead of my customary 75%. This should give me a solid 300 miles, conservatively
C. ~200 miles to an EA station in Moore, OK, with good reviews on ABRP from this week - seems consistently used, reliable
D. Everything here and at lucidupdates says I should be able to just plug in, given the "free charging" - but I'll have the Lucid app on me of course
E. Then I'm like ~50 miles to hotel, conference site, back to station. Unfortunately no destination charging at conference or hotel.
F. Plan is to charge there twice: once on initial arrival to just get up around 60-70% to make sure I'm good to bop around and get back to it safely, whenever it really starts to slow charging, and second is to get pretty close to 100% (I know, sucky), because I think more traffic at the time I am headed back home means likely worse efficiency. I figure it'll be ok regardless because as I get close to DFW we get more charging options well within range from OK charger.
G. Seems pretty straightforward! This is a test of one of my primary factors for a Lucid purchase - the ability to go from home to OKC on one charge without anxiety.

If any of you veteran Lucid road trippers have tips or think something is overlooked here, feel free to chime in.

Second...I'll report back when I'm done!

I doubt if you will get >3.2 miles/kWh driving 75-80mph, unless you are going downhill.

Let us know what you actually get.

 

[segbrk]

I doubt if you will get >3.2 miles/kWh driving 75-80mph, unless you are going downhill.

On my recent trip I averaged 4.1 mi/kWh over about 180 miles of flat to small hills doing 70-75mph when it was relatively warm out. Didn't get below 3.5 at any point on the trip even when it was colder. I doubt your doubt.

 

[Adnillien]

On my recent trip I averaged 4.1 mi/kWh over about 180 miles of flat to small hills doing 70-75mph when it was relatively warm out. Didn't get below 3.5 at any point on the trip even when it was colder. I doubt your doubt.

I think that @BS8899 is talking about 21" wheels and you are talking about 19" wheels so i tend to believe both of you.

 

[segbrk]

I think that @BS8899 is talking about 21" wheels and you are talking about 19" wheels so i tend to believe both of you.

Got it. For some reason I thought I saw 19" in the original post. My average on 21s was still 3.2-3.3 for city driving though.

 

[Instinctive]

Got it. For some reason I thought I saw 19" in the original post. My average on 21s was still 3.2-3.3 for city driving though.

I did not specify but I do have 19s.

 

[BS8899]

I think that @BS8899 is talking about 21" wheels and you are talking about 19" wheels so i tend to believe both of you.

I have 19" wheels. I can see doing 3.2 miles with combined city and highway. I can get 3.4-3.5 with combine city and highway.

If we are talking about 200miles of straight Hwy driving at 75-80 mph, I think it will be a stretch to do 3.2mi/kWh. I typically average ~3.0mi/kWh under these circumstances (albeit with some altitude change). Call me skeptical.

All the power to @Instinctive if he achieves 3.2 mi/kWh or better. I am sure he will let us know and rub it in!

 

[Adnillien]

I have 19" wheels. I can see doing 3.2 miles with combined city and highway. I can get 3.4-3.5 with combine city and highway.

If we are talking about 200miles of straight Hwy driving at 75-80 mph, I think it will be a stretch to do 3.2mi/kWh. I typically average ~3.0mi/kWh under these circumstances (albeit with some altitude change). Call me skeptical.

All the power to @Instinctive if he achieves 3.2 mi/kWh or better. I am sure he will let us know and rub it in!

I usually get 3.2 m/kWhr at 75 mph with 21" wheels. The OP with 19" wheels should be able to easily get that even at 80 mph.

 

[Daniel2022AT]

Should get 3.9-4 mi/kwh on 19’s at 75 mph with decent temps.

 

[BS8899]

Should get 3.9-4 mi/kwh on 19’s at 75 mph with decent temps.

Look forward to seeing the data.

 

[PaulC]

I drove RT -DC to Baltimore (I-95) primarily - on 19'' (50 psi) and got 4.8 mi/kwh, keeping up with traffic 55-70mph. Had been getting 3.6 mi/kwh around town when colder, today 67.

 

[BS8899]

I drove RT -DC to Baltimore (I-95) primarily - on 19'' (50 psi) and got 4.8 mi/kwh, keeping up with traffic 55-70mph. Had been getting 3.6 mi/kwh around town when colder, today 67.

Impressive numbers! Congrats!

On 19" wheels, I can get 3.6 mi/kWh around town. My experience driving I-10 and I-5 in AZ/CA (75-80mph) gets me ~3 mi/kWh. I did have to transit two mountain passes (2,700 ft and 4,000 ft respectively) and these elevations would affect efficiencies. But your hwy driving @55-70mph getting 4.8 mi/kWh is impressive!

 

[Instinctive]

Alright first challenge. Arrived at the station, in a relatively sparse for options area...and 10 minutes prior to arriving EA posted that this station will be closed starting today and unavailable for an unknown amount of time. Great. Checked everything last night to be sure - what garbage this is.

But will use plugshare and other tools to find some sort of other option somehow.

Good news: 3.6 mi/kWh. And until it started preconditioning, the first 170 miles were at 3.8!

 

[Instinctive]

Ok subsequent update: maintenance guy was there, he said actually he's just working on one of them and I could pull in, he backed up a bit to make room and kindly offered to help if I needed any. Which is good because there are very few other options and none super close.

Pulled in, plugged in, and it's working. 350 but pulling 135 so far. Started at 35%, up to 40% already. Nice!

Other quick data before I reset my trip: 196 miles and got 3.6 mi/kWh.

Tires were at 49-49-48-49.

I had 3.8 for the first 145 miles until preconditioning began. Entire drive was on highway assist pegged to 79 and a straight boring highway, except maybe the first 15 miles of city driving and of course exiting the highway to go to charging station.

I'm at 50% now as of the end of this post and down to pulling 120.

 

[Instinctive]

Final update for today: stopping at 85%. Charging just dipped below 50, and I can always come back here again before heading home if I'm worried about juice.

Given I arrived at 35% I'm much less worried now.

 

[Domo35]

Ok subsequent update: maintenance guy was there, he said actually he's just working on one of them and I could pull in, he backed up a bit to make room and kindly offered to help if I needed any. Which is good because there are very few other options and none super close.

Pulled in, plugged in, and it's working. 350 but pulling 135 so far. Started at 35%, up to 40% already. Nice!

Other quick data before I reset my trip: 196 miles and got 3.6 mi/kWh.

Tires were at 49-49-48-49.

I had 3.8 for the first 145 miles until preconditioning began. Entire drive was on highway assist pegged to 79 and a straight boring highway, except maybe the first 15 miles of city driving and of course exiting the highway to go to charging station.

I'm at 50% now as of the end of this post and down to pulling 120.

That earlier post was a heck of a way to start off the trip. Glad to hear the entire station wasn’t down. That’s some great efficiency especially considering the speed. Safe travels the rest of the trip

 

[Instinctive]

Better trip home so far.

Knew I'd have to stop. So I figured let's try HA at 85 and see what happens. Had me down around 3.4, which dropped down to 3.2 with preconditioning kicked in.

Charging up from 45 to 85% right now, which should be more than enough to get home safely.

Aside from the parking spot being sideways here and it being a little awkward to get the cable from the 350, it's worked smoothly!

I'll do a final report and lessons/takeaways when I'm home.