Gravity 75 mph Range

[Ron_Burgundy]

I’ve noticed that the gravity doesn’t seem to use wall power when turning on climate (unless the car is already charging of course) anybody else?

I’ve not noticed, but wouldn’t surprise me if this was an OTA update that came later. That’s what happened with our R1S.

 

[dbsb3233]

I’ve noticed that the gravity doesn’t seem to use wall power when turning on climate (unless the car is already charging of course) anybody else?

I wouldn't necessarily expect any EV to use wall power directly for heating/cooling. I assume it would still draw from the battery for any power usage like normal, then concurrently refill the battery if it's plugged in. Kinda like a cell phone when it's plugged in. I don't actually know if it works that way though. Just seems like it would.

But maybe it's more complicated than that. Like for instance if it's outside the charging schedule window? Or if it hasn't used quite enough of the battery to kick charging back on (kinda like a home furnace doesn't kick back on if the temp only drops 0.5 of a degree)? Not sure.

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

I wouldn't necessarily expect any EV to use wall power directly for heating/cooling. I assume it would still draw from the battery for any power usage like normal, then concurrently refill the battery if it's plugged in. Kinda like a cell phone when it's plugged in. I don't actually know if it works that way though. Just seems like it would.

But maybe it's more complicated than that. Like for instance if it's outside the charging schedule window? Or if it hasn't used quite enough of the battery to kick charging back on (kinda like a home furnace doesn't kick back on if the temp only drops 0.5 of a degree)? Not sure.

I don’t know the electrical specifics, but the Tesla and Rivian do not draw down on battery power and then refill - it’s somehow powers systems fairly directly. Otherwise, you’d get an unnecessary amount of relatively quick cycles on the batteries which would cause accelerated wear. Also, the idea is your range and battery stay at whatever level they’re at while the car is drawing power from the wall charger.

I think of it a bit like a boat and dock power, but no idea if that’s how it works.

 

[dbsb3233]

I don’t know the electrical specifics, but the Tesla and Rivian do not draw down on battery power and then refill - it’s somehow powers systems fairly directly. Otherwise, you’d get an unnecessary amount of relatively quick cycles on the batteries which would cause accelerated wear. Also, the idea is your range and battery stay at whatever level they’re at while the car is drawing power from the wall charger.

I think of it a bit like a boat and dock power, but no idea if that’s how it works.

So those have some internal switching for climate systems to bypass the battery when plugged in? Interesting. Seems unnecessary to a layman like me but obviously they know better. I do question if charging just for a few minutes like to top up is appreciably bad for the battery though. I'd think they'd warn us not to do that ourselves (like plugging in just popping into a store or something) if that were the case. But again... complicated.

In most cases the difference should be negligible, at least. Unless it's super cold outside, it should only take a tiny share of the battery to preheat.

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

Lucid does recommend keeping car plugged in at all times when not in use.

I am no expert on battery chemistry, and since they say plug it in all the time, presumably, there’d be many times when one only drove 20 miles that day, so it’s topping off. The real issue, as I understand it, is if you regularly keep the batteries above 80% or below 20% or use DC fast charge as your main method to charge.

I trust Lucid has the software to protect the battery. I also leased the car, so I don’t see degradation as “my” issue…

 

[Elfin]

So those have some internal switching for climate systems to bypass the battery when plugged in? Interesting. Seems unnecessary to a layman like me but obviously they know better. I do question if charging just for a few minutes like to top up is appreciably bad for the battery though. I'd think they'd warn us not to do that ourselves (like plugging in just popping into a store or something) if that were the case. But again... complicated.

In most cases the difference should be negligible, at least. Unless it's super cold outside, it should only take a tiny share of the battery to preheat.

They convert 240V AC to the battery voltage and then run the HVAC off of that voltage. To be super pedantic, because the current probably flows along a metal bus within the battery you could argue that it is using the battery pack even though the battery cells themselves are not being used.