Keep in mind batteries charge faster below 50%. So bigger battery means more range under 50% and therefore faster charging. If I can add 200 miles in less than 15 minutes that will be all the range my bladder can stand.
Gravity 75 mph Range
- Thread starter Knucklehead
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Yep, more range just makes it all easier and gives us more options. Road trips often *can* be done with less range, but it's more limiting, more compromising, and more risky. We did over 50k road trip miles thru 38 states in our Mach-E, which has 270 official EPA range. But then you have the subtractions... high speed loss... maintaining a 10-20% safety buffer... loss for colder weather... loss for wind... loss for using the heater... loss for elevation gain... only charging to around 80% during en-route DCFC because it charges way slows above that point. Before you know it, we found ourselves routinely charging every 100-140 miles to be on the safe side.
And because rural DCFC is often sparse, the next charge can commonly be a choice between something like 95 miles, or 160 miles. 160 may be pushing it (depending on conditions) so you often bail out at the one that's just 95 miles. Yeah, only needing to add 95 miles back in makes for a quicker charge, but you still have the lost time getting on/off the highway, the futzing around at the station if it doesn't go perfectly, etc. Before you know it, there goes 25-30 minutes, even for a smaller charge. Prohibitive? No, but not ideal when you're doing it every 100 miles. Adds around 2 extra hours to the day vs ICE.
Then we got the Macan with 315 mile range and faster charging. Allows us to skip that charger 95 miles away and make it to the 160 mile without concern. Fewer total charges, and faster charging. Shaves about an hour off the drive day and gives us way more options, and more peace of mind.
450 EPA will be another magnitude better. It's almost ICE-like when you get up into that range. Should be able to do an 800 mile day in just 2 DCFC stops (same as ICE). Still slower refueling than ICE but with only 2 charges needed, it's getting pretty close to ICE-times if you use the bathroom both stops and grab a light lunch. That's the ultimate reason we chose a Gravity -- because it gets the EV experience nearly up to the ICE experience for road trips.
Also, all that range means being able to pick and choose the best DCFC stations, not just the ones that are in the necessary spots (putting up with the fussy mess that many stations are).
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Yeah, I'm definitely aware of that. The reports of how many miles you can add back in with a 15 minute charge are one of the big appeals of the Gravity for me. I know not every station will have a charger good enough to max out the Gravity's charging capability, but that'll continue to slowly improve.
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When faster charging is available - wow. It’s absolutely worth it and mind boggling.
Issue with Tesla SCs so far is the SC keeps throttling me…
Issue with Tesla SCs so far is the SC keeps throttling me…
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Edmunds just did a 5 seater GGT range test, as usual they did an absolute dog shit job of describing how they did the test, just made the headline about how it didn’t meet EPA. Like all they said was they tested all season and summer tires, but didn’t say which SIZE all season, nor did they list ANY testing parameters or ambient temperature or tire pressure or aero covers on/off etc. All they said was summer tires got 388 miles and all seasons got 400 miles, meanwhile the pic of their car shows the largest spec wheels so yeah no wonder it didn’t get 450. Morons. Reminds me of when the Air came out and they were crapping all over the range saying how deceitful Lucid was, and it turned out they were using tire pressures for 21 inch wheels on 19inch wheels which kills the range. I don’t know if it’s that Edmunds is hostile to Lucid (they did one nice article about the Sapphire I think but that’s it), or they are just really really sloppy. https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/2026-lucid-gravity-grand-touring-tested-review.html
They did say its 450 miles with the all-season tires. Since they said 2 row GGT it has to be the 20/21 tire set. It just ended up getting 400 in their test versus 450 EPA. I have the 20/21's on my GDE and I don't think I am anywhere near the 410 mine is EPA rated for. I would guess ~350 tops.
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Again that’s utterly meaningless. The pic they have of their car is not the 20/21 wheels, they didn’t say what size tires, temperature or tire pressure or even their testing methods. “EPA” is a specific set of parameters. Driving 75mph is not an EPA test. And we don’t even know if that’s what they did cuz they gave NO info about how they tested it.
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This article gives more background on Edmunds' range test methods, and a chart of the results they've compiled. Gravity range isn't included yet.
Edmunds Tested: Electric Car Range and Consumption | Edmunds
Which EVs have the best electric car range? The EPA provides range estimates for every electric vehicle, but they don't test EV range in the real world -- and Edmunds does. Read all the latest real-world EV test results from the Edmunds experts.
www.edmunds.com
Their test is 60% city. Still waiting for some real range numbers...
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept that 1-2" smaller wheels increases range by 10%. I get there being *some* impact, but that much just seems... surprising. (Although as others previously pointed out, it may be more the specific tire that comes with each wheel size than the size itself.)
I hope it's true (since I got the 450 range spec purposely for max range), but I'm still sceptical that range will increase to that magnitude. I don't expect the full 450 at 75 MPH, of course, but I'd love to see the extra 40 miles over what range tests are getting reported with larger wheels.
I think Kyle is doing a Gravity range test this week. Be curious to see that one.
That's the way I read it too. They explicitly say they tested the 450 and 407 trims, which has to mean those wheel sizes.
I’m not a mechanical engineer but I suspect the range difference has to do with the difference in the tire circumference. A smaller diameter tire has to turn more rotations to go the same distance as a larger diameter. It therefore trades turns for power.
Think gear ratios, a smaller gear has to turn more revs to achieve the same movement but uses less power to do so. So a larger tire implies more power required and hence less range.
Think gear ratios, a smaller gear has to turn more revs to achieve the same movement but uses less power to do so. So a larger tire implies more power required and hence less range.
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Tire circumference is nearly identical. What changes is how much of the diameter is metal vs rubber.
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It's primarily the rubber compound and the size of the contact patch. Stickier rubber = better braking and cornering at the expense of range. Same for increasing the size of the contact patch.
This.
And at highway speeds aerodynamics matter, especially if you are going 80+ mph.
The 20/21 wheels are more aerodynamic. The Hankook tires are one of the most efficient on the market. The combination can easily increase range by 10%. Just the tires along can do that.
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They cheated with the tires, 265 are 0.2” difference from 285, where they should be 0.8” different.
The 285 21” is 8.6” contact to road vs 23” 285 which is a full 10”
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I can confirm this having had two different 19” compounds on the Air. The 19” Pirelli PZero All Season OEM are at least 0.5 mi/kwh more efficient than the Nolan Remedy WRG5 19” all weather compound, as the inner half of the Nokians is almost like a winter tire. Great for snow/heavy rain and you don’t have to change to winter tires, but ignore whatever Nokian says about those being efficient or good EV tires, it’s not true, they’re just more efficient than full winter.
Your thought prompted me, so I asked perplexity (as a search tool). Key points:
Lucid’s engineering team outlines that:
- Smaller, more aerodynamic wheels reduce air drag and rolling resistance and allow the car to travel further per kWh.
- Larger, wider tires or stickier compounds provide more grip for performance but sap efficiency, using more energy per mile.