Gravity Bugs / Issues

[ClearlyLucid]

We're in the final countdown to see if the Gravity can be made ready for our road trip next week. The service team has a remote session at 3:00 p.m. today with Lucid Engineering, and they "are hoping that will have the vehicle working."

Sounds as if any hardware work is done and there's still an issue on the software end. The mobile app is showing the car being charged right now, but the navigation tab is still not showing the car's proper location, instead tagged as "Vehicle Location Temporarily Unavailable".

I'm still perplexed how this car made it through all the inspection gates at the factory and the delivery center.

We've offered to drive over to Miami and pick it up ourselves over the weekend if it is ready should no means of delivery be available from Lucid at the time. I'd actually prefer to put it on the road myself for a few hours nearer to home before taking it on a longer road trip next week. I'm really not in a trusting mood at the moment with this car.

I think you pick it up and drive it to lunch in Miami to make sure it’s fixed. If it’s not right you can hand it back to them right away, without delay.

 

[BiruBoy11]

I’m happy you got your FDU replaced and that Lucid did a good job. Did they explain what the point of failure in the drive unit was, and the root cause? I find the motor and transmission an incredible piece of engineering. It’s partly what sold me on the car. I worry a little bit about the durability of any new technology, although these drive units have been in the Air for a while. That tiny differential inside the planetary gearbox seems like it would be subject to incredible stress, and that worries me long term. I wouldn’t want to lose one of these drive units outside of warranty. I tend to keep my cars a long time, and at $140K I don’t anticipate buying another any time in the future.

 

[BiruBoy11]

I will look at the service overview/invoice again and get back to you. Most of the things on the record referenced bolts and screws but there were some fairly technical notes as well.

 

[BiruBoy11]

I will look at the service overview/invoice again and get back to you. Most of the things on the record referenced bolts and screws but there were some fairly technical notes as well.

'internal inverter fault' which required 'replacement of front motor control unit per service manual'

 

[jrreno]

I have now experienced the stuck image on camera screen that @hmp10 was showing.

When I reverse, it showed me a static image for the rear camera from something on the freeway I was driving probably 10-15 mins ago. confuses me for a sec. Then I have to do what the dinosaurs did, I have to look at my rear-view mirror and judge distance while reversing.

Added this to my list for service center when I can get an appointment.

-iThinkEV-

​

So our Model S has a dashcam feature, storing video to a usb but if I understand correctly it also stores video internal to the system. Does the Gravity have a similar capability and a bug in that software results in the static image?

 

[jered]

Progress on the clock being three minutes fast! As of today, the clock is now FIVE minutes fast!

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

Progress on the clock being three minutes fast! As of today, the clock is now FIVE minutes fast!

I am still a solid three minutes ahead! Maybe someone at Lucid just forgot to wind their central watch…

 

[bbargfr2]

Lucid explained this in one of their technical videos. That differential only handles torque inside the motor, not at the wheels. The multi-gear design also reduces the load on each gear tooth by a factor of 7.

The placement of the differential before the planetary reduction is what reduces the torque by a factor of 7 (since it’s a 7:1 ratio planetary). Additionally, having 4 pinion gears instead of 2 reduces the load seen by half, so it’s really a 14x reduction! Gear bending failures (tooth breaking) is several orders of magnitude more sensitive to torque (load) than speed (# of cycles of the load), so this design is really great from that standpoint allowing them to downsize components.

It does mean, however, that the gears would turn 7 times faster, so there are other issues that can arise with that, but they seem to be solid on the Air. And for a differential, the gears only rotate through mesh when there’s a speed difference from side to side so it is less of an issue than a mesh that is constantly rotating.

 

[Clyde2575]

I am still a solid three minutes ahead! Maybe someone at Lucid just forgot to wind their central watch…

Mine has only ever been ahead by 2 minutes...maybe because I am in AZ and closer to Lucid??

 

[hmp10]

It now seems unlikely we'll be getting our Gravity Dream back in time for our road trip next week. I was momentarily optimistic yesterday afternoon when the mobile app finally started showing the car in its actual location after the 3:00 p.m. conference call between Service and Lucid Engineering. But when I inquired today I was told that the HUD, although the unit has been replaced, is not yet programmed and that Service doesn't have the software to do it. So there is another conference call with Lucid Engineering later today.

I don't view the HUD as important as the navigation and GPS system (on which ADAS and other features depend), and I would be willing to go over to Miami to pick up the car for this trip and then deal with the HUD later now that at least the dancing windshield ghosts are presumably gone. But I haven't been able to find out whether Service will agree to that.

If we miss taking our second road trip in the Gravity since we took delivery over two months ago, I will move from being aggravated to downright pissed. Its charging flexibility and charging speed are among the chief reasons we bought the thing.

 

[prgarg]

Progress on the clock being three minutes fast! As of today, the clock is now FIVE minutes fast!

Time flies when you drive a Gravity!

 

[ClearlyLucid]

It now seems unlikely we'll be getting our Gravity Dream back in time for our road trip next week. I was momentarily optimistic yesterday afternoon when the mobile app finally started showing the car in its actual location after the 3:00 p.m. conference call between Service and Lucid Engineering. But when I inquired today I was told that the HUD, although the unit has been replaced, is not yet programmed and that Service doesn't have the software to do it. So there is another conference call with Lucid Engineering later today.

I don't view the HUD as important as the navigation and GPS system (on which ADAS and other features depend), and I would be willing to go over to Miami to pick up the car for this trip and then deal with the HUD later now that at least the dancing windshield ghosts are presumably gone. But I haven't been able to find out whether Service will agree to that.

If we miss taking our second road trip in the Gravity since we took delivery over two months ago, I will move from being aggravated to downright pissed. Its charging flexibility and charging speed are among the chief reasons we bought the thing.

Thank you for keeping us updated. Your lessons learned are helping the rest of us in several ways. For example, I realized that I won’t be investing in PPF or other accessories until I’m certain the vehicle is working perfectly. Also, I had planned to buy the car outright because I keep my cars a long time, but now I’m leaning towards leasing.

 

[TahoeMichael]

Mine has only ever been ahead by 2 minutes...maybe because I am in AZ and closer to Lucid??

Software version 3.2.2 has an AI module which calculates an adaptive clock skew that tries to get you to your appointments on time. Jered's 5 minutes ahead must be because he typically runs a little later than you.

 

[hmp10]

Thank you for keeping us updated. Your lessons learned are helping the rest of us in several ways.

Thank you, but it's a service I'm sorry to be able to provide.

 

[hmp10]

. . . I had planned to buy the car outright because I keep my cars a long time, but now I’m leaning towards leasing.

That's some of the irony here. We had fits the first few months with our early-production Air Dream Performance, especially on the software front. But after (sometimes too frequent) attention from Lucid service, it has matured into the best car I've ever owned with only a few occasional software hiccoughs similar to what we saw throughout nine years of living with Teslas -- but with the Lucid maintaining the structural robustness the Teslas never had.

Irritated as I currently am, I still hold to the conviction that this Gravity will mature the same way, although it's regrettable to be going through all the hassles again.

The only reason I would consider getting rid of the Air upon its approaching 4-year anniversary is the unavailability of an extended factory warranty, something I have always bought for our expensive-to-repair cars (the German ones, in particular). I know the battery and drivetrain have an 8-year warranty, but I suspect even a headlight unit on a Lucid could be a shocker.

 

[BS8899]

Time flies when you drive a Gravity!

Old new! Effect on Gravity on Time has been postulated and rigorously investigated over 100 years ago!

 

[hmp10]

Old new! Effect on Gravity on Time has been postulated and rigorously investigated over 100 years ago!

But wouldn't this mean you and the Gravity were traveling at different speeds while you were driving it?

 

[BS8899]

But wouldn't this mean you and the Gravity were traveling at different speeds while you were driving it?

Wait till you get to Gravity Sapphire! It will be an "out-of-body" experience!

 

[hmp10]

Wait till you get to Gravity Sapphire! It will be an "out-of-body" experience!

Putting that much power in a 6-7000 pound SUV would leave me hoping for an "out-of-hospital" experience at best.