How do I get Lucid folks to pay attention to my concern?

[AltadenaAir]

I experienced very weird battery and charging behaviors on my first road trip. I send emails to Customer Care that went un-answered for a week. Then I called and was told my concern was being sent to the Battery and Charging Team (which, I presume, is a part of engineering? it's not clear). Nothing happened for a week. More emails to Customer Care went unanswered. I called two days ago, and asked for a response by the end of day yesterday. No joy.

This is not my first rodeo. I had a forty year career in Tech and twenty years as a CTO, so I know a bit about the challenges of getting and providing support. I am an engineer who has studied battery technology for twenty years, and I owned a Tesla Model S since 2012. So I gave what I thought was some good observational input in my support case, not just "my car doesn't work right". (FWIW, the problems on the road trip were two: unexplained rapid range loss and a situation where EA charging would jump around from 30kW-80kW every few seconds, with very low average charge rate.)

I see that some people on the forum have received good support from Customer Care, and others not so much. And I'm trying not to whine - I am in this for the long haul, and I want Lucid to be successful.

What suggestions do you have for getting someone knowledgable to look at the logs in my car? Does email to Customer Care not work as a way to get meaningful support?

 

[Bobby]

Would you mind sharing more details about your experience with charging that prompted your inquiry?

 

[tmilone103]

I experienced very weird battery and charging behaviors on my first road trip. I send emails to Customer Care that went un-answered for a week. Then I called and was told my concern was being sent to the Battery and Charging Team (which, I presume, is a part of engineering? it's not clear). Nothing happened for a week. More emails to Customer Care went unanswered. I called two days ago, and asked for a response by the end of day yesterday. No joy.

This is not my first rodeo. I had a forty year career in Tech and twenty years as a CTO, so I know a bit about the challenges of getting and providing support. I am an engineer who has studied battery technology for twenty years, and I owned a Tesla Model S since 2012. So I gave what I thought was some good observational input in my support case, not just "my car doesn't work right". (FWIW, the problems on the road trip were two: unexplained rapid range loss and a situation where EA charging would jump around from 30kW-80kW every few seconds, with very low average charge rate.)

I see that some people on the forum have received good support from Customer Care, and others not so much. And I'm trying not to whine - I am in this for the long haul, and I want Lucid to be successful.

What suggestions do you have for getting someone knowledgable to look at the logs in my car? Does email to Customer Care not work as a way to get meaningful support?

I have had the same issue at certain EA stations but I doubt its anything related to the vehicle. I have zero issues charging on other networks including home charging which is extremely steady.

 

[BobFM]

Probably worth sending a text to CS as well. I find that is typically the fastest way to get a hold of someone.

 

[Bel]

I experienced very weird battery and charging behaviors on my first road trip. I send emails to Customer Care that went un-answered for a week. Then I called and was told my concern was being sent to the Battery and Charging Team (which, I presume, is a part of engineering? it's not clear). Nothing happened for a week. More emails to Customer Care went unanswered. I called two days ago, and asked for a response by the end of day yesterday. No joy.

This is not my first rodeo. I had a forty year career in Tech and twenty years as a CTO, so I know a bit about the challenges of getting and providing support. I am an engineer who has studied battery technology for twenty years, and I owned a Tesla Model S since 2012. So I gave what I thought was some good observational input in my support case, not just "my car doesn't work right". (FWIW, the problems on the road trip were two: unexplained rapid range loss and a situation where EA charging would jump around from 30kW-80kW every few seconds, with very low average charge rate.)

I see that some people on the forum have received good support from Customer Care, and others not so much. And I'm trying not to whine - I am in this for the long haul, and I want Lucid to be successful.

What suggestions do you have for getting someone knowledgable to look at the logs in my car? Does email to Customer Care not work as a way to get meaningful support?

I also experienced slow responses from the very beginning. So, ever since I always call both CC and SC and next day call CC again to confim that my ticket has been recorded in the CC end. And then it may take a few weeks before someone responds.

 

[Adnillien]

What suggestions do you have for getting someone knowledgable to look at the logs in my car? Does email to Customer Care not work as a way to get meaningful support?

I have had very good response by email. I get an automated response right a away and a real follow up in 15 minutes to two hours. I have always received a timely response. I have never had an issue that required immediate assistance so email has been fine.

 

[AltadenaAir]

Would you mind sharing more details about your experience with charging that prompted your inquiry?

Sure. I posted elsewhere, but in summary: Problem #1: I was at a reasonably low SOC, and when charging at an EA charger the power delivered would fluctuate wildly from ~30kW to ~80kW, back and forth every few seconds. This happened at multiple chargers. Problem #2, same trip: My efficiency dropped to something around 2mi/kW. Granted I was driving 77, and the temperature outside was ~47F, but in my judgement neither of those is extreme enough to explain the low efficiency. I mostly used ACC.

The way I see it, either the battery did not actually contain the charge it reported, when I left the EA charger, or my drive system efficiency somehow dropped off a cliff. Since the charging was also wonky, I tend to believe there is a shared cause - the BMS is somehow broken.

The problem has not re-occurred, but that's little consolation. Related: I have never received charge rates over 125kW, despite meeting the likely criteria of SOC, pre-conditioned, adequate charger capacity (350s), etc. That could be completely unrelated, of course.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

Would you mind sharing more details about your experience with charging that prompted your inquiry?

You have the patience of a saint.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Related: I have never received charge rates over 125kW, despite meeting the likely criteria of SOC, pre-conditioned, adequate charger capacity (350s), etc. That could be completely unrelated, of course.

The is almost certainly the external charger, NOT the Lucid.

 

[windscar911]

situation where EA charging would jump around from 30kW-80kW every few seconds, with very low average charge rate

I have experienced the same thing every time at a charger location near home. Its happening to some other cars as well. Definitely an EA thing unfortunately.

 

[Coltonw011]

If available, try a different charging network than EA and see if the car performs better. EA is just awful sadly

 

[Neurio]

Sure. I posted elsewhere, but in summary: Problem #1: I was at a reasonably low SOC, and when charging at an EA charger the power delivered would fluctuate wildly from ~30kW to ~80kW, back and forth every few seconds. This happened at multiple chargers. Problem #2, same trip: My efficiency dropped to something around 2mi/kW. Granted I was driving 77, and the temperature outside was ~47F, but in my judgement neither of those is extreme enough to explain the low efficiency. I mostly used ACC.

The way I see it, either the battery did not actually contain the charge it reported, when I left the EA charger, or my drive system efficiency somehow dropped off a cliff. Since the charging was also wonky, I tend to believe there is a shared cause - the BMS is somehow broken.

The problem has not re-occurred, but that's little consolation. Related: I have never received charge rates over 125kW, despite meeting the likely criteria of SOC, pre-conditioned, adequate charger capacity (350s), etc. That could be completely unrelated, of course.

I have had the charging speed dance a few times. It usually resolves after a few minutes and is almost certainly on EAs end.

Was it windy the day you drove with the poor efficiency? A strong headwind will really kill your efficiency. I saw this on a drive back from the Bay area. On my way up, I got 3.2 mi/kWh, even going almost 80 mph for long stretches. On my way back it was only 2.2 mi/kWh no matter what speed I drove. Turns out I was driving into a 20 mph headwind the whole time without feeling it thanks to the great aerodynamics of the car.

 

[mcr16]

I experienced very weird battery and charging behaviors on my first road trip. I send emails to Customer Care that went un-answered for a week. Then I called and was told my concern was being sent to the Battery and Charging Team (which, I presume, is a part of engineering? it's not clear). Nothing happened for a week. More emails to Customer Care went unanswered. I called two days ago, and asked for a response by the end of day yesterday. No joy.

This is not my first rodeo. I had a forty year career in Tech and twenty years as a CTO, so I know a bit about the challenges of getting and providing support. I am an engineer who has studied battery technology for twenty years, and I owned a Tesla Model S since 2012. So I gave what I thought was some good observational input in my support case, not just "my car doesn't work right". (FWIW, the problems on the road trip were two: unexplained rapid range loss and a situation where EA charging would jump around from 30kW-80kW every few seconds, with very low average charge rate.)

I see that some people on the forum have received good support from Customer Care, and others not so much. And I'm trying not to whine - I am in this for the long haul, and I want Lucid to be successful.

What suggestions do you have for getting someone knowledgable to look at the logs in my car? Does email to Customer Care not work as a way to get meaningful support?

Hi, @AltadenaAir.

Thank you for sharing. I just dropped you a DM.

Marqie

 

[AltadenaAir]

For those following along at home: Marqie is on the "Voice of the Customer Team" at Lucid. I didn't even know they had one, but I'm glad to hear of it. We are now in communication via email.

I will post updates as appropriate.

 

[Bobby]

For those following along at home: Marqie is on the "Voice of the Customer Team" at Lucid. I didn't even know they had one, but I'm glad to hear of it. We are now in communication via email.

I will post updates as appropriate.

Do you feel is appropriate to now mark this thread resolved?

 

[Steveinarizona]

Do you feel is appropriate to now mark this thread resolved?

I would say semi-closed. I don't think any more of us need to post but I, for one, would like to hear about the final resolution and how it went once the OP was in touch with the right Lucid folks.

 

[Sid432]

I would say semi-closed. I don't think any more of us need to post but I, for one, would like to hear about the final resolution and how it went once the OP was in touch with the right Lucid folks.

+1

 

[BS8899]

I don't think we should consider this thread closed until Lucid's ENGINEERING folks contact the thread originator and come back with an action plan.
I don't want to rant, but I've been down this path with Lucid before. In spite of the contact from "Voice of the Customer Team", no one followed through with any action.

 

[AltadenaAir]

To BS8899's point, my Voice of the Customer interaction resulted in a call from a local service center. The guy who made the call wasn't very knowledgeable at all. For example, when I asked the simple question "Will your team be able to remotely view my vehicle logs, or is that information only available to HQ engineering?", he didn't know. He asked "a tech" who told him that:

1. I would have to bring my car in, so they could connect to it with LDS (I'm guessing that is Lucid Diagnostic System or somesuch, not the other LDS).
2. After they collect some data, they might be able to engage with engineering. I asked if they could do this with mobile service, and he said, "We have discontinued our remote service option". I reacted with, uh, surprise and disappointment. What I meant is, WTF? This is still posted on the website:

Lucid Care. Service made seamless.

Servicing your Lucid is as smooth and elegant as the car itself.

www.lucidmotors.com

I'll be reaching out to our Voice of the Customer friends.

 

[Steveinarizona]

To BS8899's point, my Voice of the Customer interaction resulted in a call from a local service center. The guy who made the call wasn't very knowledgeable at all. For example, when I asked the simple question "Will your team be able to remotely view my vehicle logs, or is that information only available to HQ engineering?", he didn't know. He asked "a tech" who told him that:

1. I would have to bring my car in, so they could connect to it with LDS (I'm guessing that is Lucid Diagnostic System or somesuch, not the other LDS).
2. After they collect some data, they might be able to engage with engineering. I asked if they could do this with mobile service, and he said, "We have discontinued our remote service option". I reacted with, uh, surprise and disappointment. What I meant is, WTF? This is still posted on the website:

Lucid Care. Service made seamless.

Servicing your Lucid is as smooth and elegant as the car itself.

www.lucidmotors.com

I'll be reaching out to our Voice of the Customer friends.

I am glad we didn't close this thread. Based on the OP's name, he is in the LA area which should be well covered by Lucid. Perhaps the reason for the "might be able to engage" is that once the tech examines the logs, she might be able to determine the problem and fix then without involving engineering. That is my "glass half full" shot at an explanation.

I was surprised to hear that your local service center has discontinued remote service. I looked at the Monroney sticker for my Genesis and it says 3 years complimentary service valet but there is an asterisk which states that exclusions may apply, see retailer for details. My first suggestion is to look at the Monroney stocker on your Lucid and see if it addresses the remote service.

Altadena: keep posting updates please.