Impressions of my first long road trip

[Daniel2022AT]

The difference between 3.9 and 4.5 can be several factors, seemingly minor, but important to efficiency at any moment: Speed, vehicle weight, ambient temperature, wind - direction and speed, traffic conditions, elevations changes, rain, payment conditions, etc.

 

[BS8899]

The difference between 3.9 and 4.5 can be several factors, seemingly minor, but important to efficiency at any moment: Speed, vehicle weight, ambient temperature, wind - direction and speed, traffic conditions, elevations changes, rain, payment conditions, etc.

True....Milwaukee to Detroit is mostly a "flat" drive. All the factors you mentioned are relevant. But the difference between 3.9 @ 70mph and 4.5 @ 74mph is significant. The Out-of-spec 70mph test is at a constant 70mph. Not sure if your 74mph is constant or mixed in with stop-and-go traffic.

 

[BS8899]

True....Milwaukee to Detroit is mostly a "flat" drive. All the factors you mentioned are relevant. But the difference between 3.9 @ 70mph and 4.5 @ 74mph is significant. The Out-of-spec 70mph test is at a constant 70mph. Not sure if your 74mph is constant or mixed in with stop-and-go traffic.

Also, your screenshot shows you traveled ~427 miles @ 4.5 miles/kWh. Your traveled distance is ~50 miles more than from Milwaukee to Detroit. Not sure if you drove part of this mileage at lower speed (s) (i.e., less than 74 mph). The EPA's rating (mixed hwy and city driving) for the Lucid is more than 4.6 miles/kWh. Yet, few of us can achieve better than 4 miles/kWh at highway speed (75 mph).

 

[micaeljames]

I just completed my first long trip, from Boston, MA to Beaufort, SC, just over 1,000 miles each way. I have a 2023 Lucid Air Touring with 20 inch wheels and thought I would share my experience/observations, both positive and negative. Much of this is known info to experienced EV travelers, however the Air is my first EV and this my first long trip in it.

POSTIVES:
1. The Car: It is supremely comfortable, smooth, and quiet. And it performed flawlessly for the trip. A joy to drive.
2. Charger Availability: While I don't want to say Level 3 chargers were plentiful, there were enough. I stopped at several Electrify America Chargers which always worked, recognized my car, and were in well let, clean places (I joke that we had a tour of Walmart parking lot's along Hwy 95). Also, while only a short part of our drive was through CT, I have to give special mention to CT since many of the rest stops had Level 3, non-Tesla chargers by Applegate Electric that were fast and worked great. I stopped at one EVgo which was in a bad spot, with only 1 of 2 chargers working, and it was slow. And another charger I stopped at required me to download a Shell App and set it up - that took almost as long at the charging time itself. BTW, I only had to wait once for a charger to open up and that was the EVgo place with only one working.
3. Lucid Navigation App: I liked that it told me where to stop to charge, and how long to ideally charge. And it was amazing accurate at telling how much range I would have when I arrived. And I loved that it automatically started pre-conditioning the battery; something I typically forget to do. BTW, I also really like the Electrify America App that told me how many chargers were available.

NEGATIVES:
1. Range: I averaged 3.3 miles/KWhr. That was driving at 75 mph or less and minimizing use of the heater. In reality, what that meant was stopping to charge every 160-200 miles depending on charger availability. I found that disappointing for a car that ideally gets 386 miles of range. BTW, driving under 75 to get better range on a road with a speed limit of 65 or 70 meant I was getting passed by everything from Prius's to 18 wheelers Cheapest Gatwick to Canterbury Taxi.
2. Charging Speed: The car charged very fast up to about 65% and then starting slowing down. It was painfully slow to charge above 80% charge. I know this is common to all EV's, and in fact, from what I saw, the Lucid was the fastest charging car at the charging stations. But being basically limited to charging to 80% significantly impacted how far we could go between charges.
3. SW foibles: When we left Boston, it was cold. I had the heat turned off to maximize range so my wife was wrapped in a blanket. I was noticing disappointing range. I happened to check the back seat heating and all 3 seats were on full seat heater mode!! We have a dog who was in the back seat. And since the dog will trigger the seat belt alarms which will continue forever (vs. stopping after a short period like my Posche), I had the seat belts plugged in. I noticed this problem in the past so I do check, but I didn't think it would be an issue with the front heat off!

Just a few other observations: The roads can be very crowded, and we witnessed many super aggressive drivers. It was scary at times. I didn't see another Lucid the entire trip. I saw only 2 Rivians. A saw a surprising number of EV BMWs at charging stations along with Kias, VWs, Chevy Bolts (plugged into 350 KW chargers, Grrr), and even a new EV Cadillac (charging super slow to 100%).

Given my experience, while I love the car, if I knew back when I bought it what I know now about road trips in an EV, I honestly would have to think long and hard about how many trips a year we plan to go on. Because, IMO, I don't think EV's and the charging infrastructure are even remotely on par with IC cars when it comes to long trips.

Just completed our first long road trip in our ‘23 Passport ExL. As hoped, it was a most comfortable ride. Seats were great, plenty of room for luggage and a cooler, and MPG was 26+! I am extremely happy with our ride.
Waze worked great when needed. The V6 cruised effortlessly through the Tennessee mountains, and was hitting 85 MPH without notice. Had to back it off.
The adaptive CC was a little weird at times. It held distance fine, but when jumping into passing lane, response was a little slow resulting in cars bearing down on me, so I needed to jump on the accelerator pedal.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Just completed our first long road trip in our ‘23 Passport ExL. As hoped, it was a most comfortable ride. Seats were great, plenty of room for luggage and a cooler, and MPG was 26+! I am extremely happy with our ride.
Waze worked great when needed. The V6 cruised effortlessly through the Tennessee mountains, and was hitting 85 MPH without notice. Had to back it off.
The adaptive CC was a little weird at times. It held distance fine, but when jumping into passing lane, response was a little slow resulting in cars bearing down on me, so I needed to jump on the accelerator pedal.

I have made the mental decision that for any intercity trips (e.g., Phoenix to las Vegas) I would just rent an ICE vehicle. Usually it would be for a family event and I would want a larger three row seating vehicle anyway.

But it is easy for me to make that decision...I probably only do one trip a year.

 

[Bobby]

Just completed our first long road trip in our ‘23 Passport ExL. As hoped, it was a most comfortable ride. Seats were great, plenty of room for luggage and a cooler, and MPG was 26+! I am extremely happy with our ride.
Waze worked great when needed. The V6 cruised effortlessly through the Tennessee mountains, and was hitting 85 MPH without notice. Had to back it off.
The adaptive CC was a little weird at times. It held distance fine, but when jumping into passing lane, response was a little slow resulting in cars bearing down on me, so I needed to jump on the accelerator pedal.

This is a Lucid forum. You may have landed in the wrong spot.

 

[Bill55]

This is a Lucid forum. You may have landed in the wrong spot.

Perhaps he is setting up a comparison for the first Gravity road trip.

 

[victoryroad]

I’ve done two 2000 mile cross country drives with no charging anxiety in my AGT. One in mostly 35 degree weather and one in 70 degree weather. All at EA chargers, most of which were at Walmarts close to the Interstate after about 240 miles each time. Maybe not comparable to other Air models. I have no hesitation about cross country trips.