Lucid Air charging rate on 350 KW fast charger

[DeaneG]

Lucid has stated they are aware of some issues with EA and are working on an OTA fix. What, and when, remains to be seen.

 

[HariK]

I saw that, too.

EA email summaries will tell you the max kW pulled, which is not in the app summary.

I never got an email even though I checked that box in the App. Perhaps I should send a text to EA about it.

 

[Canyonero!]

Only provides history of the last charging session at EA.

Mine had both sessions that I did that day.

So far, the only two I've done.

 

[AustinAir]

I picked up my Touring model on Feb. 25th in Denver and drove home to Wichita that afternoon. I love the car, and so far the only issues I have had are charging related, all at EA stations. 3 stops on the way home, with issues at each stop, with multiple plug in/unplug/ plug in "charging error" notifications. Several times I could not unplug after these errors with a red light at the charge port. Ended up contacting Lucid support which then contacted EA support to resolve my issues.

Other charging issues I have are the slow charge rates, all at EA 350 kWh stations and usually I was the only car charging. I haven't charged until preconditioned and SOC is near 20%. My fastest ever charge is 164 kWh, but usually closer to 90-120 kWh. I also made a road trip to Ft. Worth 2 weeks ago and experienced the same issues at EA stations on that route as well. The slow charges turned a 5.5 hour ICE drive into a 7+ hour EV drive, which really sucks if it won't charge at the advertised speed.

Very disappointing, but short of something scammy and whool being pulled over our eyes, I have to believe this is all software related. I consistently get 230+ while charging on a Kia which has 800V system. I recently TUROd a Tesla model 3 and it always got to 250Kw albeit only for 10 mins and below 40% SOC. I guess it remains to be seen. Does lucid do any official blog posts addressing their charge curve specifically? Not the 3rd party testers. I’m sure they’re aware of the advertised rate inconsistency. Given that it’s one of the top reasons to buy this car I’m sure many are asking for their roadmap here.

 

[hydbob]

Very disappointing, but short of something scammy and whool being pulled over our eyes, I have to believe this is all software related. I consistently get 230+ while charging on a Kia which has 800V system. I recently TUROd a Tesla model 3 and it always got to 250Kw albeit only for 10 mins and below 40% SOC. I guess it remains to be seen. Does lucid do any official blog posts addressing their charge curve specifically? Not the 3rd party testers. I’m sure they’re aware of the advertised rate inconsistency. Given that it’s one of the top reasons to buy this car I’m sure many are asking for their roadmap here.

Prior to a few months ago, the Lucid was doing fine. Then between EA performing their system wide update, swapping out machines and Lucid doing some software updates, the speed has tapered off. Many reps from Lucid have made owners aware there is a known issue and they are working on it. But, saying the wool is being pulled over our eyes is a bit much, especially given video evidence to support their claims.

Like anything these days, there's a lot of interaction with software that needs to be addressed. It's no secret that EA is having their fair share of issues and are about as consistent as a flickering flame. I, personally, don't have many issues charging but that's really localized to the chargers around me also.

 

[AustinAir]

Prior to a few months ago, the Lucid was doing fine. Then between EA performing their system wide update, swapping out machines and Lucid doing some software updates, the speed has tapered off. Many reps from Lucid have made owners aware there is a known issue and they are working on it. But, saying the wool is being pulled over our eyes is a bit much, especially given video evidence to support their claims.

Like anything these days, there's a lot of interaction with software that needs to be addressed. It's no secret that EA is having their fair share of issues and are about as consistent as a flickering flame. I, personally, don't have many issues charging but that's really localized to the chargers around me also.

I’m saying short of that, meaning that would be an extreme … I agree with you that it’s software, or so I hope!

 

[TCIslandTime]

I love the Lucid Air product line and plan to purchase or lease one in Spring ’24. As a Tesla owner for the past 6 years, my only concern is the charging network.

I travel throughout the Mideast, Midwest, Western and Southeast portions of the US. I currently have a long-range Model Y, and I try to only stop at V3 (250 kW) chargers and seldom get less than 90 kW of charge until over 75% of maximum battery (pre-conditioned).

Electrify America (EA) seems to be spending their diesel-gate funds on new chargers but are not supporting/maintaining them adequately. EVGO does not appear to be an option for me. I do not want to travel 300 miles and be stuck at an EA charging station for an hour (or more) charging. If EA has a 350-kW charger available, I don’t expect to wait in line (I dislike any free charging offered by manufacturers), and I don’t expect less than 250 kW at less than 40% of charge when charging from 10% to 80%.

Are my expectations for fast charging on long trips too high with a Lucid Air product?

 

[Adnillien]

Are my expectations for fast charging on long trips too high with a Lucid Air product?

Your expectations are too high.

 

[AustinAir]

Your expectations are too high.
View attachment 10861

shouldn’t it be pointed out that State of Charge is a 3rd party documenting charging curves but this doesn’t mean that’s the permanent curve capable by the manufacturer. Software changes could make an impact?

This is why I’m asking if Lucid has officially shared anything about their charge curves and roadmaps related to this. As I’ve stated many times, it’s hard for me to believe my $50k KIA EV6 can have better charging rates to 90% than a $100K+ lucid..?

 

[Adnillien]

shouldn’t it be pointed out that State of Charge is a 3rd party documenting charging curves but this doesn’t mean that’s the permanent curve capable by the manufacturer. Software changes could make an impact?

This is why I’m asking if Lucid has officially shared anything about their charge curves and roadmaps related to this. As I’ve stated many times, it’s hard for me to believe my $50k KIA EV6 can have better charging rates to 90% than a $100K+ lucid..?

Most manufacturers consider their charging curves to be proprietary. There probably are some, but I have not seen any manufacturer provide this type of information. I agree, it would be nice if they did. I also agree that the curve can be changed with an OTA update.

 

[hydbob]

shouldn’t it be pointed out that State of Charge is a 3rd party documenting charging curves but this doesn’t mean that’s the permanent curve capable by the manufacturer. Software changes could make an impact?

This is why I’m asking if Lucid has officially shared anything about their charge curves and roadmaps related to this. As I’ve stated many times, it’s hard for me to believe my $50k KIA EV6 can have better charging rates to 90% than a $100K+ lucid..?

It's very likely that, currently, your EV6 has a better charging curve than the Lucid. That has nothing to do with the price of the car, but how each company wants to thermally manage their batteries.

If after all the data they've collected fleetwide, they've decided to change it, we will never know internally what was decide. Every single consumer relies on compiled 3rd party data to assess the charging dynamics of their EVs. Unless you can show me a company that has released specific charging information?

Enter way, if you feel that charging is your big sticking point, then currently, the Lucid is not for you. That's fair, but that's only 1 part of the equation into factoring your purchase. You do you.

 

[Artemis]

As I’ve stated many times, it’s hard for me to believe my $50k KIA EV6 can have better charging rates to 90% than a $100K+ lucid..?

Can your $50k KIA EV6 charge at 300kw?

 

[DeaneG]

Can your $50k KIA EV6 charge at 300kw?

It's the area under the charging curve that matters (total energy delivered - kWh - over X minutes), not the peak charging power (kW).

 

[Bobby]

shouldn’t it be pointed out that State of Charge is a 3rd party documenting charging curves but this doesn’t mean that’s the permanent curve capable by the manufacturer. Software changes could make an impact?

This is why I’m asking if Lucid has officially shared anything about their charge curves and roadmaps related to this. As I’ve stated many times, it’s hard for me to believe my $50k KIA EV6 can have better charging rates to 90% than a $100K+ lucid..?

If you make lots of long-distance trips and have come to rely on the charging network, stick with the Kia or get a Tesla.

I’m not sure how the price of any car has anything to do with it. It’s pretty obvious to me that the Lucid is more expensive than the Kia for many, many reasons. You have focused on just one item to support your argument that the difference in price should somehow imply superiority in every measurable category. For example, my Aston gets about 10mpg and my daughter’s Tucson gets 35. By your logic, it should be hard for me to believe a $200k car gets worse mileage than a $30k car.

 

[Volund]

Wow? I am surprised that you think that. We are talking time here. I assume you consider your time valuable. In my case, getting 60% of the published charge rate means an additional 66% of my time sitting and waiting to charge while on long trips. At that point, the car becomes less desirable for long distance travel, adding a full hour to a trip with multiple charge stops. If you Bought a pound of steak, but it only measured .6 pounds, would you say the same thing. It is a big deal for many of us that we bought something that is not measuring up to what we bought.

Another issue is that there is something broken in the car. impacting reliability. So far, they have found poorly connected cables in my car. At one point, the car completely bricked and had to be towed to the service center. I do not want other issues, such as early battery failure on charging component failures, based on me not trying to force Lucid to correct early performance problems. When something is not matching specifications, it very well may be a significant problem at a later point.

When I first got my car, I was on software update 2.0.15. EA worked flawlessly and I was very confident in it. I never hit 300 but reading the forums, I stayed weary. I was always around 150-250. I did a road trip from DC to SLC, roughly a 2.8k mile trip with detours.

I went to Vegas a few months ago (2.0.36 or so) and the same EA station that worked a few hours prior, didn't work when I came back to the same exact station and when I was trying to charge back to 80% to leave on my trip and depart.

Things like that scare me during long trips.

But I still don't believe Lucid made any significant changes or even any changes at all to the way their car charges.. So I don't have a real reason to believe that Lucid is the cause for this.
But I have noticed lower and lower charging over the last few months since about December.

When I get my car back I will try a brand new 350kw evgo charger that opened up close by and report my results.

Lucid's charging strategy was a smart one it's just a shame that EA has messed it up for them. Apart from range anxiety it would be safe to say the next argument from non-EV owners is "charging takes too long compared to filling up a car with gas". Lucid tackled this issue by being able to add a large chunk of miles in the first 10 to 20 minutes. IF and this is a big IF, EA chargers actually worked properly you could run the car battery low, pull in at a 350Kw, charge for 10 to 15 mins and move on. In most cases you would have enough charge to get you to the next location and do the same process.

People tend to stop every couple of hours for coffee, bathroom breaks etc. The Lucid appears to be designed to tailor for that so when you plug in, go do your thing as you would on an ICE road trip, unplug and move on. In that short timeframe you would've been given enough juice to get you to your next stop. I don't think this car was intended for us to sit at a charger from 0 to 80% but more a get in and get out approach. That's my opinion anyway.

Most of us never get to 0% or close to it. I'd say I always leave buffer to get to the next station of current one doesn't work. I'm usually at around 30-40 percent realistically.
I almost got stranded but thankfully another charger was just 15 miles away and a Ford Lightning was stranded and rolled by to tell me he called EA and he's been stuck there all day. I took off and made it to the next station. It was also during a snowstorm and 25 degrees temperature.

Usually I'm at EA stations alone but when I do run into others, I'm not the only one experiencing issues across all these different companies and their chargers.