I am making a jump to my first EV car (GT) since they are running the 0% 18 month lease. I am debating on whether I should install the Lucid Home Station or just go for the less expensive outlet. My only thought is that if I decide not to continue the EV route or change car brands I have a useless Lucid charger. Thoughts?
Lucid Home Station vs 14-50 outlet
- Thread starter justjim95
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Any EVSE or home charger that you get can charge Lucids as well as other cars. I would do a hard wired charger rather than the outlet. You are less likely to have any problems. Until bidirectional charging is available, the Lucid Home Charger does not provide any benefit over other chargers. If you do choose the outlet, please read the threads on NEMA 14-50 outlets. There are also multiple threads on other charger brands.
It looks like the biggest difference is that Lucid is one of the few that offers 80amp. I'm not sure how important that is since it will likely be used for overnight charging.
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Once or twice a year, 80 amp charging can make a difference (forgot to plug the car in last night, etc). With the Air's range, personally I'd just hard wire a Chargepoint Home Flex on a 60-amp breaker (48 amp charging) and call it good enough. IMO avoid installing an outlet. Having an electrician hardwire your charger is much safer, can give faster charging, and should cost about the same.
We are a two-EV-only household: my wife's on a ChargePoint Home Flex on an old 40-amp breaker, and mine (the Air) on Lucid's LHCS using a 60-amp breaker. When we go to a gas station in a rented car after flying somewhere, it takes me a minute to remember what to do.
We are a two-EV-only household: my wife's on a ChargePoint Home Flex on an old 40-amp breaker, and mine (the Air) on Lucid's LHCS using a 60-amp breaker. When we go to a gas station in a rented car after flying somewhere, it takes me a minute to remember what to do.
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An alternative charger might be an Emporia. Half the price of a ChargePoint and mine has performed perfectly thus far. Currently I have it on a Hubbard 14-50 outlet/50A breaker pulling 40A, but it also gives the option of hardwiring to a 60A for 48A charging. Comes with software to monitor your usage if you choose. Like DeaneG said, the only time you‘ll need faster charging is if you forget to plug your EV in when you come home in the evening. If you have an EA or similar fast charging station locally, you should be covered. The nearest one to me is 14 miles and I’ve still never had an issue.
So oddly, I have an old Tesla charger but I wired it with an 80A breaker (to future proof it ) and I get 17 KW/75 mph on my Air when I charge with it. It limited me to 48A with the Tesla because of the internal charger but this seems to be closer to 71 Amps. Who knew?
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If your old Tesla charger is set up correctly, you should be able to pull 0.8 * 80A = 64A from it with the Lucid. Depending on your line voltage, that's around 240*64 = 15.4kW.
It could be that your Tesla HPWC is incorrectly set for a 90 amp breaker rather than 80 amp.
Any idea of when bidirectional charging will be available? I saw an article that Lucid could enable this feature with an OTA update. I am interested since installing a solar system and it could effectively function as a battery in a black out.
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The standards for how bi-directional will work and what disconnect equipment is required are not in place. I talked with my local utility (APS) at the National Drive Electric Week a few weeks ago about it and was told that they have started a demo project with Ford but that the engineers are still working on the configuration. They expect to have the demo ready by middle of 2024. My take is that we are several years away from widespread use of bi-directional charging.
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I would not buy the LHCS with the intent of using it for future bidirectional charging if you are located in the USA. Buy it for the possibility of very fast 80 amp charging at a reasonable cost.
I purchased the Emporia charger and hardwired it. It has worked flawlessly since my install in July of this year. When hardwired it will supply 11.5Kw when run at 48 amps on a 60 breaker. I have not run into a scenario where faster home charging was needed. (i.e. 80amps)
Agree which means I'm not buying it until bidirectional charging is realized
Agree which means I'm not buying it until bidirectional charging is realized
That's why I spent the extra $ for the Lucid home charger. I had another (Juice Box) that worked just fine for overnight charging, but gave it to my daughter (new Bronco) when the Betty Boop (hi Boski) charger arrived. I support the brand. Because electricians are scoundrels I did not get the amp wire I specked ( he gave me AWG 4 ... and set the DIP to 72 amps). But I still get a mile a minute one way.
I believe the bi-directional thing is just a marketing ruse. I support the brand anyway. Best car in the history of cars.
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