Mt Washington, New Hampshire

RichMalden

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So I was bored today and decided to see how the Air did on a fairly steep mountain climb.

Mt Washington in New Hampshire is a 6,288 foot mountain with an 8 mile road to the summit. I was curious how much battery the climb would take.

The 8 mile trip up used 58 miles of range to finish. Of course the drive down recovered 34 miles for a net usage of 24 miles of range to travel 16 miles.

I thought that was pretty decent.

I was rewarded with a gorgeous view at the top of 100 miles. Only one other time I've been there was it that good. Often it is totally clouded over.

Temperature at the base was 60s and it was 34° at the summit. Small amounts of ice and snow up there.

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Awesome view; thanks for the great pictures. I've been up four times total - twice driving and twice on the cog train. Only once was the weather awful. Maybe I'll give it a whirl one day in my AGT.
 
So I was bored today and decided to see how the Air did on a fairly steep mountain climb.

Mt Washington in New Hampshire is a 6,288 foot mountain with an 8 mile road to the summit. I was curious how much battery the climb would take.

The 8 mile trip up used 58 miles of range to finish. Of course the drive down recovered 34 miles for a net usage of 24 miles of range to travel 16 miles.

I thought that was pretty decent.

I was rewarded with a gorgeous view at the top of 100 miles. Only one other time I've been there was it that good. Often it is totally clouded over.

Temperature at the base was 60s and it was 34° at the summit. Small amounts of ice and snow up there.

View attachment 4729View attachment 4730View attachment 4731View attachment 4732View attachment 4733
What beautiful pictures!!!!
 
So I was bored today and decided to see how the Air did on a fairly steep mountain climb.

Mt Washington in New Hampshire is a 6,288 foot mountain with an 8 mile road to the summit. I was curious how much battery the climb would take.

The 8 mile trip up used 58 miles of range to finish. Of course the drive down recovered 34 miles for a net usage of 24 miles of range to travel 16 miles.

I thought that was pretty decent.

I was rewarded with a gorgeous view at the top of 100 miles. Only one other time I've been there was it that good. Often it is totally clouded over.

Temperature at the base was 60s and it was 34° at the summit. Small amounts of ice and snow up there.

View attachment 4729View attachment 4730View attachment 4731View attachment 4732View attachment 4733
Luicd on top of the world! Thanks for sharing the photos and the range info is very helpful!
 
So I was bored today and decided to see how the Air did on a fairly steep mountain climb.

Mt Washington in New Hampshire is a 6,288 foot mountain with an 8 mile road to the summit. I was curious how much battery the climb would take.

The 8 mile trip up used 58 miles of range to finish. Of course the drive down recovered 34 miles for a net usage of 24 miles of range to travel 16 miles.

I thought that was pretty decent.

I was rewarded with a gorgeous view at the top of 100 miles. Only one other time I've been there was it that good. Often it is totally clouded over.

Temperature at the base was 60s and it was 34° at the summit. Small amounts of ice and snow up there.

View attachment 4729View attachment 4730View attachment 4731View attachment 4732View attachment 4733
I totally missed this post! Awesome drive and great photos, I didn’t get to go up the mountain when I was up there back in September cuz the wife and kid would have puked in the car haha. I’ll see you at the New England gathering later today!
 
Today my Lucid Air climbed a mountain. I drove up to the summit of Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts.

When I turned off the highway in North Adams, I was at 59% charge. 9.2 miles later, I had climbed 2800 feet burning 7% of my battery. On the way down, I gained 4% back, for a net of 3% to go 18 miles. Given the small numbers and probable rounding errors, I wouldn’t read too much into that implied 5mi/kWh. Nonetheless, I was impressed that the car was fun on the curvy mountain road, didn’t notice the steep grade on the way up, and I didn’t have to touch the brakes on the way down, just used regen. I got to ignore all of the signs about low gear and engine braking.

As with many places I go, there was no cell service for much of the day. I was expecting this and played from my cell phone where I had loaded material in advance. I did discover that the Lucid nav would not route me home from the summit without cell service, even though I had supposedly already downloaded the state map for offline use.
 
Today my Lucid Air climbed a mountain. I drove up to the summit of Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts.

When I turned off the highway in North Adams, I was at 59% charge. 9.2 miles later, I had climbed 2800 feet burning 7% of my battery. On the way down, I gained 4% back, for a net of 3% to go 18 miles. Given the small numbers and probable rounding errors, I wouldn’t read too much into that implied 5mi/kWh. Nonetheless, I was impressed that the car was fun on the curvy mountain road, didn’t notice the steep grade on the way up, and I didn’t have to touch the brakes on the way down, just used regen. I got to ignore all of the signs about low gear and engine braking.

As with many places I go, there was no cell service for much of the day. I was expecting this and played from my cell phone where I had loaded material in advance. I did discover that the Lucid nav would not route me home from the summit without cell service, even though I had supposedly already downloaded the state map for offline use.
You have to explicitly put the maps in offline mode for it to route you using the offline maps.
 
You have to explicitly put the maps in offline mode for it to route you using the offline maps.
I tried that, and it gave me an error about downloading maps first. Which I have done in the past, but maybe a firmware update dumped them? I will check again today.
 
Been up to the top of Mt Washington several times. Never on 4 wheels though. Once hiking and a handful of times on my motorcycle. Great pictures!
 
I tried that, and it gave me an error about downloading maps first. Which I have done in the past, but maybe a firmware update dumped them? I will check again today.
Sure enough, there were no downloaded maps, even though I have done that before (and changed them several times as we have traveled. I don't know when they disappeared, but I have loaded them again.
 
That's a great drive up and great views. The lucid still feels very wide to me and that'll probably make me a tad nervous with the drop offs, my itchy-ness with heights and oncoming traffic on those narrow roads.

Hoping to make it up there before they close it for the year.
 
Beautiful pictures! and thanks for sharing your experience and taking initiative to try your Air on this climb. I see some snow/ice at the summit, what time of the year did you go? I wonder if it would be safe to drive Lucid up Mt. Washington, if there's snow or Ice on the road?
I looked up this forum for exactly this kind of post as I'm going to Mt. Washington in a few days and was nervous for how much battery would drain during the climb and if my Lucid Air would fit those narrow roads when passing other other way traffic specially with pretty gigantic ditches on the edges? Should there be a problem? We'll be driving from NYC , stopping over in Boston where i may charge but where else should i charge before starting our Mt. Washington climb? please advice!
I have some Zenith Red Air. I'm a YouTuber and excited to make some 360 shots of this beauty on the Mt. Washington, only if i can gather some courage to do this on Lucid Air.
 
Beautiful pictures! and thanks for sharing your experience and taking initiative to try your Air on this climb. I see some snow/ice at the summit, what time of the year did you go? I wonder if it would be safe to drive Lucid up Mt. Washington, if there's snow or Ice on the road?
I looked up this forum for exactly this kind of post as I'm going to Mt. Washington in a few days and was nervous for how much battery would drain during the climb and if my Lucid Air would fit those narrow roads when passing other other way traffic specially with pretty gigantic ditches on the edges? Should there be a problem? We'll be driving from NYC , stopping over in Boston where i may charge but where else should i charge before starting our Mt. Washington climb? please advice!
I have some Zenith Red Air. I'm a YouTuber and excited to make some 360 shots of this beauty on the Mt. Washington, only if i can gather some courage to do this on Lucid Air.

I went on September 17th of 2022.

I had free EA charging. I actually went slightly indirectly by heading to Portland Maine to the EA charger there and then cut across to Mt Washington. It was only very slightly out of the way but was absolutely the right decision for me as it gave me peace of mind about my SOC. When I do it again, I'd take the exact same route.

The road is amazingly maintained and has never felt dangerous any of the many times I've gone up. There have been 3 deaths on the auto road over the past 150 years:

In 1880, a stage coach overturned (in the hands of a drunk driver), and a passenger was killed. In 1984, a vehicle experienced brake failure about a mile up the road and was unable to make it down safely. And a motorcyclist suffered a fatal crash in 2009.

Pretty good safety record considering 45,000 cars go up it each year.

Don't be in a rush to get to the top. There's so many stops along the way and each one will be such a different perspective. New Hampshire's tallest ski mountain, Wildcat, is right across the road. By the time you get near the top of Mt. Washington it'll look like the flat lands from your perspective.

The biggest variable, by far, is weather and visibility. Even when totally clouded in though, the road feels super safe. It's scarier for the passengers watching the edge and their minds racing. The driver is focused on the road.

I've had trips where the clouds never cleared at top. One trip, it was totally socked in, you couldn't see more than 100 feet. I decided to go through the museum in the basement of the large lodge building at the summit. 20 minutes later as I came upstairs from the museum and voila! it was as crystal clear out as ever. It can be that dramatic of a change.

If you make all your stops on the way up, which I feel is best, the ride down will be as simple as it gets with the Lucid. With an ICE vehicle you really do have to think/worry about overheating your brakes. You have zero worries with the Lucid as you'll barely touch them.

Make sure you listen to the recorded self-guided tour during the drive up. It will give so much information that you wouldn't realize on your own.

Obviously foliage will be amazing but it may be getting late in the season for peak. The Kancamagus Highway is by far the #1 place for leaf peeping. The area is void of EA chargers and I'm not sure about alternates so make sure you have a plan if you're doing it. Be sure to visit the shops in nearby North Conway. Some hotels there have chargers too which I considered but didn't need.

I've never gone this late in the season but the road is so well managed I have to imagine if it is open it is safe. Enjoy your trip and I look forward to seeing the results!
 
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I went on September 17th of 2022.

I had free EA charging. I actually went slightly indirectly by heading to Portland Maine to the EA charger there and then cut across to Mt Washington. It was only very slightly out of the way but was absolutely the right decision for me as it gave me peace of mind about my SOC. When I do it again, I'd take the exact same route.

The road is amazingly maintained and has never felt dangerous any of the many times I've gone up. There have been 3 deaths on the auto road over the past 150 years:

In 1880, a stage overturned (in the hands of a drunk driver), and a passenger was killed. In 1984, a vehicle experienced brake failure about a mile up the road and was unable to make it down safely. And a motorcyclist suffered a fatal crash in 2009.

Pretty good safety record considering 45,000 cars go up it each year.

Don't be in a rush to get to the top. There's so many stops along the way and each one will be such a different perspective. New Hampshire's tallest ski mountain, Wildcat, is right across the road. By the time you get near the top of Mt. Washington it'll look like the flat lands from your perspective.

The biggest variable, by far, is weather and visibility. Even when totally clouded in though, the road feels super safe. It's scarier for the passengers watching the edge and their minds racing. The driver is focused on the road.

I've had trips where the clouds never cleared at top. One trip, it was totally socked in, you couldn't see more than 100 feet. I decided to go through the museum in the basement of the large lodge building at the summit. 20 minutes later as I came upstairs from the museum and voila! it was as crystal clear out as ever. It can be that dramatic of a change.

If you make all your stops on the way up, which I feel is best, the ride down will be as simple as it gets with the Lucid. With an ICE vehicle you really do have to think/worry about overheating your brakes. You have zero worries with the Lucid as you'll barely touch them.

Make sure you listen to the recorded self-guided tour during the drive up. It will give so much information that you wouldn't realize on your own.

Obviously foliage will be amazing but it's may be getting late in the season for peak. The Kancamagus Highway is by far the #1 place for leaf peeping. The area is void of EA chargers and I'm not sure about alternates so make sure you have a plan if you're doing it. Be sure to visit the shops in nearby North Conway. Some hotels there have chargers too which I considered but didn't need.

I've never gone this late in the season but the road is so well managed I have to imagine if it is open it is safe. Enjoy your trip and I look forward to seeing the results!
Thanks for all these details Rich, I remember you mentioning this trip before. My dad is coming up in a couple weeks and we are gonna drive to Quebec and Montreal but do Mt Washington on the way up and I was wondering if going from Portland ME would be better that up through NH charging wise.
 
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