My Road Trip Experiences

[vaznayak]

So, after owning EVs for 8 yrs, i dared to take my Lucid out of town from No.Houston to Dallas - barely 250 miles. This being TX, the average speeds tend to be north of 80mph.... often touching over 100moh.... and with significsnt AC requirements, as you can imagine, range goes down rather quickly. I had to make a 15 min EA stop on the way up, and a 45 mins stop at another 350kw station on the way back. And just about made it home. That was a LOT of time to spend charging for 6.5 hrs of driving.

My old Porsche Cayenne diesel makes the round trip without any fueling stops.

Looks like I'll have to wait a few more years before charging tech and battery efficiency get to a point where they really dont cause us range anxiety.

 

[Rogue]

A lot of details omitted... What is your model? What wheels? What state of charge did you leave at from your home? What did you charge to at the first stop?

That trip is doable with a short stop of 10-15 minutes from my experience on similar length trips in a GT on 21" with 100% charge rolling out.

 

[vaznayak]

A lot of details omitted... What is your model? What wheels? What state of charge did you leave at from your home? What did you charge to at the first stop?

That trip is doable with a short stop of 10-15 minutes from my experience on similar length trips in a GT on 21" with 100% charge rolling out.

After charging u 100%, my 4 month old Air Touring gives me an official range of 377 miles. I have the 20" wheels, and was informed that the official range of 419 miles comes down to 384 miles with the 20" wheels. The 419 miles range is only available on the 19" wheels. Physically, that doesn't make sense to me. Fact is that when I ordered my vehicle over a year ago, it was configured at 419 miles. Only now are they putting 384m on their website. Wish I had retained a copy of the original screen shot showing 419 miles.

that said, even if you had the longer range 516 miles, I'm not sure how you would do 480 miles round trip with a 15 min charge unless you were driving like Ms. Daisy. When you're driving on a hot Texan day and over 80 mph, you're barely getting 70% actual miles/computed range miles.

 

[Bobby]

After charging u 100%, my 4 month old Air Touring gives me an official range of 377 miles. I have the 20" wheels, and was informed that the official range of 419 miles comes down to 384 miles with the 20" wheels. The 419 miles range is only available on the 19" wheels. Physically, that doesn't make sense to me. Fact is that when I ordered my vehicle over a year ago, it was configured at 419 miles. Only now are they putting 384m on their website. Wish I had retained a copy of the original screen shot showing 419 miles.

that said, even if you had the longer range 516 miles, I'm not sure how you would do 480 miles round trip with a 15 min charge unless you were driving like Ms. Daisy. When you're driving on a hot Texan day and over 80 mph, you're barely getting 70% actual miles/computed range miles.

Those are EPA numbers which are subject to change. They are achievable under ideal conditions. The reason the 19 inch wheels have a higher ranges because of a lower rolling resistance of their all season tires. This has been discussed many times here on the forum, perhaps do a search with the term "range." There's also a lot of information about range at www.lucidupdates.com.

 

[vaznayak]

Those are EPA numbers which are subject to change. They are achievable under ideal conditions. The reason the 19 inch wheels have a higher ranges because of a lower rolling resistance of their sport tires. This has been discussed many times here on the forum, perhaps do a search with the term "range." There's also a lot of information about range at www.lucidupdates.com.

I think we all understand that. And that was my understanding as well going into this journey. Alls I was doing was providing info on my experience given that others are claiming to have had wonderful 1000 and 1500 mile trips on their Lucids - but don't seem to address the excessively long times they would have spent on charging.
All that said, your response does not explain how you could claim to cover 480 miles in 100+ degree temps driving 80+ mph with just a 15 min charge.

I'm also calling BS on Lucid's claim that a car can charge up 200 miles in 15 mins with a 350kW charger. When I plugged in, it showed 201kW speeds for about 2 mins, when then fell rapidly to 125kW in another 2 mins, and then chugged along at around 60-70kw..... and that's without any other cars at the charging station. it took me 42 mins to go from 19 miles to 280 miles - so 261 miles in 42 mins. Keep in mind, I'm currently building out a rapidly growing EV charging operator in Texas, that is also now manufacturing Level-2 and Level-3 chargers. Hence my angst!

 

[stratus]

Perhaps you should drive closer to the speed limit.

 

[Unmutual]

First off, nobody covers 480 miles in 100+ degree temps driving 80+ mph. Period. Don't go over 70 and you have a reasonable chance of getting better range. Or stick with your diesel Cayenne. I had a diesel E-class that would get well over 600 miles a tank on long road trips. With the AGT, I'll drive 3-4 hours and spend an hour charging while I have lunch, and then drive 3-4 more hours and charge again when I stop for the night. It's worked well for my 1700- and 1400-mile trips. Your expectations need serious adjustment.

 

[Rogue]

Lucid Touring does not charge as fast as a GT. The 100+ miles really does make a difference. I tend to drop the car into single digits with limited issues (depending on route) to pull 250-300+ on plugin at an EA.

 

[Adnillien]

I think we all understand that. And that was my understanding as well going into this journey. Alls I was doing was providing info on my experience given that others are claiming to have had wonderful 1000 and 1500 mile trips on their Lucids - but don't seem to address the excessively long times they would have spent on charging.
All that said, your response does not explain how you could claim to cover 480 miles in 100+ degree temps driving 80+ mph with just a 15 min charge.

I'm also calling BS on Lucid's claim that a car can charge up 200 miles in 15 mins with a 350kW charger. When I plugged in, it showed 201kW speeds for about 2 mins, when then fell rapidly to 125kW in another 2 mins, and then chugged along at around 60-70kw..... and that's without any other cars at the charging station. it took me 42 mins to go from 19 miles to 280 miles - so 261 miles in 42 mins. Keep in mind, I'm currently building out a rapidly growing EV charging operator in Texas, that is also now manufacturing Level-2 and Level-3 chargers. Hence my angst!

I have routinely been able to add 40-50kWhr to my car in 15 minutes. That is enough to go another 150 miles when I will need another restroom stop. My only concern is broken charges or stations limiting power.

 

[vaznayak]

Perhaps you should drive closer to the speed limit.

When the speed limit is 75mph, driving at 80-85mph IS driving close to the speed limit!

 

[stratus]

Technically, that is speeding, but I get it.
I have personally found that driving the car at a slower rate of speed is much more relaxing and the range improvements are pretty substantial, but everyone has different preferences.

 

[Drendino]

Those are EPA numbers which are subject to change. They are achievable under ideal conditions. The reason the 19 inch wheels have a higher ranges because of a lower rolling resistance of their all season tires. This has been discussed many times here on the forum, perhaps do a search with the term "range." There's also a lot of information about range at www.lucidupdates.com.

I agree, there is an abundance of info on this subject and it’s hard to imagine anyone being blindsided by real world range at this point.

 

[Keithmaj]

We just back from doing 1500 mile road trip in our AT on 19" wheels, doing a roundtrip from east TX to Huntsville, AL. The weather was consistently in the high 90's and sunny. While it was hard to do, I used the ACC to pretty much drive the speed limit, usually 70 or 75 mph. I did have one instance on I-30 where I was trying to move to the left lane to pass a truck but was having to wait for an oncoming slow car on my left to move forward enough for me to move in behind him in the passing lane. As I signaled left I saw another car rapidly approaching in the left lane... turned out to be a Tesla who wouldn't let me merge in front of him. My wife said "smoke him" as I still had enough space to pass them both in the right lane and still get around the truck. That was fun...

I had roughly planned our trip using ABRP derating for my Touring, and was able to use EA DC fast charging for the most part. The first hotel claimed to have both Tesla and J1772 chargers, so we were planning on topping off over night. Was a bit surprised to find only Tesla destination chargers, half of which had the CCS cables. I was intrigued with the possibility of charging on a Tesla L2 without a Tesla Tap. The hotel folks said they have seen a lot of different types of non-Tesla EVs using them, so I decided to give it a try. Everything physically connected but after waiting for the handshaking to finish, it finally errored out giving me a Hardware Error on the Air. Tried all the CCS cables with the same result. I called CS where I was informed that our Lucid charging software didn't yet speak Tesla, so even though the cable fit my port, it wouldn't charge. So much for a bonus charge...

In summary, while we had a bit of charger anxiety at the beginning of the trip, 5 of the 6 EA chargers worked using PNC pushing out between 200-120 and dropping to 80 kw per the charging curve. The sixth charger required me to authorize the charger from my App. The car was flawless and the AC was fine even with the glass canopy (we're still on 2.0.71 so no Max AC). This was our first road trip since I retired, and I guess not having to meet any schedule allowed us to go slow and steady, averaging 3.8 m/kwh for the trip! Originally planned to alternate the driving with my wife, but the car was so dang comfortable and the tunes kept me hopping that I drove the entire trip! Maybe next time dear...

 

[Bobby]

I think we all understand that. And that was my understanding as well going into this journey. Alls I was doing was providing info on my experience given that others are claiming to have had wonderful 1000 and 1500 mile trips on their Lucids - but don't seem to address the excessively long times they would have spent on charging.
All that said, your response does not explain how you could claim to cover 480 miles in 100+ degree temps driving 80+ mph with just a 15 min charge.

I'm also calling BS on Lucid's claim that a car can charge up 200 miles in 15 mins with a 350kW charger. When I plugged in, it showed 201kW speeds for about 2 mins, when then fell rapidly to 125kW in another 2 mins, and then chugged along at around 60-70kw..... and that's without any other cars at the charging station. it took me 42 mins to go from 19 miles to 280 miles - so 261 miles in 42 mins. Keep in mind, I'm currently building out a rapidly growing EV charging operator in Texas, that is also now manufacturing Level-2 and Level-3 chargers. Hence my angst!

Did you precondition? You are correct that there are variations in EA charging speed and quality. This is a common theme on this forum.

 

[Volund]

First off, nobody covers 480 miles in 100+ degree temps driving 80+ mph. Period. Don't go over 70 and you have a reasonable chance of getting better range. Or stick with your diesel Cayenne. I had a diesel E-class that would get well over 600 miles a tank on long road trips. With the AGT, I'll drive 3-4 hours and spend an hour charging while I have lunch, and then drive 3-4 more hours and charge again when I stop for the night. It's worked well for my 1700- and 1400-mile trips. Your expectations need serious adjustment.

^ this

I have routinely been able to add 40-50kWhr to my car in 15 minutes. That is enough to go another 150 miles when I will need another restroom stop. My only concern is broken charges or stations limiting power.

Yeah, same when the 350kw charger has actually worked.

When the speed limit is 75mph, driving at 80-85mph IS driving close to the speed limit!

With EV's your expectations need to change on range and speed. The biggest factor for loss of range is speed. Stick to 70 MPH and get in the slow lane and you'll go much further on a single charge. Or if you're going where there is more of an abundance of chargers, go faster, and charge more frequently. Did you try ABRP for your route? What were the suggestions? Take notes, experiment, it's fun for me when I have to figure out how to make my trip more efficient. And I went on a close to 3000 mile road trip in the AGT.

 

[austinlucid]

Found this thread after having a less-than-stellar experience on a road trip from Austin to Galveston.

The issue on my trip was an EA charger that flat out wouldn't work (worked ok on the way there, same charger flat out failed every time on the return trip, though other cars could charge there).

My range was about 2/3 as advertised, and that wasn't an issue for me - I expected the range would be much lower due to the 105+ degree heat and going 80-85 mph most of the way.

Primary thing I wanted to comment on, though, is folks saying "just go 70 MPH". I have a difficult time believing you've driven much in Texas. At 70 you'd likely be among the slowest cars (if not the slowest) on many stretches of highway in Texas - most of the highways I was traveling on the speed limit was 75 MPH, except a stretch near Austin where it's 85 (the highest speed limit in the country). When I go 80 in a 75 zone I'd say I'm normally average or a tad slower than the average rate of speed of other cars.

Physics is physics, and I fully understand and expect to get lower mileage the faster I go, but the common 65 max speed limit of other states doesn't apply to Texas, and it's usually safest to travel at the average rate of speed of other cars.

 

[Daniel2022AT]

After completing a 3,000 mile road trip Wisconsin to Florida and back, here are some additional thoughts adding to my earlier post.

1. Driving at 74-75 mph seems to be a good compromise between speed and efficiency.

2. Ambient temperature of 95F and above just destroys efficient and range. It took me from 4.0 mi/kWh to 3.3 mI/kWh.

3. Fast charging at high temps of >95F is pointless over 75% SOC. The vehicle ramps down to 20-30 KW which makes it a futile use of time. Plan accordingly.

4. I had a near flawless experience with EA. A couple chargers did not connect but I quickly shifted to one that did. Max power from a 350 was 220 Kw. Max power from a 150 was 178 Kw (above rated power). I found the 350s deliver slightly higher power until about 50% SOC and then it is approximately equivalent. This saves 3-5 minutes per charging session which is not that much. I averaged about 90 KW for a typical charging session adding 50-60 KWh. The best one averaged 110 Kw.

 

[vaznayak]

Great to see the machine dictate to the human how to live your life. I like to drive my cars the way I need them to work for me...... if they don't perform to expectations, I don't make excuses for the machine...... I recognize them as shortcomings - and areas for improvement. Like another poster here said, you will struggle to get through Texas if you drive like Ms. Daisy at slower than 80 mph.

That said, these super fast chargers are touted as adding 200 miles in 15 mins. DOES NOT HAPPEN guys! Did you actually get that much of a charge in 15 mins?

 

[Bunnylebowski]

After completing a 3,000 mile road trip Wisconsin to Florida and back, here are some additional thoughts adding to my earlier post.

1. Driving at 74-75 mph seems to be a good compromise between speed and efficiency.

2. Ambient temperature of 95F and above just destroys efficient and range. It took me from 4.0 mi/kWh to 3.3 mI/kWh.

3. Fast charging at high temps of >95F is pointless over 75% SOC. The vehicle ramps down to 20-30 KW which makes it a futile use of time. Plan accordingly.

4. I had a near flawless experience with EA. A couple chargers did not connect but I quickly shifted to one that did. Max power from a 350 was 220 Kw. Max power from a 150 was 178 Kw (above rated power). I found the 350s deliver slightly higher power until about 50% SOC and then it is approximately equivalent. This saves 3-5 minutes per charging session which is not that much. I averaged about 90 KW for a typical charging session adding 50-60 KWh. The best one averaged 110 Kw.

Tom Moloughney on Inside EVs did a great charging curve test on the lucid comparing 150kw and 350kw, you’ll only save 11 minutes max and that’s only if you pull in at a very very low SOC% like less than 5% which requires some bravery given EA may not work.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

The first hotel claimed to have both Tesla and J1772 chargers, so we were planning on topping off over night. Was a bit surprised to find only Tesla destination chargers, half of which had the CCS cables. I was intrigued with the possibility of charging on a Tesla L2 without a Tesla Tap. The hotel folks said they have seen a lot of different types of non-Tesla EVs using them, so I decided to give it a try. Everything physically connected but after waiting for the handshaking to finish, it finally errored out giving me a Hardware Error on the Air. Tried all the CCS cables with the same result. I called CS where I was informed that our Lucid charging software didn't yet speak Tesla, so even though the cable fit my port, it wouldn't charge. So much for a bonus charge...

That’s interesting. Using an 80 amp Tesla Tap it did charge the Lucid for me on a Tesla destination charger. I wonder if the adapters on their Tesla chargers were the problem as the Lucid can definitely “speak Tesla” whether it’s L2 or Magic dock supercharger.