NACS Charging at Tesla SCs

[Ron_Burgundy]

I’m not seeing where the Lucid app lets us search for compatible chargers. (the Tesla app clearly does include a map with a filter based on my AT and adapter)

Does the Lucid app have a way to proactively search for nearby compatible superchargers, or is it simply able to identify whether it’s compatible once you are on site or have plugged in?

In Lucid app on phone, go to the nav arrow in the middle in the bottom. Then, when you have the map, tap the charger icon (second from top on right - looks like a gas pump). That will show all available or chargers (based on what you’ve input to your filter - which can be modified in the top center of the screen).

You can then see the chargers for any trip or just drag over to a specific area if you’re curious. Posted some screenshots below. Hope that helps!

 

[hmp10]

In Lucid app on phone, go to the nav arrow in the middle in the bottom. Then, when you have the map, tap the charger icon (second from top on right - looks like a gas pump). That will show all available or chargers (based on what you’ve input to your filter - which can be modified in the top center of the screen).

You can then see the chargers for any trip or just drag over to a specific area if you’re curious. Posted some screenshots below. Hope that helps!

I tried this, but when the map showed up the charger icon was grayed out and would not activate. However, something interesting did show up.

When I went into the app and tapped the navigation icon, the app showed a satellite view of the Gravity at the EA location we tried to use yesterday in Naples, FL. This is the first time I've seen the car show its location in the same state where the car is since we took delivery on June 30. However, the location was frozen at that location from yesterday, and the app was showing an orange message of "Vehicle Location Temporarily Available".

The satellite map and location on the car's screen is still frozen in Newark, CA.

So, basically, everything about the navigation system, the GPS locator, the satellite maps, the app, and all associated features remains a useless pile of shit in our car.

The reason I'm staying glued to this forum right now even more than usual is that I'm trying to pick up any work-arounds from other owners that might make our Gravity a feasible choice for our upcoming roadtrip. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions and jury rigging we have tried thus far have not resolved much. But I'm going to keep trying as long as others keep the suggestions coming.

 

[dbsb3233]

Wow, 60,000 miles using EA chargers. I've done the r/t ride from Delaware to Florida multiple times using EA over the past 3 years and if my experience is any guide, you've done your penance here on earth. You're earned admission to heaven & will eventually go directly to that great Road Rally in the Sky. Save me a good seat

There's some chronically bad stations, to be sure. Green River UT was our most tenuous one for years. It was 100 miles of nothing on either side, along our most frequent route (Denver-Vegas). But even with 1-2 chargers down routinely there, we always got a charge and never got stranded (20+ round-trips thru there). It was one of the few "do or die" stations we had to depend on. I usually try to pick the 2nd-to-last station in range, to have a backup just in case. That means I'm often living in the 30-80% part of the battery. Although now that stations have become more dependable and more plentiful, I do find myself being able to push it down to 15-20% more. I've never liked the "only charge just enough to arrive at 10%" approach, and I really don't think most mainstream drivers do either. Too risky. Most of the time when doing a mid-drive DCFC, we just charge up to 80-85% regardless. The EV version of a "fill-up".

While most of our trips are in the mountain west (CO/UT/NV/WY/etc), we've done some big ones to the east as well. Last year we did a 6000 mile trip from CO to NC, up the coast to MA, and looped back thru NY/OH/IL/etc. We really didn't have any significant problem with EA on the east coast, other than a few stations being full where I'd divert to a Supercharger (this was in our Mach-E that has SC access).

That doesn't mean we didn't have the usual pattern of roughly 1/3rd fails on the first attempt and having to move over to the next charger. That's just the norm with EA. Drives a lot of people crazy but we quickly came to expect it as part of the growing pains associated with EVs. And like I said in my last post, Plug&Charge helps a LOT. For a few years we had to activate sessions with the app, and that could get messy. Sometimes cell service was bad, sometimes the phone app would lock up, sometimes it wouldn't communicate with the charger, one time my phone battery was dead, etc. P&C bypasses all that, and skips over a lot of failure points.

But as you can tell, we road trip a lot, so we figured out the quirks and workarounds with experience. People that only take 1 trip a year and DCFC just a few times understandably struggle with it all more.

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

I tried this, but when the map showed up the charger icon was grayed out and would not activate. However, something interesting did show up.

When I went into the app and tapped the navigation icon, the app showed a satellite view of the Gravity at the EA location we tried to use yesterday in Naples, FL. This is the first time I've seen the car show its location in the same state where the car is since we took delivery on June 30. However, the location was frozen at that location from yesterday, and the app was showing an orange message of "Vehicle Location Temporarily Available".

The satellite map and location on the car's screen is still frozen in Newark, CA.

So, basically, everything about the navigation system, the GPS locator, the satellite maps, the app, and all associated features remains a useless pile of shit in our car.

View attachment 31923

The reason I'm staying glued to this forum right now even more than usual is that I'm trying to pick up any work-arounds from other owners that might make our Gravity a feasible choice for our upcoming roadtrip. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions and jury rigging we have tried thus far have not resolved much. But I'm going to keep trying as long as others keep the suggestions coming.

Ugh. Wow, I didn’t realize that somehow the nav in car issue could impact the app too.

I guess the simplest work around would be to use the Tesla app or website (if you can’t get Tesla app to work) for compatible chargers, and EA’s app too…

Or try ABRP but I don’t think it’s that great in my experience.

 

[hmp10]

Ugh. Wow, I didn’t realize that somehow the nav in car issue could impact the app too.

Everything about the software (and some software-adjacent hardware) in our Gravity is one huge hot mess. I'm beginning to think it's even worse than the early Air software, and I had really thought that to be impossible.

 

[dbsb3233]

The reason I'm staying glued to this forum right now even more than usual is that I'm trying to pick up any work-arounds from other owners that might make our Gravity a feasible choice for our upcoming roadtrip. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions and jury rigging we have tried thus far have not resolved much. But I'm going to keep trying as long as others keep the suggestions coming.

Another little thing I do is save the Tesla website map link (filtered to "NACS Partner" and "Other EV") as an icon on my cell phone home page. Gives me a quick-and-easy lookup to see where the compatible SCs are without having to fumble around much.

https://www.tesla.com/findus?bounds=41.43849643330004%2C-99.4952316078339%2C35.96454818254577%2C-115.3155441078339&filters=open_to_all_evs_superchargers%2Cnacs_superchargers

And of course I have the EA app icon next to it (the map pops up first page in the EA app). Between the two, that usually cover 95% of our road trip DCFC stops. For any others, Plugshare is the look-up choice.

I'm still a little old-school, using phone tools for my trip planning. I just use the car's nav (or Android Auto) to nav between stops, rather than letting it pick stations for me.

 

[borski]

I tried this, but when the map showed up the charger icon was grayed out and would not activate. However, something interesting did show up.

When I went into the app and tapped the navigation icon, the app showed a satellite view of the Gravity at the EA location we tried to use yesterday in Naples, FL. This is the first time I've seen the car show its location in the same state where the car is since we took delivery on June 30. However, the location was frozen at that location from yesterday, and the app was showing an orange message of "Vehicle Location Temporarily Available".

The satellite map and location on the car's screen is still frozen in Newark, CA.

So, basically, everything about the navigation system, the GPS locator, the satellite maps, the app, and all associated features remains a useless pile of shit in our car.

View attachment 31923

The reason I'm staying glued to this forum right now even more than usual is that I'm trying to pick up any work-arounds from other owners that might make our Gravity a feasible choice for our upcoming roadtrip. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions and jury rigging we have tried thus far have not resolved much. But I'm going to keep trying as long as others keep the suggestions coming.

You need your TCU reset or replaced, or something. This isn’t software; your car’s GPS module (which is usually in the TCU) is somehow messed up.

Your car has hardware issues, and you’re experiencing them through software. I’m not saying it’s acceptable, but these “software issues” are hardware issues, not software issues. Something is wrong with your TCU; I’d bet money on it.

 

[jedwin]

In Lucid app on phone, go to the nav arrow in the middle in the bottom.

Silly me—I’ve never clicked on the Nav arrow! Just never thought of the phone app as a navigation portal…. Obviously, it’s got some game in that department. Thanks!

(actually I’m sure I have clicked on it, and my first impression was that it was just showing me the location of my car, as that arrow symbol often specifies, and figured it was mostly for getting back to the car when it was parked in a confusing place. I will admit that I’ve been spoiled in my seven months and 6000mi of ownership to have not needed to charge in the wild… My regional overnight trips have either been within a 350 mile round-trip, or I’ve had a charger at my AirBnBs. My first “real“ road trip is coming up in a month though, so I’ll finally get to play the charging game.)

 

[hmp10]

You need your TCU reset or replaced, or something. This isn’t software; your car’s GPS module (which is usually in the TCU) is somehow messed up.

Your car has hardware issues, and you’re experiencing them through software. I’m not saying it’s acceptable, but these “software issues” are hardware issues, not software issues. Something is wrong with your TCU; I’d bet money on it.

I will pass this along to the Service Center next week. Their plan of approach so far is just to wing it by starting with a software reload. They weren't willing to order a TCU ahead of time to have on hand in case it had to be replaced -- something that I asked them to do because we've already canceled one trip we hoped to take in the Gravity and don't want to cancel the next one on September 9.

The mobile tech came just over three weeks ago to assess the navigation problems and spent a couple of hours on the phone with people in Lucid engineering intermixed with quick test drives to see if one thing or another they suggested would work. They ended up with no idea what else to try so "opened a case" in order to bring the ADAS team into the discussion. There was a mention during that phone call of a possible TCU problem. That's the last I heard until I talked to the Service Center late last week. They knew of the problem but said they had received no word from HQ about how to proceed other than first to try the software reload.

I don't know if I feel better or worse that it may be a hardware problem. We've also got a warped HUD unit that is being replaced next week and second-row noises that won't go away despite jury-rigged attempts by mobile service.

This is the reason I argued with other posters for some weeks that Lucid should delay deliveries as long as it took to be sure reliable cars were being put in customers' hands, as I think that's more of a long-term reputational risk for them than the more-fleeting irritation of delayed deliveries. I don't want to get anywhere near the second Gravity Dream we've ordered until I know that it won't have these problems.

As least Lucid is apparently being wise enough to keep Gravities for independent testing out of the hands of the major reviewers for the time being.

 

[jedwin]

They weren't willing to order a TCU ahead of time to have on hand in case it had to be replaced

I’m a little surprised that they wouldn’t keep one or two of each of these sorts of key components in stock at each service center, and refill this on-site supply as needed, rather than ordering only as-needed, and so have every single customer who needs one be saddled with an extra week or more of being without their car. Each SC must go through quite a few each year; why not build in some forethought?

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

I’m a little surprised that they wouldn’t keep one or two of each of these sorts of key components in stock at each service center, and refill this on-site supply as needed, rather than ordering only as-needed, and so have every single customer who needs one be saddled with an extra week or more of being without their car. Each SC must go through quite a few each year; why not build in some forethought?

Because keeping inventory costs money. Especially more expensive components. Something which Lucid has to monitor closely. They probably get it drop shipped from supplier as needed.

 

[hmp10]

I’m a little surprised that they wouldn’t keep one or two of each of these sorts of key components in stock at each service center, and refill this on-site supply as needed, rather than ordering only as-needed, and so have every single customer who needs one be saddled with an extra week or more of being without their car. Each SC must go through quite a few each year; why not build in some forethought?

There's also the possibility that they're in too short supply to be able to stock them in Service Centers. No HUDs available, only one key fob and one key card available at time of delivery of most Gravities, frunk cushions dribbling in slowly, no bento boxes for console yet available.

Lucid really seems to be getting Gravities out the door on a wing and a prayer right now.

 

[Elfin]

There's also the possibility that they're in too short supply to be able to stock them in Service Centers. No HUDs available, only one key fob and one key card available at time of delivery of most Gravities, frunk cushions dribbling in slowly, no bento boxes for console yet available.

Lucid really seems to be getting Gravities out the door on a wing and a prayer right now.

I'm curious what the software team was working on for the last 8 months? How bad was the software on the December deliveries? Seems like the key shortage could be mitigated by getting phone as key working.

 

[9point81]

PlugShare app for the new to charging folks and even veterans is the best companion to charging. It will automatically show which chargers are compatible and ONLY those compatible with the Gravity by default. You can change your filters if you only want plug n charge networks like EA and Tesla and you will only see their chargers. I personally dont limit myself to any network. Many thousands of miles EV road tripping in the Taycan and EV9 and it really is easy with some advanced planning with the PlugShare app and checking the user reviews. Also, when you have to set up accounts for other payment apps and networks, yes its a PIA but you only have to do it once (for each app, yes). I have a folder full of them, all set up with accounts and payment set so I am ready to start charging at any network I choose to stop at. Would LOVE for it all to be plug n charge, but it is what it is for now. And it’s really quite easy.

Now if you will excuse me, i have to cash my PlugShare endorsement check!

 

[borski]

I'm curious what the software team was working on for the last 8 months? How bad was the software on the December deliveries? Seems like the key shortage could be mitigated by getting phone as key working.

The software is not bad by any means; in fact, it's pretty great. What @hmp10 is experiencing, in this sort of systemic way, is almost certainly hardware. Like I said, I'd bet money on it.

We've also got a warped HUD unit that is being replaced next week and second-row noises that won't go away despite jury-rigged attempts by mobile service.

Fwiw, I know for a fact that Lucid is very well aware of the "second row squeak" and is working on a permanent solution for it. They don't have one yet, but that one isn't limited to you - it is pretty common across the deliveries. We have it too. It's minor, but annoying. I'm looking forward to the eventual solution for that.

 

[jered]

There's also the possibility that they're in too short supply to be able to stock them in Service Centers. No HUDs available, only one key fob and one key card available at time of delivery of most Gravities, frunk cushions dribbling in slowly, no bento boxes for console yet available.

Lucid really seems to be getting Gravities out the door on a wing and a prayer right now.

The Gravity TCU is the exact same part as the Air TCU. I agree that there's no excuse for not keeping one at each SC -- not an expensive part.

 

[jered]

Fwiw, I know for a fact that Lucid is very well aware of the "second row squeak" and is working on a permanent solution for it. They don't have one yet, but that one isn't limited to you - it is pretty common across the deliveries. We have it too. It's minor, but annoying. I'm looking forward to the eventual solution for that.

This is exactly why I haven't scheduled any service yet -- we don't have any show-stoppers, so I'd prefer they work out a laundry list of fixes and do them all at once so we're not without our Gravity multiple times.

 

[DeaneG]

...My first “real“ road trip is coming up in a month though, so I’ll finally get to play the charging game.

Practice somewhere close to home first!