New Charging Knowledge Center article

[Sue1955]

Thanks Marqie!

 

[Joelaron]

ooo! this is awesome! thank you!

 

[Batteryman]

Check out our new Charging Knowledge Center article, including answers to frequently-asked questions:

https://lucidmotors.com/knowledge/vehicles/air/lucid-air-in-depth/charging-your-lucid-air

Would be nice if we can schedule less than 12 hours and at separate time intervals- 7pm to midnight, then 10am to noon- for example. Can you please pass this on to engineers, thanks

 

[marqie]

Hi, everyone. Thank you for your feedback and questions. I have worked with our Charging team to provide responses.

 

[marqie]

Looks great! I'd suggest adding a sentence that the Air isn't compatible with charger-side scheduling at home (if that is still correct). Timed charging sessions must be scheduled from within the car, not from the charging station.

You are correct that scheduled charging sessions must be configured directly within the vehicle, rather than through the charging station (charger-side scheduling) at home. Thanks for the feedback. We will take this into consideration in the next revision.

 

[marqie]

Thanks @marqie. I noticed the following:

Improving Cold Weather Performance​

Another benefit of battery preconditioning is improved cold weather performance. When your battery pack is cold, it doesn’t transfer energy as efficiently, which can affect range and vehicle performance. As you drive, your battery will warm up on its own, but by preconditioning your battery before you drive, you will notice less of an effect of the cold weather on your driving.
When it’s freezing outside, use Remote Climate in the Lucid mobile app to warm your cabin and start battery preconditioning at the same time. Your drive will be much more comfortable.
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I've not heard this recommendation before, but it sounds like you're recommending that in cold weather, you're suggesting it's more efficient to "battery precondition" prior to heading out in the morning, in addition to warming the cabin. In effect, warming the battery before leaving. I assume this would be inefficent for short trips, but for those of us with a 60 minute+ commute, can you confirm that it's more efficient energy wise to precondition? Any additional info appreciated. Thanks!

Preconditioning may be used in very cold weather to improve driving performance. Driving efficiency can also be improved by preconditioning when the vehicle is cold. However, preconditioning requires energy from the battery to generate heat. The impact of preconditioning in these scenarios on overall trip efficiency depends on several factors including weather and the length of the trip. Driving efficiency is also impacted by factors such as driving style, cabin heating, etc. Maximum range would be achieved in cold conditions by pre-heating the battery and charging it to 100% while it is warm, then starting your trip while the battery is still warm.

 

[marqie]

@marqie Thanks for the link. I also recommend letting new users know what normal noises can be expected while DCFC and AC charging (especially during high ambient temps and high SOC).

On topic of AC charging, I am seeing something new on my Air. While in the garage for several days and lower ambient temperature (70-80 degrees), and using the app without unlocking the vehicle, I am sometimes noticing a very high pitched whine and gurgling sound when I open the charge port and before I even plug in. Once I plug in, the sound will stop after a few minutes. It sounds like it is coming from somewhere underneath the vehicle and towards the center and doesn't sound like the AC compressor. Of course, when I tried to duplicate it and capture audio, it didn't happen. This started a month or so ago from what I can recall. I'm debating if this is something that I should bring up to service.

Thanks for the feedback. We will take this into consideration for a future revisions. Various noises can be heard when charging. Depending on the climate, whether you're AC or DC fast charging, or using RangeXchange, you may encounter common sounds from pumps, fans and the compressor, and other sources.

 

[marqie]

Since it is recommended to keep the car plugged in whenever it is possible, I notice the car keep charging and stopping whenever it dips below the limit

It the limit is set at 80% and the car is plugged, once it goes down to 79% it will start charging again … is this ok? I feel it is going to be annoying since this is going to happen couple times a day and you get messages ,,, maybe it should drop by like 3% for the car to kick start charging again if it has been plugged for awhile

Thanks for your feedback. This behavior is intended to ensure your vehicle is always at its peak charge level, providing you with maximum readiness. We will take your feedback regarding the charging notifications into consideration as we look to refine this experience.

 

[Unmutual]

Looks great! I'd suggest adding a sentence that the Air isn't compatible with charger-side scheduling at home (if that is still correct). Timed charging sessions must be scheduled from within the car, not from the charging station.

Another Home Assistant automation work-around. I have HA wake the car up 3 minutes before charging is scheduled to start on the charger side. Once the car is awake, the charger's schedule is followed.

 

[marqie]

I just read the actual article and it says to use remote climate when it's 'freezing outside' to warm the cabin and start battery preconditioning at the same time. Unlike preconditioning, this can obviously be done with the car plugged in for L2 charging. But this past winter, I tested multiple ways including this way to heat up the battery before leaving for long drives. Using remote climate does not work well at all for preconditioning/warming the battery purposes. Cabin is warm but there's almost always still a blue bar indicating that the battery is still cold and therefore not delivering energy efficiently, reducing range and power delivery. I'd definitely like to be able to use the actual preconditioning function while it's plugged in for L2 charging.

Thanks for your feedback and suggestion. We will take this into consideration. Currently, we limit battery heating while AC charging to ensure you do not deplete your available range.

 

[segbrk]

Thanks for your feedback and suggestion. We will take this into consideration. Currently, we limit battery heating while AC charging to ensure you do not deplete your available range.

Unless I misunderstand something, it's definitely worth the extra power usage to me too. I plug in every night, I have more than enough range, and it should be able to keep topping up to my 80% limit even while heating, right? I just want regen to work at full capacity through the winter.

 

[DeaneG]

Another Home Assistant automation work-around. I have HA wake the car up 3 minutes before charging is scheduled to start on the charger side. Once the car is awake, the charger's schedule is followed.

I do something similar, charging during the day using only excess solar PV power. This comes and goes, a bit like charger-side scheduling. So I have HA wake the car if it is asleep but plugged in to charge, when there is enough excess PV energy available. Not difficult to implement, though our other EV charges just fine in the same situation without HA's "hey, wake up!" help.

 

[Halodde]

Thanks for your feedback and suggestion. We will take this into consideration. Currently, we limit battery heating while AC charging to ensure you do not deplete your available range.

But if it is plugged in for AC charging, it shouldn't deplete the range, right? When I've tried using the defrost feature from the app while the car is AC charging (which uses a lot of energy), all it does is slow the charge rate. So it still charges albeit slowly and doesn't deplete any range. Or are you saying that actually preconditioning the battery would draw more power than the AC charging could replace?

 

[marqie]

Unless I misunderstand something, it's definitely worth the extra power usage to me too. I plug in every night, I have more than enough range, and it should be able to keep topping up to my 80% limit even while heating, right? I just want regen to work at full capacity through the winter.

But if it is plugged in for AC charging, it shouldn't deplete the range, right? When I've tried using the defrost feature from the app while the car is AC charging (which uses a lot of energy), all it does is slow the charge rate. So it still charges albeit slowly and doesn't deplete any range. Or are you saying that actually preconditioning the battery would draw more power than the AC charging could replace?

Thanks for the additional feedback and insights. I have shared this with our Charging team for consideration.