One Day D.C. to Western PA (and back) in Winter

[petergottlieb]

I drove 392 miles round trip today from D.C. to western PA. Weather was lousy.

20 mph sustained crosswind
Rain and then snow
Temps started out around 50 but were below freezing by time I got to my destination.

All these things (and freeway driving) hobbled range. My whole trip average was 3.49 m/kwh (about 300 miles of real world range in my 25 Air Pure). But even so, I just needed to stop once to charge on the way back, pausing for 26 minutes / 56 kwh at a Sheetz/Electrify America combo that worked flawlessly and was right off the freeway in Bedford PA.

This was my first full day of long distance driving this car and it went well. I would even say it was boring. Everything worked right, the adaptive cruise and lane keeping kept down the workload of driving and the massaging seats made it easier to just keep driving than it might have been in another car.

 

[californiaboy935]

View attachment 26941

I drove 392 miles round trip today from D.C. to western PA. Weather was lousy.

20 mph sustained crosswind
Rain and then snow
Temps started out around 50 but were below freezing by time I got to my destination.

All these things (and freeway driving) hobbled range. My whole trip average was 3.49 m/kwh (about 300 miles of real world range in my 25 Air Pure). But even so, I just needed to stop once to charge on the way back, pausing for 26 minutes / 56 kwh at a Sheetz/Electrify America combo that worked flawlessly and was right off the freeway in Bedford PA.

This was my first full day of long distance driving this car and it went well. I would even say it was boring. Everything worked right, the adaptive cruise and lane keeping kept down the workload of driving and the massaging seats made it easier to just keep driving than it might have been in another car.

Amazing! Glad you are enjoying it!! That is cold, can’t say I’ve ever had my Lucid in that cold of weather.

 

[BS8899]

View attachment 26941

I drove 392 miles round trip today from D.C. to western PA. Weather was lousy.

20 mph sustained crosswind
Rain and then snow
Temps started out around 50 but were below freezing by time I got to my destination.

All these things (and freeway driving) hobbled range. My whole trip average was 3.49 m/kwh (about 300 miles of real world range in my 25 Air Pure). But even so, I just needed to stop once to charge on the way back, pausing for 26 minutes / 56 kwh at a Sheetz/Electrify America combo that worked flawlessly and was right off the freeway in Bedford PA.

This was my first full day of long distance driving this car and it went well. I would even say it was boring. Everything worked right, the adaptive cruise and lane keeping kept down the workload of driving and the massaging seats made it easier to just keep driving than it might have been in another car.

You did well....considering the weather!

 

[MacBain00]

not bad for the drive. for a second i read the name and thought - Three Twins Ice Cream!?!! But that's Neal Gottlieb

 

[jedwin]

the adaptive cruise and lane keeping kept down the workload of driving

How heavy was the rain and snow, through which adaptive cruise kept working fine?

(you’re getting my hopes up; I’ve been disappointed to see that it doesn’t seem to be possible to have basic “non-adaptive” cruise control when the radar/adaptive may be disrupted by precipitation)

 

[petergottlieb]

How heavy was the rain and snow, through which adaptive cruise kept working fine?

(you’re getting my hopes up; I’ve been disappointed to see that it doesn’t seem to be possible to have basic “non-adaptive” cruise control when the radar/adaptive may be disrupted by precipitation)

Moderate - I was thinking about this too - the snow was heavy and wet enough I wouldn’t have been surprised had it turned off at some point, but it didn’t seem affected.

 

[gmoney]

View attachment 26941

I drove 392 miles round trip today from D.C. to western PA. Weather was lousy.

20 mph sustained crosswind
Rain and then snow
Temps started out around 50 but were below freezing by time I got to my destination.

All these things (and freeway driving) hobbled range. My whole trip average was 3.49 m/kwh (about 300 miles of real world range in my 25 Air Pure). But even so, I just needed to stop once to charge on the way back, pausing for 26 minutes / 56 kwh at a Sheetz/Electrify America combo that worked flawlessly and was right off the freeway in Bedford PA.

This was my first full day of long distance driving this car and it went well. I would even say it was boring. Everything worked right, the adaptive cruise and lane keeping kept down the workload of driving and the massaging seats made it easier to just keep driving than it might have been in another car.

That is quite good considering the conditions. I think sometimes people have unrealistic expectations. In my opinion to average 3.5 used in bad weather is exceptional!!

 

[petergottlieb]

That is quite good considering the conditions. I think sometimes people have unrealistic expectations. In my opinion to average 3.5 used in bad weather is exceptional!!

It was even a little bit better. I realized I misremembered- actually efficiency was 3.79 m/kwh

 

[fpmacko]

View attachment 26941



All these things (and freeway driving) hobbled range. My whole trip average was 3.49 m/kwh (about 300 miles of real world range in my 25 Air Pure). But even so, I just needed to stop once to charge on the way back, pausing for 26 minutes / 56 kwh at a Sheetz/Electrify America combo that worked flawlessly and was right off the freeway in Bedford PA.

Thanks for the info. I plan to head back home to the 'burgh from Annapolis on the PA turnpike soon and I was wondering how the EA station in Bedford was.

 

[jjm-pgh]

Hmm. I've had my AT since Valentine's Day and average under 3.0. I presumed that it was the cold and hills in Western PA (Pittsburgh), but now I'm thinking that it might be me, or the car. I'm still under 2000 miles, but picked it up in Chicago and had one trip in it to Eastern PA so I've had a decent amount of highway mixed in .... Any advice? (PS I usually drive in smooth and basically never in whatever the other end of the scale is called. Regenerative is always on high )

 

[fpmacko]

Hmm. I've had my AT since Valentine's Day and average under 3.0. I presumed that it was the cold and hills in Western PA (Pittsburgh), but now I'm thinking that it might be me, or the car. I'm still under 2000 miles, but picked it up in Chicago and had one trip in it to Eastern PA so I've had a decent amount of highway mixed in .... Any advice? (PS I usually drive in smooth and basically never in whatever the other end of the scale is called. Regenerative is always on high )

Sorry for the late reply, Jim. I'm getting low to mid 3's on my trips to Hershey and back on I-83. I drive it pretty hard on 83 (sucking out headlights along the way) and there are hills, but not as many as on the turnpike between Breezewood and the 'burgh. Have yet to make the trip there, though. Unless the temps are upper-20s or lower I doubt if temp is the issue.

 

[jjm-pgh]

Thanks for the reply. I just recently drove to Baltimore (250 miles or so) and averaged just below 3.7 at about 45 degrees (in the rain). So I think that I was overreacting. I've tracked it a bit and see big swings over the first 25 miles or so of a new charge cycle, and I think app interaction (overnight) while it's in my garage can suck enough juice to skew the results badly during that time.

 

[fpmacko]

I doubt if overnight app activity has any noticeable impact on the SoC of the main batteries. Besides, the vehicle electronics, when the car is off, almost surely draw their power from the two 12V batteries, whose charge level wouldn't be in the SoC calculations. I'm guessing those big swings you're seeing early on in the trip are due to the regeneration limits that prevail when you're launching with a 100% SoC. When regen is limited the braking energy is consumed by the service brakes.

 

[petergottlieb]

I doubt if overnight app activity has any noticeable impact on the SoC of the main batteries. Besides, the vehicle electronics, when the car is off, almost surely draw their power from the two 12V batteries, whose charge level wouldn't be in the SoC calculations. I'm guessing those big swings you're seeing early on in the trip are due to the regeneration limits that prevail when you're launching with a 100% SoC. When regen is limited the braking energy is consumed by the service brakes.

It also can be from warming up/cooling down the car... It's a lot easier on systems to maintain temperatures than significantly change them.