Out of Spec 3 Row EV race - Lucid Gravity driven by Kyle

[9point81]

I thought about this. I don’t think one’s typical car insurance would cover any issues if one participated in an event like this. It’s highly abnormal to participate in a semi-business event with others behind the wheel driving straight through, etc. Once posted to social media, if I were the insurer, I’d say no way to any claim…

I cannot speak for insurance company, but I would think otherwise. I also can't speak for OoS but it's possible they have their own insurer which covers these events.

How is this any different than a Lucid sponsored meet up and drive event?

 

[Britishlion]

It’s sad how everyone hates on our long videos. Plenty of other creators to watch, you don’t need to watch us! We have an audience that loves this stuff and it’s the only reasonable financial way we can pull off these races

Sorter recap videos to come

Thanks for the initiative Kyle, the concept of the race from cold to hot weather was great! We were all rooting for the ( beloved but buggy) Gravity teams!
It’s good to post the whole race, for interested viewers, however a 30 minute “ executive summary” with fun and informative clips would be great entertainment that can be broadly shared by “Electro-heads”
Thanks!!

 

[prgarg]

What was the total elapsed time (from start to finish, including drive time and charge time) for Kyle's winning Gravity?

Thanks for the spoiler!

 

[msaunders9430]

Guess I'm officially a nerd - watched all 15 hours. Think I need a life!

Just past half way myself.

 

[msaunders9430]

Thanks for the spoiler!

Somebody on Reddit posted "Spoiler" followed immediately by the results. Some just can't help themselves.

 

[Bdr100]

No, that was actually a great thing to see. This wasn't a race of different teams; it was a race of different vehicles. Having two identical vehicles in the race wouldn't be very enlightening to auto enthusiasts or prospective purchasers.

What we got to see was how much charging speed and charger reliability matter. And, surprisingly to me at least, we got to see how cycles of high speed (>250kW) charging take their toll on not just the chargers, but also on the vehicle. The SC Gravity did not suffer the same vehicle limits (overheating maybe) that the any-charger Gravity suffered - and almost lost because of it.

It was also great to see how each team optimized their charge plans around their vehicles capabilities and limitations. Escalade getting an advantage in bad conditions since their efficiency was as impacted, and then trying to do deeper charges to save time by not having as many stops. Model X team optimizing their charger arrival SOC to take advantage of the limited charging curve. SC Gravity team was lucky to have Tom and his detailed data to optimize for Tesla charging, versus Kyle's team shooting for 400kW charging as much as they could. Rivian using the battery temp display in the vehicle to better precondition, etc.

I think a retrospective on their decisions would be a great video to watch. Teams learning when to leave a charger because the charging rate is tapering versus staying longer to save the in/out time of a charging stop. When to swap stalls. When to make it rain (inside joke, if you haven't watch the video). There were some moves (I don't remember exactly, but one team left to try to get a 50kW faster rate at another station but I suspect they lost more time doing the move than they gained with the small extra speed (and which wasn't guaranteed), for instance.

Yes, good to see how SC only affected driving experience. My wife is not inclined to want to use apps, converters, etc. if she is roadtripping by herself. I would just recommend that she stick to Tesla SCs, plug-n-charge, no converters. Keep it simple even if it might take take an extra 5-10 minutes.

 

[Nunya]

This kind of video is very helpful to me. i hope the follow-up videos include things like:

1. What were the standings before the temperature went above freezing or at other key points. I'm trying to determine if cold temps affected some more than others. Or maybe KW usage or efficiency by vehicles before temps went above freezing.

2. Assessment of the value of each charge vendor. Is there a consensus among players as to their preferred choice? Or avoid list?

3. Charges by location/vendor. Which car cost the least to charge or was that significantly different from one another?

4. Total charge cost between the 2 Gravity's

5. Several cars had charging issues. Of those related to the car, could we ask the manufacturer to respond? Or if charger related, ask them if they want to comment? Of course, they may not care. Sounds like Kyle had Lucid's ear while driving. If software related (especially Gravity) is that issue still a problem?

Love these real world (albeit, not practical as driven) kinds of videos. So much different from most who just blow sunshine. TY Kyle and all participants .

 

[msaunders9430]

Watching the last hour at 1.75 speed.
Kyle is literally killing the Gravity.

 

[9point81]

This kind of video is very helpful to me. i hope the follow-up videos include things like:

1. What were the standings before the temperature went above freezing or at other key points. I'm trying to determine if cold temps affected some more than others. Or maybe KW usage or efficiency by vehicles before temps went above freezing.

2. Assessment of the value of each charge vendor. Is there a consensus among players as to their preferred choice? Or avoid list?

3. Charges by location/vendor. Which car cost the least to charge or was that significantly different from one another?

4. Total charge cost between the 2 Gravity's

5. Several cars had charging issues. Of those related to the car, could we ask the manufacturer to respond? Or if charger related, ask them if they want to comment? Of course, they may not care. Sounds like Kyle had Lucid's ear while driving. If software related (especially Gravity) is that issue still a problem?

Love these real world (albeit, not practical as driven) kinds of videos. So much different from most who just blow sunshine. TY Kyle and all participants .

They got discount pricing tho on some networks, like Mercedes gave them 10¢ kWh. So what they paid wont match up to real world prices.

 

[BS8899]

Thanks for the spoiler!

Apologies! I don't follow Kyle's videos. Simply too long! I thought the results were out a while ago!

 

[Smorgasbord]

They got discount pricing tho on some networks, like Mercedes gave them 10¢ kWh. So what they paid wont match up to real world prices.

True, but what matters for cost is efficiency, assuming same charging network.

So, Model X (3.1miles/kWh) would have cost less in electricity than the SC-only Gravity (2.7miles/kWh), by about 13%. Both way better than the Escalade IQ at 1.9miles/kWh.

 

[Smorgasbord]

Yes, good to see how SC only affected driving experience. My wife is not inclined to want to use apps, converters, etc. if she is roadtripping by herself. I would just recommend that she stick to Tesla SCs, plug-n-charge, no converters. Keep it simple even if it might take take an extra 5-10 minutes.

Yes, although since the Nav system shows them and they support plug-and-charge, I added EA as well as the Tesla SCs for my wife.

BTW, I told my wife this morning about the results of the race and she responded: "I'd have been disappointed if the car you chose for us didn't win!" She's got a good sense of humor.

 

[Saksak]

It’s sad how everyone hates on our long videos. [...]

We haven't learned from the Lilliputians in Gulliver’s Travels to give up the hate. There is no right or wrong way to break an egg. Everyone will have their preferences and we’re all better off respecting our differences instead of going to war.

Thank you to Kyle and the entire team (@outofspeckyle @Cyp @Shane_SLC, sorry for anyone I missed in this forum) for the incredible amount of effort put into the "Race to the Eastern Edge." It was fun to watch and I learned quite a bit! Gravity any-charger vs. Gravity Tesla-only-charger was a great data point.

Shout-outs:
Team Gravity: Walking that BMS tightrope - we'll never know how close they came to needing defibrillation and losing the race.
Team Model X: On fire with the F1-speed charging pit stops.
Team Escalade IQ: Bonus points for bladder control on the 1st leg.
Team R1S: Hilarious - loved them. I'm on board with Team Food.
Team Ioniq 9: Not guilty of charge sabotage!
Team ID Buzz: Deserve a purple heart for never giving up and limping to the finish line.

 

[msaunders9430]

We have an audience that loves this stuff and it’s the only reasonable financial way we can pull off these races

The second part of this sentence (reasonable financial way) ... makes sense.
Long videos, but I like them and nobody is forced to watch.

 

[Gandalf]

It’s sad how everyone hates on our long videos. Plenty of other creators to watch, you don’t need to watch us! We have an audience that loves this stuff and it’s the only reasonable financial way we can pull off these races

Sorter recap videos to come

I watched them all (over many different sessions) and really appreciate them- both for the incredible work you put in to organize the drives, and for the insight into the driver experience for each of the cars. Kind of bummed you've left Colorado for NC- I was hoping to let you play around with my Gravity (or maybe not- you drive them pretty hard. My wife absolutely refused to let us loan you our Air GT back in 2022)

 

[BrianBigNFun]

No, that was actually a great thing to see. This wasn't a race of different teams; it was a race of different vehicles. Having two identical vehicles in the race wouldn't be very enlightening to auto enthusiasts or prospective purchasers.

actually... Cyp's Gravity is a 5 seater while Kyle's was a 7 seater, so I would've liked to see how much of a difference the range would have made

 

[BS8899]

I didn't watch all of OoS's videos on this race.

First, congratulations to Kyle's team and the two Gravities that won the 1 and 2 spots.

Of interest to me, is how all the other SUVs do with respect to the Gravities, which has the best efficiency and the fastest charging.

Per Kyle's summary,
> the Gravities completed the race in approximately 32 to 32.3 hours (started ~11:30AM, arrived ~8PM the next day). Kyle attributed the win(s) to high efficiencies (~2.7-2.8 mi/kWh) and ultra-fast charging.
> the Model X took another 26min.
> the Escalate, R1S, and Hyundai completed the race about 1hr 45min to 2hrs behind the lead Gravity.

These results were a bit of a surprise to me.

If I captured these numbers accurately, that means the R1S, which Kyle called a "Brick", low efficiency (~2.25 mi/kWh) and has slow charging (400V), completed the race and took ~6% longer travel time (driving + charging) than the much more efficient Gravities. While a win is a win, that seems like a rather small margin to me!

Q: Am I interpreting the data correctly?
Feel free to elucidate me.

 

[BrianBigNFun]

Feel free to elucidate me.

I see what you did there...

 

[9point81]

I didn't watch all of OoS's videos on this race.

First, congratulations to Kyle's team and the two Gravities that won the 1 and 2 spots.

Of interest to me, is how all the other SUVs do with respect to the Gravities, which has the best efficiency and the fastest charging.

Per Kyle's summary,
> the Gravities completed the race in approximately 32 to 32.3 hours (started ~11:30AM, arrived ~8PM the next day). Kyle attributed the win(s) to high efficiencies (~2.7-2.8 mi/kWh) and ultra-fast charging.
> the Model X took another 26min.
> the Escalate, R1S, and Hyundai completed the race about 1hr 45min to 2hrs behind the lead Gravity.

These results were a bit of a surprise to me.

If I captured these numbers accurately, that means the R1S, which Kyle called a "Brick", low efficiency (~2.25 mi/kWh) and has slow charging (400V), completed the race and took ~6% longer travel time (driving + charging) than the much more efficient Gravities. While a win is a win, that seems like a rather small margin to me!

Q: Am I interpreting the data correctly?
Feel free to elucidate me.

The first place Gravity would have arrived possibly up to an hour sooner if they hadn't have ran into the issues with charging they had late in the race. They pushed that car so hard, it was begging for mercy. The second (supercharger only) Gravity only had one 6 minute hold up when the key fob not found issue reared it's ugly head. So the win could have been even larger but I think the bigger point with all the EVs to take is the infrastructure for charging, while it could surely use improvement, is much stronger than it was even 2 years ago and you can successfully and comfortably road trip across the country pretty easily. Gravity is just better at it with its superior charging capabilities and (while not getting EPA numbers) really great range. We should only be getting better from here, both in charging infrastructure and with Gravity improving on their issues.

 

[BS8899]

The first place Gravity would have arrived possibly up to an hour sooner if they hadn't have ran into the issues with charging they had late in the race. They pushed that car so hard, it was begging for mercy. The second (supercharger only) Gravity only had one 6 minute hold up when the key fob not found issue reared it's ugly head. So the win could have been even larger but I think the bigger point with all the EVs to take is the infrastructure for charging, while it could surely use improvement, is much stronger than it was even 2 years ago and you can successfully and comfortably road trip across the country pretty easily. Gravity is just better at it with its superior charging capabilities and (while not getting EPA numbers) really great range. We should only be getting better from here, both in charging infrastructure and with Gravity improving on their issues.

Not disputing Gravity's advantages. Just thought the actual 2,060 mile/32+hr road trip would show much bigger differences than what was realized.

I own an Air GT and a R1S and I drive these two cars alternately on 780 mile trips between Phoenix and Sausalito. The Air is more efficient than the Gravity, but does not charge as well.

For a 2,060 mile race, I'd expect at least 15+% advantage.