Question to Lucid owners; has your opinion on range anxiety changed after owning the Lucid Air?

[hmp10]

I would say the anxiety was caused by us being new to EVs. two roadtrips later (bay area -> scotsdale / bay area -> bend) very happy with the range... and as others have mentioned it is as often us wanting to stop.

We've been driving Tesla Model S's for seven years and a Lucid Air for almost a year. In the past couple of years range anxiety with the Tesla finally disappeared with the range increase of newer models and the continued expansion of Supercharging stations, which are now all over the place anyplace we drive. Although CCS DCFC charging is more challenging to find -- especially with the continuing unreliability of the EA network -- the Air's range offsets that disadvantage, meaning we've never had range anxiety with the Lucid. With either our Tesla or our Lucid, we are always wanting or needing a break by the time we need a charge.

There are still parts of the U.S., such as the Northern Plains states and some of New England, that have too little charge station coverage (as well as cold winters that limit range) for anxiety-free EV travel, but for the great majority of travelers who own the longer-range cars now on the market range anxiety should be a thing of the past.

If Tesla really does open its Supercharger network to CCS brands and with adapters already enabling charging a Tesla at a CCS station, I think long-distance EV travel becomes a no brainer with any current EV brand -- assuming traffic at Tesla Superchargers doesn't overwhelm capacity more that it already does in some locations.

 

[JayZee#293]

My anxiety is that my car never gets low enough for me to get range anxiety.

Yea!!! I’ve had to work to get it down! So I can follow those battery guidelines of 20-80%. No range anxiety here.

 

[hmp10]

Yea!!! I’ve had to work to get it down! So I can follow those battery guidelines of 20-80%. No range anxiety here.

A few months ago I forgot to lower my charge limit back to 80% after a long road trip. I parked the car overnight in the garage and, when I opened it up the next morning to vacuum it, I noticed it was charged to 100%. Not wanting to let it sit at full charge for a prolonged period (a source of stress for the pack), I decided I'd take it for a drive to bring the charge down to 80%. (Lucid does not allow you to set the charge limit below the current state of charge, and I wanted to restore it to my usual 80% limit.)

This was an early Sunday morning in a semi-rural area with miles of wide open roads. So, with almost no traffic on the roads, I was able to drive the car at a good clip. While I probably averaged around 60 mph, I was often able to punch it up to speeds I will not specify. It took me just over an hour to bring the charge down to 80%. I was gone so long that I had to call home to explain why I still was not back.

On the road trip I mentioned, which was largely interstate driving at ~80 mph, we planned charging stops at intervals no longer than three hours of driving, which is about all our bladders and backs could tolerate without a break. Typically charging up to 92-95% at a stop, we never arrived at the next charging stop with less than 28% of range remaining. Some of this trip was through the Blue Ridge mountains with a lot of elevation changes during a record-breaking heat wave that saw temperatures over 100º, both of which compromise range.

With our two Tesla Model S's going back to 2015, range anxiety diminished over time due to the rapid expansion of Tesla's reliable Supercharger network. Lucid, dependent on the still-dodgy CCS network, gets us to the same point of diminished anxiety using brute range.