Range on Gravity

[RL8]

Just completed a 1500 mi road trip from AZ to northern CA and back. Highway speed limits 70-75, typical speeds a bit above the speed limit. 2.60 mi/kwh, a bit lower than my expectations of 2.80. The Air hit an efficiency wall around 70 mph, and the Gravity seems to as well, but paying an even higher price given the higher cdA (cd x frontal area). The lower number is expected as the drag is proportional to the square of velocity.

However, charging was fantastic. Used all Tesla SCs, including the brand-new one in Lost Hills, CA, which the news said was open but a Tesla guy told us while charging that it was still closed. (They let us finish, but the entrance was coned off when we left.) Typically arrived at 20-30% SoC and left at 80%, never spending more than 20 minutes charging – just the right amount of time to get all the rest stop things done. 3 stops outbound, 4 stops on the return as we took a different route. It was wonderful not having to plan stops for food around charging stops! Plug-and-charge worked flawlessly.

What size wheels? 7-seater? Sorry if you mentioned this already.

 

[RL8]

With this efficiency, I can’t imagine getting the touring over the GT.

 

[RandomDesign]

What size wheels? 7-seater? Sorry if you mentioned this already.

It's in his signature:
2026 GGT: AG/Tahoe, Stealth, 21/22, DD2 Pro, SS Pro, Dynamic Handling, Tech, C&C, Towing. 5-seat.

 

[RL8]

It's in his signature:
2026 GGT: AG/Tahoe, Stealth, 21/22, DD2 Pro, SS Pro, Dynamic Handling, Tech, C&C, Towing. 5-seat.

Thanks. Didn’t think to look there. My bad.

 

[Bdr100]

Latest test by OOS shows that Gravity has a huge buffer below 0 SOC. This could explain some of the poor range tests done by some testers. Kyle drove another 22 miles after zero. Properly calibrated to only have around a 6-7 miles buffer (where most of the competition is), you could estimate that appropriate range of some of these tests could be increased by around 15 miles.

 

[gamix]

One takeaway was the idea to more confidently go into the 22 mile buffer, if you haven't been charge hopping and the car has been able to rest.

I think I heard him say not just "Spoiler, they finished", but summarizing efficiency in the 2.6-2.8 mi/KWh range. Not awful, if they were doing ~80mph.

 

[RD7]

I saw this video. Important caveat: the Gravity loses track of the actual pack voltage when doing repeated DC fast charging, say on a road trip. This happens because there is never an extended time where there is no load on the battery (charging or discharging) which is necessary to detect the correct pack voltage. Kyle mentioned that one of the Gravities on the East Coast race was at 9% in the evening and dead in the morning; the BMS was out of sync, so it estimated there was 9% but this went to zero when it had a resting period to read the actual pack voltage.

Kyle suspects this big buffer is there because Lucid knows the BMS can get out of sync in this way and they don't want people on the side of the road with a dead battery when the car still says it has a few percent.

So ... don't rely on the extra buffer below zero if you are on a road trip with multiple DCFC stops.

 

[newton]

I wouldn't judge it yet until you put some miles on it.

From the Gravity owner's manual, page 101:

NOTE: Efficiency is suboptimal during the early life of the vehicle (approximately the first 2000 miles of driving).

Does anyone know why this is? Things get more efficient after 2k miles?

 

[eelpout]

Tom M. at State of Charge redid his 70 mph test and this time got around 400 miles, which is great. This was in much better weather conditions in AZ from his usual east coast testing though.

OTOH Kyle C. from Out of Spec said this week he averaged 2.8-2.9 kWh over the 5000 miles he's had their GT loaner. On appearances Kyle does drive vehicles harder than Tom does.

 

[SpaceGhost]

OK as previously discussed, I've done my first 'test trip' for range. The trip is exactly 240 miles, from San Jose California to Carnelian Bay California (Lake Tahoe). I did the trip at 9:00pm on a week day and arrived at 12:30. Now that reflects a mathematical 68.6 mph, however I'll break the trip down further. From San Jose to Auburn California, the trip is mostly flat, climbing one hill approximately 1000 vertical feet, but otherwise rolling or flat and then gradual uphill another 1200 ft. to Auburn. The temperature was approximately 45 degrees. From Auburn to Tahoe, you drive up over three passes - Yuba Gap at 5500 ft, Donner Summit at 7200 ft, and Brockway Summit at 7200 ft. While there is some descending in-between those passes, the net elevation changes from Sea Level to 6200 ft.

I started with a completely full State of Charge. (GGT 7 seater with smallest wheels)

From San Jose to Auburn - 160 miles - I set Dreamdrive to 80 and held it except when passing through tolls, or for minor 1-3 minute slowdowns due to congestion or construction. It was largely an uninterrupted ride. The range rating was under 3 at around 2.8.

From Auburn to Tahoe, I drove what the road would safely allow and given the hour of the early morning, likely drove a little more cautiously than I normally would. I'd call it 70-75 mph. I recall the range rating at 2.5 or so.

I arrived with approximately 70 miles of range. (This blew my expectations and I'm extremely excited about this.)

For my next trip next week, I'll have passengers and will be able to take more precise mileage and Kwh readings and will report back.

I'll also do it again around the 2000 mile mark to see if there is a battery break in as some has speculated.

@TahoeMichael

 

[FrankHaase]

I ve been driving my Gravity GGT for the last two weeks. The range has been very poor. I ve been getting around 2.54 mi/kwh. About 250 miles on a full charge. It’s a 7 seater with 21/22 tires. I don’t speed and I drive mostly on flat surfaces. This is much worse than my model 3 which is 6 yrs old. Any ideas what could be wrong?

Hey I have the same observation with my Gravity GT 22-23 wheels . I drive carefully 90% of the time but live in the bay area . Drive mostly freeway with hills but 90% is flat. So I reset the trip meter a few times to just measure 100miles flat at 70mph or less . I’m still only getting 2.54 or maybe 2.67 which was the best I’ve seen. I’ve driven 1000 miles since I got the gravity last week. On the energy consumption dashboard it says air conditioning and hills etc cost me 5% of total energy used. So based on that no matter what I do I would not get more than 2.8 … any idea What’s going on? I’m posting this here since you seem to have the same issue.

 

[acependragon]

Hey I have the same observation with my Gravity GT 22-23 wheels . I drive carefully 90% of the time but live in the bay area . Drive mostly freeway with hills but 90% is flat. So I reset the trip meter a few times to just measure 100miles flat at 70mph or less . I’m still only getting 2.54 or maybe 2.67 which was the best I’ve seen. I’ve driven 1000 miles since I got the gravity last week. On the energy consumption dashboard it says air conditioning and hills etc cost me 5% of total energy used. So based on that no matter what I do I would not get more than 2.8 … any idea What’s going on? I’m posting this here since you seem to have the same issue.

So far my best explanation is that the cold weather is affecting the range. It’s in the 40s where I live.

 

[allenmhc]

Hey I have the same observation with my Gravity GT 22-23 wheels . I drive carefully 90% of the time but live in the bay area . Drive mostly freeway with hills but 90% is flat. So I reset the trip meter a few times to just measure 100miles flat at 70mph or less . I’m still only getting 2.54 or maybe 2.67 which was the best I’ve seen. I’ve driven 1000 miles since I got the gravity last week. On the energy consumption dashboard it says air conditioning and hills etc cost me 5% of total energy used. So based on that no matter what I do I would not get more than 2.8 … any idea What’s going on? I’m posting this here since you seem to have the same issue.

2.8 mi/kWh seems to be in line w/ what I got when I had 22–23" wheels, and I'm in the Bay Area as well.

So there are a few minor factors I learned:

• The software tweaks the battery for better mileage, at about 2k miles driven.
• The dynamic range + mi/kWh display on the left is purposely slightly more conservative from the actual trip, or it calculates that value differently enough to where I know I'm getting more mileage

I do think that in the wintertime, heated seats + wheels affects the mileage some, as well as the colder battery these past 2–3 weeks w/ our cold spell. I also drive mostly suburban roads w/ some hills, and I get <2.6 mi/kWh even w/ 3k miles driven, and closer to 2.8–2.9 mi/kWh on longer freeway stretches.

 

[037]

I’m not towing nor cruising over 100…I guess the cold bothers it anyway

 

[SpaceGhost]

Been driving up in Tahoe with nights in the 20's and days in the 30's - looking at 2.58. Mostly doing 45 ish on local roads to and from the ski areas, home, and restaurants. I've been pre-heating the car blasting to 86 degrees for 10 minutes before we get in (not plugged in) and driving with heated seats and temps set to 70. I'll say I'm pretty happy with that.

 

[RajD]

2.8 mi/kWh seems to be in line w/ what I got when I had 22–23" wheels, and I'm in the Bay Area as well.

So there are a few minor factors I learned:

• The software tweaks the battery for better mileage, at about 2k miles driven.
• The dynamic range + mi/kWh display on the left is purposely slightly more conservative from the actual trip, or it calculates that value differently enough to where I know I'm getting more mileage

I do think that in the wintertime, heated seats + wheels affects the mileage some, as well as the colder battery these past 2–3 weeks w/ our cold spell. I also drive mostly suburban roads w/ some hills, and I get <2.6 mi/kWh even w/ 3k miles driven, and closer to 2.8–2.9 mi/kWh on longer freeway stretches.

I have a GGT, 7seater, 20/21in wheels, and drive in Smooth with mix of city vs highway (mostly city) in Bay Area. Temp in 50s, and Tire pressure 45.
I have 1k miles on the car, and I am only getting 2.6mi/kwH. Definitely not getting anywhere near 2.7 on highways, more like 2.2/2.3 if I'm lucky. This all seems really really low, for a car that is rated for 437 and is not being pushed very hard at all.

I wonder if I have a rear drive unit issue. On this thread I'm seeing posts about larger wheels in lower temps that are getting higher mi/kWh. I don't think at 2k miles I will magically jump 0.3 or 0.4 on this efficiency. I was thinking maybe 0.1-0.15 is maybe what I'll see after I cross 2k. But I guess I will wait until then to take it in for service.

 

[FrankHaase]

My GGT got the same, and I thought maybe the drive unit. Then I reset the trip meter once I’m out of the Berkeley hills and on the freeway, just going easy in smooth mode around 70 and down 880 and temps in the 60s. That easily resulted in 3.3 and higher see screen shot . But when I'm just enjoying the power this car has and think of the fact that it's all solar I'm putting in I can live with 2.5 it's so much fun

 

[RajD]

My GGT got the same, and I thought maybe the drive unit. Then I reset the trip meter once I’m out of the Berkeley hills and on the freeway, just going easy in smooth mode around 70 and down 880 and temps in the 60s. That easily resulted in 3.3 and higher see screen shot . But when I'm just enjoying the power this car has and think of the fact that it's all solar I'm putting in I can live with 2.5 it's so much fun

Don’t see the screenshot but this is awesome to hear.

How have you set up your solar to not get dinged by PGE for generation charges? I need to do this.

 

[FrankHaase]

Don’t see the screenshot but this is awesome to hear.

How have you set up your solar to not get dinged by PGE for generation charges? I need to do this.

Don’t see the screenshot but this is awesome to hear.

How have you set up your solar to not get dinged by PGE for generation charges? I need to do this.

 

[FrankHaase]

I bought a house and rebuilt it so there was no relevant historical data since I also changed the heating to heat pump from gas furnace. But even with just owning EVs PGE I think allows more production. I only have 13kW producing 20k kwh a year. That didn’t seem to be a problem. I have done this twice for two homes in Kensington.