San Diego to Dallas trip notes

[Demosthenes]

Super informative! The progressive misalignment of the charging port seems somewhat concerning. Hopefully that just stops at some point.

 

[Bill55]

Likely drove right past my house! Would be interesting to do a side by side comparison of ABRP’s SOC prediction and what you actually achieved. You had a couple of good hill climbs in there. What was the air temperature in Quartzite? Thanks for sharing.

i did not note temperature, but it was pretty mild. 70’s. I am comfortable that 3 times percent of charge is a very conservative number. 0.77 x miles has some buffer also. From full charge 97-98 %. 333 to 353 is a reasonable range without much compromise or thought. Going higher requires some attention to range. This is PE with 21s. I think EPA range is 451.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

3. Driving through dust storm dust got by the first seal of the frunk. Nothing got by the second seal and everything in the frunk was clean.

oh man hope it stays that way, New England winters are gonna dump a lot of road nastiness outside of the second Frunk seal.

 

[Bill55]

Day 4 after charging and a wash drove on I 40 to Santa Rosa where we topped off at an EA fast charger. With the battery at a high state of charge and cruise at 85 we got 3.2 mi/kWh. 93 kW charging to start and 53kW as we were getting close to top. 28 minutes and we were at 94%. Going off I40 with plenty of range for our next destination Amarillo via Fort Sumner.…..

 

[Bill55]

I’m pretty sure we had the first Lucid Air at the Billy the kid museum. After a brief incarceration and a promise to keep it under 100 we continued on to Amarillo.
A nice day for a drive in Texas, only a little windy. Arriving in Amarillo we went to EA at Sams club. First charger was labeled 350 but was only pulling 73. We switched and got 230kW to start and then 30kW topping off. 49 minutes to top of charge. 1532 miles at our hotel in downtown Amarillo. 2.8 mi/kWh average. Good steak dinner at Crush. Despite being a wine bar had a nice bar and a good menu. A good nights sleep and ready for the last leg of this trip.

 

[Bill55]

The last leg was informative regarding needing level 2 charging during a trip. From Amarillo to McKinney (just north of Dallas) the first level 3 charger was in Denton. 323 miles and we were starting with 91% charge. 0.91*118*2.9=311. We though about setting the cruise at 70, but with speed limit of 75 and many people driving 90 we opted for 85. We thought we could do a lunch stop and get just enough. We stopped in Childress at a ChargePoint just off the route. Charged for 55 minutes and got 4%. Once we got to Wichita Falls we thought it would be close, there was a ChargePoint near a Starbucks about 4.5 miles off the route. 9 miles total. We plugged in and to to our dismay 4kWh. After 1:15 minutes we decided there were a couple RV spots for an emergency and continued on. After 1:15 minutes we were up a couple coffees and net a couple kWhs. We were at 32% charge with 100 miles to go. We set the cruise at 70 and much to our dismay the trip showed us going between 3.0 and 3.1 mi/kWh. At bottom of charge that was as good as it got. We made it with 5%. We could have skipped the last charge. Last 100 miles cruise at 70mph and 66 degrees we got 3.1 mi/kWh. Both 350 chargers were dead so we plugged into 150 and charged to 48%. Enough to finish the trip and do some errands before parking the car at the house in Frisco.

 

[Bus Driver]

The last leg was informative regarding needing level 2 charging during a trip. From Amarillo to McKinney (just north of Dallas) the first level 3 charger was in Denton. 323 miles and we were starting with 91% charge. 0.91*118*2.9=311. We though about setting the cruise at 70, but with speed limit of 75 and many people driving 90 we opted for 85. We thought we could do a lunch stop and get just enough. We stopped in Childress at a ChargePoint just off the route. Charged for 55 minutes and got 4%. Once we got to Wichita Falls we thought it would be close, there was a ChargePoint near a Starbucks about 4.5 miles off the route. 9 miles total. We plugged in and to to our dismay 4kWh. After 1:15 minutes we decided there were a couple RV spots for an emergency and continued on. After 1:15 minutes we were up a couple coffees and net a couple kWhs. We were at 32% charge with 100 miles to go. We set the cruise at 70 and much to our dismay the trip showed us going between 3.0 and 3.1 mi/kWh. At bottom of charge that was as good as it got. We made it with 5%. We could have skipped the last charge. Last 100 miles cruise at 70mph and 66 degrees we got 3.1 mi/kWh. Both 350 chargers were dead so we plugged into 150 and charged to 48%. Enough to finish the trip and do some errands before parking the car at the house in Frisco.

I will miss the relative ubiquity of Tesla superchargers, when I take my first road trip in a Lucid.

Thank you very much for your report and travelogue.

 

[Bill55]

Summary: 1859 miles at 2.9 mi/kWh.

This was with lots of elevation and driving, except for the last 100 miles, same as I would with an ice vehicle.

I’m sure some will be disappointed with that number. I was not. The included Lucid charger is set for 32amps for a 40amp breaker so your always going to get 8kW charging with the included cable and 14-50 plug. Request to Lucid is to allow owner to set breaker size of 30, 40, or 50. (24, 32, or 40 amp draw) It can require acknowledgment of A liability waiver if need be. With that you could get 9.6kW as I do with my EA home charger that plugs into a 14-50 on a 50amp breaker. Or get 8kW on 40amp or 6kW with an adaptor to a 30amp dryer plug. In the future if I’m off the beaten path and need a boost between overnight charges, I’ll look for 14-50 plugs and get 8kW with the Lucid cable, which will be more consistent than my experience so far with ChargePoint (4-7kW).

The EA locations there were some number of chargers down at most locations. We switched charges 3 times as the first charger tried was well below expected. Had to call at one location as chargers could not verify payment. Never had to wait, there was always an open charger. Only saw one ice car blocking an EV spot.

The car was a great road trip car. Plenty of luggage space, quiet. Seats are comfortable. No issues with the car at all.

Signed up for the 90 days of Tidal for free and we listened to that or used Bluetooth from our phones. The audio system still takes seemingly forever to boot, is lousy at reconnecting Bluetooth audio any time you stop, and not good at picking up where it left off if Tidal loses signal even briefly, often pausing and requiring you to press play once signal was reacquired. Also, restarting playlists after every stop.

We used our phones for navigation, not bothering with the onboard Nav. Really looking forward to CarPlay.

Car is charging at 1KW plugged into a standard outlet. Sadly it will be 5 weeks untill I continue the journey to Greenville Via Daytona.
Oddly there are no EA stations on 20 East of Dallas until Tuscaloosa.

 

[Bill55]

I will miss the relative ubiquity of Tesla superchargers, when I take my first road trip in a Lucid.

Thank you very much for your report and travelogue.

On 287 when we needed just that little extra boost from Amarillo to Denton we drove right by Henrietta and Tesla Supercharger station

 

[MorganB]

Oddly there are no EA stations on 20 East of Dallas until Tuscaloosa.

I looked into the lack of EA stations on 20 east of Dallas as I need to travel east from Dallas often. Fortunately my destination allows me to travel I-30 also where there are EA chargers.. I-20 is in their cycle 3 investment plan with build out from Jan 2022 to July 2024.

Our Zero Emission Vehicle Investment Plan| Electrify America

Between 2017 and 2027, Electrify America will have invested $2 billion in Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure, access, and education in the U.S.

www.electrifyamerica.com

 

[MPawelek]

EA has probably reviewed routes shown to be used the most from major city hubs and is building on those routes first and will build along secondary corridors as time allows.

 

[DeaneG]

I will miss the relative ubiquity of Tesla superchargers, when I take my first road trip in a Lucid.

It's surprising to many that in the USA, there are more than 3x the number of CCS fast charging locations than Tesla supercharging locations. Only 64% as many total CCS DCFC charging stalls as supercharger stalls though. There are currently about 4,386 CCS DC fast charging station locations and 8,589 CCS ports, compared to Tesla's 1,338 supercharging station locations with a total of 13,514 ports.

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Electric Vehicle Charging Station Locations

 

[Bus Driver]

On 287 when we needed just that little extra boost from Amarillo to Denton we drove right by Henrietta and Tesla Supercharger station

View attachment 2011

Did you use abetterrouteplanner.com to plan your trip? I highly recommend it for planning road trips. Basic trip planning on the app is free. If you want to have a more accurate trip plan by including winds and outside air temperatures, etc, it’s $5.99 per month. I’ve used it on every road trip I’ve done in our Teslas, including my most recent one in February, from Chula Vista to Ft Worth TX, and back again.

 

[bhramabull]

Did you use abetterrouteplanner.com to plan your trip? I highly recommend it for planning road trips. Basic trip planning on the app is free. If you want to have a more accurate trip plan by including winds and outside air temperatures, etc, it’s $5.99 per month. I’ve used it on every road trip I’ve done in our Teslas, including my most recent one in February, from Chula Vista to Ft Worth TX, and back again.

so when you upgrade does it like give you live / real-time SoC changes while driving? Does it also do like my Tesla did where you see what SoC you will arrive at so you can unplug accordingly? Also do you keep it running on your phone at all times running concurrently with your onboard navigation?

 

[Bus Driver]

so when you upgrade does it like give you live / real-time SoC changes while driving? Does it also do like my Tesla did where you see what SoC you will arrive at so you can unplug accordingly? Also do you keep it running on your phone at all times running concurrently with your onboard navigation?

YES, to all three. However, while driving I found it easier to use the Tesla onboard navigation and the energy consumption graph.

I would use ABRP primarily for trip planning purposes. Then, during the actual trip, I would get on the ABRP app just before starting my drive that day, just to get an idea of where I could expect to stop to charge. I would then leave the app running in the background on my phone. However I found myself not referring to it all that much while driving.

For me ABRP’s usefulness is in planning charging stops before embarking on a trip. I would only pay the monthly fee for the time I would be doing my road trip. I drove from California to Texas, and back again in February and March this year. I bought two months of membership during that time.

 

[bhramabull]

Oh that's excellent info. Appreciate that. I suppose would make me feel okay about spending a few bucks every time on a road trip! But still does the app update real time with SoC info as far as you can recall?

YES, to all three. However, while driving I found it easier to use the Tesla onboard navigation and the energy consumption graph.

I would use ABRP primarily for trip planning purposes. Then, during the actual trip, I would get on the ABRP app just before starting my drive that day, just to get an idea of where I could expect to stop to charge. I would then leave the app running in the background on my phone. However I found myself not referring to it all that much while driving.

For me ABRP’s usefulness is in planning charging stops before embarking on a trip. I would only pay the monthly fee for the time I would be doing my road trip. I drove from California to Texas, and back again in February and March this year. I bought two months of membership during that time

 

[Bus Driver]

Oh that's excellent info. Appreciate that. I suppose would make me feel okay about spending a few bucks every time on a road trip! But still does the app update real time with SoC info as far as you can recall?

Oh, with Teslas it most definitely does. When you set up an acount and log in, you are given the option of using your Tesla account information. The app then uses your log in to ”communicate” with your car, and by that method synch up with your car’s current SofC. You’ll see this in the Advanced Settings.

CAVEAT. I don’t know if ABRP has, or will have, this level of connectivity with Lucid vehicles.

 

[hydbob]

Oh, with Teslas it most definitely does. When you set up an acount and log in, you are given the option of using your Tesla account information. The app then uses your log in to ”communicate” with your car, and by that method synch up with your car’s current SofC. You’ll see this in the Advanced Settings.

CAVEAT. I don’t know if ABRP has, or will have, this level of connectivity with Lucid vehicles.

That seems...weird? Isn't one of the of the selling points of Tesla the Supercharger network and how it integrates seamlessly into the nav? Would that make ABRP kind of pointless?

 

[Tesla2.0]

Day 4 car wash notes.
1. The charge door with use is becoming more and more misaligned.
2. The aero inserts continue to become looser. 17 of 20 were out 1/16" to 1/8"
3. Driving through dust storm dust got by the first seal of the frunk. Nothing got by the second seal and everything in the frunk was clean.

Excellent documentation. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Bus Driver]

That seems...weird? Isn't one of the of the selling points of Tesla the Supercharger network and how it integrates seamlessly into the nav? Would that make ABRP kind of pointless?

Not if you want to embark on a road trip, armed with as much information as possible. Proposed charging stops are of particular interest to me.

Often my Tesla is not immediately available to sit in if I want to plan a trip somewhere. For myself I find ABRP most useful for trip planning purposes. After the trip starts, it’s a great adjunct to whatever route information and charging guidance the onboard Tesla navigation offers.