Software and Tech Opinions

[emoylv]

I did not realize there were going to a variety of early adopter issues. I went thru this forum and checked out road trip because I’m going to drive from ca to az and it’s almost like the car or az wants to fail me. The drive is definitely very comfortable and 10/10. Here’s where my mental state goes on overdrive and not enough vodka to make me forget.

- have to do homework on charging stations for a long road trip. Dl’d ABRP and plug share, they both reccomend I stop at quartzite and will be at my destination with 10%. Cool, problem is I can see the mileage vs miles since last charge changing at a different rate. For example, screen shows charge 180 miles but start to drive, and it changes to 150, when I’ve only driven 10 miles from last charge. I just can’t rely on this.
- get to destination with 6 miles and now try to find a charger. There’s one 2 miles away. Need to find it and that’s a big gripe I have in areas I don’t know, I’m circling to find these small stations. They’re not clearly marked like Tesla. Find a blink station dl the app, it charges 10 miles per hour 6 or 8 kw. I hang out to get back to 12 miles so I can drive to a fast charging station. Literally drive out the lot, the miles goes to 8. I get nervous find the next crap station that is damaged with someone cutting off the cables. Stressed to find the next one that is another 2 miles. This one charges a little faster but 13kw still a time suck. I hang out at target until the car gets to 22 miles. Back on track to the fast station. Circle around 3 times and finally ask someone nearby and they say drive thru the gates, like how tf am I supposed to know. My miles are back at 5, I’ve driven in 105 az heat with no air cause I’m so low on miles. Get there, says blink but doesn’t take my card, QR code tells me to dl the app I already have. I call the number, miserable, I have to dl another app, enter my card info and then it worked. Charged up to 150 miles. That was 3 hours later.
- next am, my car has a flat tire. I had to uber and then call aaa to help determine if it’s just air, repair or replace. Turns out leak in tire, lucid was no help, ending up keeping the car at tire center overnight cause they don’t have the tire size. 600$ later waiting for the tire.
- I learned from this experience but I wish I didn’t have to. I want my Tesla back because it was something I knew and the times I had issues, Tesla towing came to the rescue.

I know a lot of people here will likely discount this sentiment but it’s frustrating and I don’t have the leisure of time trying to balance everything and figure out the car too. I would wait until they at least get the Tesla charging adapter.

I'm interested to know what your route was. I drove from San Diego to Tucson earlier this month. First time with an EV so I was a little nervous. Charged to 95% in SD so the Touring (20" wheels) told me to skip El Centro and charge in Yuma, AZ, Dateland, AZ and Casa Grande, AZ. The route planner told me how much charge to put in at each stop. The fluctuation in miles upon arrival while I was driving was a little disconcerting. In the heat, my calculations was about 3 miles/kWh so nowhere near my lifetime average. I decided to place my trust in the Lucid computer, charged to the level recommended before continuing and all went well. I did have a couple of trepidations: There is only one Electrify America charge station in Tucson. If it was down, I would have had an extended stay there but I checked before the trip and it was up and running. I did the same before I left SD and confirmed that the stations at Yuma and Dateland are operational as well. Until the EVSE charging network gets more robust, that's my planning scenario for all out-of-town EV trips. I take 2-3 trips/year so not a big deal. The joy of driving the Touring more than compensates the planning exercise but I sort of knew that when I made the purchase. I used EA exclusively since I have another half year of free charging. With EA, the Touring will practically take you to the charge station, not just the general vicinity. I haven't used EVGo or others so I can't comment on them.