Winter Driving Impression : WOW

[stratus]

I finally had the opportunity to test the car on roads with deep snow, packed snow, and ice, with my 19 inch all seasons. I drove on several steep gradients , flat sections and curvy portions of the road. There was anywhere from 4-10 inches of snow on the roads . This car was absolutely amazing in all respects. It had no issues accelerating on ice or deep snow. When I forced it a bit, traction control was stunning. I did several harder stops and it was incredibly stable. The all seasons seem very adept at handling challenging conditions. In my opinion , the Air felt more stable and controlled than my Subaru Outback. This experienced has alleviated any concerns I had with the car’s performance in winter. Just outstanding!!

 

[DRWHO42]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[momoskier]

This is useful. Thanks for sharing from those of us expecting to be in winter wonderland this season!

 

[noobzilla]

Good to hear!

 

[stratus]

One additional item I forgot to mention.
I switched from high to standard regenerative breaking, when venturing out. I think high regen could get a bit dicey on ice and hard packed snow, so I would suggest doing the same .

 

[joec]

One additional item I forgot to mention.
I switched from high to standard regenerative breaking, when venturing out. I think high regen could get a bit dicey on ice and hard packed snow, so I would suggest doing the same .

The owner’s manual suggests this, too.

 

[ac.bill]

Living in the DFW area I see a couple snow/ice days every 2-3 years. I'm anxious to see how the Air GT's 21s will do in cold and slippery conditions. I have driven summer tires in snow before with mixed results, but that was on much lighter cars.

 

[Tesla2.0]

Heading to Dallas today and be back in couple days. This might be the last time I’m on 21” for rest of year. I’m going to see if I can get there without charge with 100% SOC, 2 passengers and luggages.

 

[hmp10]

Living in the DFW area I see a couple snow/ice days every 2-3 years. I'm anxious to see how the Air GT's 21s will do in cold and slippery conditions. I have driven summer tires in snow before with mixed results, but that was on much lighter cars.

Traction is not the only issue with summer tires in cold weather. The summer rubber compounds are optimized for warm-weather traction and not formulated to stay flexible in cold weather. At temperatures below 40ºF they become brittle and can even develop cracks. Both Lucid and the tire manufacturer recommend not using the tires below that temperature.

Here's a brief article on the subject from Tire Rack:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=273

We keep summer tires on both our Tesla and our Lucid but, even though we live in south Florida where we almost never see temperatures below 40º, we keep all-season tires on our Honda minivan so that we can make trips with that if we might encounter lower temperatures.

 

[SDHacker]

Living in the DFW area I see a couple snow/ice days every 2-3 years. I'm anxious to see how the Air GT's 21s will do in cold and slippery conditions. I have driven summer tires in snow before with mixed results, but that was on much lighter cars.

I think a DE-P owner did a quick run when he got his car in the winter living in the Denver area before he could put winter tires on since he was anxious to drive the car and he said it handled great even with the 21s. But he did caution about driving in cold on summer tires and that he was switching to Sottozero tires.

 

[Keithmaj]

Heading to Dallas today and be back in couple days. This might be the last time I’m on 21” for rest of year. I’m going to see if I can get there without charge with 100% SOC, 2 passengers and luggages.View attachment 7076

Let us know how the trip goes (I assume mainly on I-45...). I will have the same trip in reverse once I get my AT which obviously has a reduced range.

 

[digiboxer]

Traction is not the only issue with summer tires in cold weather. The summer rubber compounds are optimized for warm-weather traction and not formulated to stay flexible in cold weather. At temperatures below 40ºF they become brittle and can even develop cracks. Both Lucid and the tire manufacturer recommend not using the tires below that temperature.

Here's a brief article on the subject from Tire Rack:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=273

We keep summer tires on both our Tesla and our Lucid but, even though we live in south Florida where we almost never see temperatures below 40º, we keep all-season tires on our Honda minivan so that we can make trips with that if we might encounter lower temperatures.

Quite right...and WSJ's auto writer Dan Neal covers the topic in this piece

An Ode to Proper Winter Tires

Modern tire technology offers drivers a range of choices suited to specific conditions. Dan Neil on the ones that grip best when the rubber meets the snow—and why they excel.

www.wsj.com

 

[ac.bill]

Heading to Dallas today and be back in couple days. This might be the last time I’m on 21” for rest of year. I’m going to see if I can get there without charge with 100% SOC, 2 passengers and luggages.

I hope that worked out for you. I-45 usually has traffic running +10+

 

[ac.bill]

Thanks to all for tire feedback and links.

 

[Tesla2.0]

Let us know how the trip goes (I assume mainly on I-45...). I will have the same trip in reverse once I get my AT which obviously has a reduced range.

I hope that worked out for you. I-45 usually has traffic running +10+

I just got to Dallas, 5 hours 20 min. Not 7~8 hours on 3 charges as in Tesla. I wasn’t comfortable getting to my destination with just 12% after 1/2 way realized I was -33% under EPA. I stopped by Madisonville Walmart to use restroom and did +20% SOC EA there in 20 minutes. I found a 350kW in that station, but it wouldn’t charge for me. I called EA 1-800-# to reset the charger and it still wouldn’t handshake with mine. I don’t think I will ever be successful connecting to a 350kW. (Denton, RoundRock, Ennis, Madison all failed for me) So I wasted 20 minutes on phone with EA CC. When a Rivian R1T came in, couldn’t work in one stall, shaked his head and left, I drove to that stall and VOILA, didn’t work for Rivian, but worked for Lucid!

My driving parameters:
- driver + 2 passengers
- 4 carry-on luggages
- 21”
- temp drop 74F —-> 50F
- +290’ elevation
- HVAC, Nav, SXM, massage on most of time
- 4 accidents on I-45 bumper to bumper
- When not bumper to bumper, I was going with traffic flow 70~100 mph

Left West Houston 99% SOC, +20% SOC in Madisonville, reached destination North Dallas, 32% SOC. If I was driving another brand’s EV, I would have expended at least 1 ~ 3 hrs more under same driving parameters.

 

[hydbob]

I just got to Dallas, 5 hours 20 min. Not 7~8 hours on 3 charges as in Tesla. I wasn’t comfortable getting to my destination with just 12% after 1/2 way realized I was -33% under EPA. I stopped by Madisonville Walmart to use restroom and did +20% SOC EA there in 20 minutes. I found a 350kW in that station, but it wouldn’t charge for me. I called EA 1-800-# to reset the charger and it still wouldn’t handshake with mine. I don’t think I will ever be successful connecting to a 350kW. (Denton, RoundRock, Ennis, Madison all failed for me) So I wasted 20 minutes on phone with EA CC. When a Rivian R1T came in, couldn’t work in one stall, shaked his head and left, I drove to that stall and VOILA, didn’t work for Rivian, but worked for Lucid!

My driving parameters:
- driver + 2 passengers
- 4 carry-on luggages
- 21”
- temp drop 74F —-> 50F
- +290’ elevation
- HVAC, Nav, SXM, massage on most of time
- 4 accidents on I-45 bumper to bumper
- When not bumper to bumper, I was going with traffic flow 70~100 mph


View attachment 7094

Left West Houston 99% SOC, +20% SOC in Madisonville, reached destination North Dallas, 32% SOC. If I was driving another brand’s EV, I would have expended at least 1 ~ 3 hrs more under same driving parameters.

Looks like you could've made it without charging

 

[Tesla2.0]

Looks like you could've made it without charging

Yes, indeed I could.
I found a ChargePoint in my hotel. Never used it before. Downloaded the app, linked to my ApplePay. I couldn’t charge EA vaporware 350kW, but happily settle for 6kW @$2/hr during my sleep. Geez… My home charger Wallbox charge much faster than that.

 

[Keithmaj]

I just got to Dallas, 5 hours 20 min. Not 7~8 hours on 3 charges as in Tesla. I wasn’t comfortable getting to my destination with just 12% after 1/2 way realized I was -33% under EPA. I stopped by Madisonville Walmart to use restroom and did +20% SOC EA there in 20 minutes. I found a 350kW in that station, but it wouldn’t charge for me. I called EA 1-800-# to reset the charger and it still wouldn’t handshake with mine. I don’t think I will ever be successful connecting to a 350kW. (Denton, RoundRock, Ennis, Madison all failed for me) So I wasted 20 minutes on phone with EA CC. When a Rivian R1T came in, couldn’t work in one stall, shaked his head and left, I drove to that stall and VOILA, didn’t work for Rivian, but worked for Lucid!

My driving parameters:
- driver + 2 passengers
- 4 carry-on luggages
- 21”
- temp drop 74F —-> 50F
- +290’ elevation
- HVAC, Nav, SXM, massage on most of time
- 4 accidents on I-45 bumper to bumper
- When not bumper to bumper, I was going with traffic flow 70~100 mph


View attachment 7094

Left West Houston 99% SOC, +20% SOC in Madisonville, reached destination North Dallas, 32% SOC. If I was driving another brand’s EV, I would have expended at least 1 ~ 3 hrs more under same driving parameters.

Thanks for the update. Looks like while range anxiety isn't a problem for the Air, EA charger anxiety certainly is. Did you use any specific apps in addition to what your Air was telling you to check the availability of the EA chargers along the way, or did you pretty much stop and eyeball them as you progressed?

 

[Tesla2.0]

Thanks for the update. Looks like while range anxiety isn't a problem for the Air, EA charger anxiety certainly is. Did you use any specific apps in addition to what your Air was telling you to check the availability of the EA chargers along the way, or did you pretty much stop and eyeball them as you progressed?

My pleasure. I didn’t bother to use app. I know ABRP is best at estimating and EA app let you know which stall is being used or available before you go there. But now Lucid native Nav app added function to let you find charger “Along the route” or “Around Me” at any anytime, so I didn’t bother to plan. I know Ennis, Madisonville, Huntsville and Woodland all have EA.

These are the relevant apps I use.

Although I can go to Dallas in one shot, but I don’t feel comfortable for SOC to go lower than 20%, and my wife needs restroom, so we stopped by Madison EA for that break. So it was shooting 2 birds with 1 stone. We got there from 99% to 64%, and charge back to 84% at slower charging curve while using Walmart RR. Had I not insisted to try 350kW at first place, I could save 20 min on phone with EA and get to my destination just under 5 hours with 4 accidents on I-45.

Today we suppose to go to Fort Worth or Ennis for free EA charge. But I opt to pay at hotel to fill it up without waiting at EA station. I also have TeslaTap in my trunk for any hotel that equips with Tesla destination charger. No anxiety at all with Lucid going Houston/Dallas/Austin, but I don’t know about going to Oklahoma or Louisiana yet. I will eventually try.

 

[stratus]

Follow up. This morning was basically a skating rink of ice on my way to work. Last night it warmed up, then this AM it was snowing and below freezing so roads were horrendous.
The car did well but I wanted to share a couple observations that I am sure many people have likely thought of. On solid ice, be careful with Regen ( even standard ); especially for those who are unaccustomed. One time I let up a little bit quickly and slid, but the car did a fantastic job of correcting immediately . On this kind of ice, no vehicle is immune from sliding but I felt very safe in the Air ( except for the nanosecond I almost soiled myself when it slipped). No one was going more than 20 mph this AM and there were lots of cars off the road.
Once again in areas of deeper heavy plowed snow, no problem!!