[sandvinsd]

We have had this discussion in the past as to range that vehicles need. While it is true that a 200-300 mile range will suit people for 95% of the time, the fact remains that we all want the freedom to also use our own car on a road trip rather than having to rent one. This was an interesting article from someone taking a Kia Niro on a road trip and his comments about it:

I took a Kia electric car on a 2,000-mile road trip and here's what I learned

To discover if electric vehicles are viable outside of the city, I took the Kia Niro EV on a road trip across the US

www.t3.com

To sum it up, range and charging speed matter. A Niro has a 239 mile range, but the driver realized that in reality he had to plan for 160 miles between 1 hour charging stops, especially after the battery warms up, you have extra weight, use the AC, drive in cold weather, etc. etc. that is why I want range In my next EV.

Lucid has the best technology, the longest range and the fastest charging car on the market. I am looking forward to having my AGT delivered so we can use it for road trips and finally dump the gasoline car. Our Leaf will remain the city car, unable to leave the county…..

 

[hmp10]

Having owned a Tesla for six years, I am fully aware of just how much of the rated range is really available for long road trips at realistic highway speeds, particularly if you want to preserve the battery life by staying away from its upper and lower charge capacities.

Here's the calculation I'm using for figuring road trip distance between charges for our Lucid Dream Performance w/ 21" wheels:

EPA range of 451 miles x 0.7 (keeping the battery between 20-90% state of charge) * = 315 miles

315 miles x 0.8 (adjustment for highway speeds) ** = 252 miles.

This is still over three hours of driving at 80 mph and well beyond the distance between Electrify America charging stations on most major routes.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but I do not buy electric cars for ecological reasons. I buy them because I find them more enjoyable to drive than ICE vehicles. I'd rather stop for a few more charging stops on a long trip than have to pay constant attention to hypermiling techniques as traffic whizzes by me. I just shake my head every time I read an article about how 500 miles of rated range is excessive.

__

* This preserves the battery life, avoids the low charge speed at the upper end of the charging curve, and leaves some margin at the lower end should inclement weather or traffic conditions (detours, etc.) unexpectedly develop between charging stops.

** Our 2015 Model S got about 60% of rated range when driving at 78-80 mph in temperate weather on south Florida's straight, flat, lightly-traveled Alligator Alley. (Data indicate the average speed on open stretches of the U.S. interstate system is 78 mph.) Our new Model S Plaid gets about 70% of its rated range driving in the same conditions. I'm accepting (for now) Lucid's claims that it will come closer to rated range at highway speeds, thus I'm using a 0.8 multiplier for its highway speed range. If Lucid does better than that, that's more icing on the cake.

 

[TessP100D]

We have had this discussion in the past as to range that vehicles need. While it is true that a 200-300 mile range will suit people for 95% of the time, the fact remains that we all want the freedom to also use our own car on a road trip rather than having to rent one. This was an interesting article from someone taking a Kia Niro on a road trip and his comments about it:

I took a Kia electric car on a 2,000-mile road trip and here's what I learned

To discover if electric vehicles are viable outside of the city, I took the Kia Niro EV on a road trip across the US

www.t3.com

To sum it up, range and charging speed matter. A Niro has a 239 mile range, but the driver realized that in reality he had to plan for 160 miles between 1 hour charging stops, especially after the battery warms up, you have extra weight, use the AC, drive in cold weather, etc. etc. that is why I want range In my next EV.

Lucid has the best technology, the longest range and the fastest charging car on the market. I am looking forward to having my AGT delivered so we can use it for road trips and finally dump the gasoline car. Our Leaf will remain the city car, unable to leave the county…..

Always buy the largest battery you can afford.
I hope Lucid hits it out of the park, but as of today, they Haven’t proven anything yet and they are not on the market yet.

 

[jivor]

I agree with range as a primary determining factor for an EV. I have mentioned this before, that I was angling for an Audi E-Tron GT, but the 238 mile range (on 21" wheels which for me make that car) is a hard pass; someone on the Audi forum that I responded to with this concern recommended I check out the Lucid. Even the smaller battery, which I am in the market for, is predicted to have 406 miles (closer to 380 miles on 20" air blade wheels, which look great on the Air); my 385 mile cross-state trip is mostly limited to state roads with speed limits no greater than 65mph. Now the vast majority of my charging will be in a garage keeping the capacity at 20-80%, with a 100% charge for a long trip; on a 385 mile journey, a 6 minute stop at a 100kWh charger at an on-route service plaza will give back about 46 miles (10kWh x 4.6 miles/kWh), enough to get home for a refill with just over 10% charge left. I had a friend who has a Taycan say I should just use my wife's minivan and let her drive the Air when I do my trip; my immediate thought was, nope (she is a fine driver, but the kids are a bit messy, to put it mildly).

 

[jivor]

Speaking of range, let's do a little speculation on the number of modules and thus the kWh of the smaller battery "pack". The Dream has 22 modules and the Grand Touring 21; each module has 300 cells, thus 6600 for the Dream and 6300 for the GT. Now the official pack size on 22 modules is 118kWh and 112 for 21 modules; those sizes are probably not exact, with a little massaging of the numbers in order to get and equivalent kWh per module, I figured somewhere around 5.35 kWh each. The GT has 1 module missing, and it is likely one of the two asymmetric ones near the front (one on top under the center divider console, and one mounted under the Wunderbox on the floor in line with the main modules); I am assuming the smaller pack has either 16 or 17 modules. Now obviously it is difficult to be sure, since there are "tuning" or software modifications that apply, as the GT has greater efficiency than the Dream, giving it just 4 miles less (on 19" wheels) than the Dream which has at least 5kWh more. Since I can't account for programming, I am going to propose the smaller pack on the Touring/Pure is 17 modules, 4 less taken from the rear seat floor and 1 from the front to even weight distribution; if that is the case 17 modules would yield just under 91kWh. Thoughts anyone?

 

[hmp10]

Are you sure the 6 kWh difference in capacity is due to removing a module, or is it due to the energy storage differences between the Samsung and the LG Chem cells, or even to different buffers? In its press releases about the Samsumg cells, Lucid said they had a proprietary chemistry that made them more tolerant of fast charging, so perhaps the Samsungs allow a reduced buffer at the higher and/or lower ends of the charging cycle compared to the LG Chem cells about which Lucid has never made a similar claim.

 

[jivor]

Lucid Air Specs Revealed: 118 kWh Dream Pack, 112 kWh Grand Touring

Lucid Air, one of the most technologically advanced electric cars ever created has entered the market. Let's take a look at some of its key specs.

insideevs.com

You may be right about that. The weight for both Dream and GT are the same. If that's the case, then if only 4 modules were removed, you end up with around 5.1 kWh per LG battery module. Using 18 modules x5.1 would yield a nearly 92kWh battery. Now without software differences affecting efficiency between the GT and the Touring/Air, 92 kWH at 4.6 kWh per mile would potentially yield around a 421 range.

 

[hmp10]

The weight for both Dream and GT are the same.

That's true, but I honestly don't know what to make of the curb weights Lucid published. The weights for both the Dream and the Grand Touring are given as exactly the same (5,236 pounds). Yet the 21" wheels on the Dream Edition are listed as forged while the 21" Grand Touring wheels are not. It would be very unusual if two wheels of different spoke designs with one forged and one not would weigh exactly the same. Usually a forged wheel weighs significantly less than a cast wheel of the same diameter -- even a wheel cast by flow forming or pressure casting. (Remember that any weight difference between one wheel and the other would be multiplied by four, meaning that these two different wheels would have to be within a few ounces of each other.)

 

[jivor]

Now we don't know the weight of the total battery system. Tesla's Model S 85kWh pack is 1200lbs., but Lucid's is lighter due to being structurally integral, so what would the 22 module system weigh? If we say the weight is equivalent, then the smaller battery should reduce the Touring by around 200lbs.? Which leads to another question about efficiency with around 4% less weight, and additionaly, how "tuning" for less power in the GT leads to better empg for the Touring (the Pure will be about 163lbs. lighter with only 1 motor unit).