Lucid Air EV Has a Projected 517 Miles of Range, and We Saw 458 Miles on a Real-World Ride-Along

[Faffle]

As someone who owns a kia soul ev and has had to have the battery replaced, you can't have too much range. A lot of people are looking at 300 miles of range and thinking they don't need more. Well, it's only 300 miles on the day you buy it and only goes down over time or with cold weather. The key thing to remember IMO............ The bigger the battery pack the less you will cycle through your batteries so the longer it will last.

 

[MEDICALJMP]

As someone who owns a kia soul ev and has had to have the battery replaced, you can't have too much range. A lot of people are looking at 300 miles of range and thinking they don't need more. Well, it's only 300 miles on the day you buy it and only goes down over time or with cold weather. The key thing to remember IMO............ The bigger the battery pack the less you will cycle through your batteries so the longer it will last.

I forgot to mention the winter factor. Cold loss is a big thing, especially for me as I like my vehicle interior HOT. My Model 3 buddy says his mileage drops tremendously on his sub-30 degree business trips.

 

[TruckElectric]

I forgot to mention the winter factor. Cold loss is a big thing, especially for me as I like my vehicle interior HOT. My Model 3 buddy says his mileage drops tremendously on his sub-30 degree business trips.

I forgot to mention that too.

 

[ricinro]

Perhaps Tesla could design batteries in 30kwh modules and you just lease the number of modules you feel you need. A road trip would encourage using all four modules and perhaps a mini trailer with 2-4 additional precharged modules and some room for suitcases.
But yeah, leasing just one module to do 20-40 miles around town daily would make for a light, nimble ride and the lease terms could be inexpensive. A tesla without a battery could be fairly affordable and leasing abattery module would fit most budgets.

 

[TruckElectric]

It's no coincidence that Lucid Motors announced this large range.

They are getting out in front of Tesla's big Battery Day announcement.

It is a common tactic used in business when one company tries to steal the thunder of a competitors known announcement by making some similar announcement out ahead of them, or releasing a competing product out in front of the competitor.


Samsung has being doing it for years with Apple in their fight for dominance in cell phones.

 

[12thmanfootball]

My question is.......how much will it cost this startup to mass produce this vehicle??? Once I see that, then I'll be impressed, but my guess is this range is based on having a ton of batteries in the car.

 

[cyberhunter]

The range thing is a huge deal for those of us that travel long distance. I do an annual hunting trip...it is 615 miles from house to hotel. We currently do that distance in one day in my truck. We drive it in the winter and are driving fast and there is elevation change. The number of super chargers along the way is exactly two and the last one is 150 miles from the hotel. First stretch of road is 215 miles without supercharger, then 250 miles without one, then 150 miles to the hotel. We drive 30 to 50 or so miles each day while we are there and the CT would only be charging at night at a 13 kw destination charger. The temps are regularly in the teens at night. Add all that up and I'm pretty sure why you can see I require as much range as possible if the CT will make this trip without range anxiety. I'd also like some V4 charging capability so I'm not spending 1 to 1.5 hours at each supercharger, but I will wait to see what battery day and other future announcements say.

Imagine if I were towing a utility trailer with about 4k to 5k lbs on that trip. I'd venture to say it might be impossible given the current specs, but luckily I only tow on shorter (150 to 200 miles one way) currently. Either way, for me...the more range the better, and I would use it for sure on my road trips. I'd like to have the capability to tow up to 300 miles (flat ground) between charges in case any future hunting trips require that kind of distance while pulling the UTV.

 

[Crissa]

Go south/north of I-80 and you have a few hundred miles of EV desert. Now you spend a week camping. Parasitic losses, use of the CTs climate control to sleep in the bed, maybe power tools or a small refrigerator. I want every electron I can get.

Yeah, but that's the CT, not the Lucid Air.

-Crissa

 

[TruckElectric]

Yeah, but that's the CT, not the Lucent Air.

Lucent Air, is that a new Cell Phone?

 

[Crissa]

Lucent Air, is that a new Cell Phone?

Stupid typo ^-^;

-Crissa

 

[azjohn]

in addition to reduced range during cold weather a larger battery will also enable the battery to take more energy in a short amount of time. You do want to keep SOC between 20-90%, so your 500 mile battery is now about 400 and depending on your driving habits could bring range down to 300-350 miles

 

[ajdelange]

....my guess is this range is based on having a ton of batteries in the car.

Not a bad guess at all! It evidently has a 135 kWh battery. If you assume 150 Wh/kg that gives 2.2*135/.150 = 1980 lbs - just shy of a ton.

It's all in the physics, folks. If the S had a 135 kWh battery its range would be 403*135/100 = 544.05. Note that the CT will require 185 kWh to get that same 500 mi range.

 

[MUSK007]

It’s very simple. Range is King. Always buy as much range as you can afford. Trust me.

 

[ajdelange]

I do an annual hunting trip...it is 615 miles from house to hotel. We currently do that distance in one day in my truck. We drive it in the winter and are driving fast and there is elevation change. The number of super chargers along the way is exactly two and the last one is 150 miles from the hotel. First stretch of road is 215 miles without supercharger, then 250 miles without one, then 150 miles to the hotel.

Barring snow, rain or fierce winds, shouldn't be a problem.

Imagine if I were towing a utility trailer with about 4k to 5k lbs on that trip.

Would very likely present challenges. If moving the trailer requires as much energy as the truck (which doesn't seem unreasonable for load that weighs as much as the truck) your range will be cut in half. If it it takes twice as much as the truck, by 3 etc.: (W_trailer/W_truck + 1).

 

[Idaho_7]

When you only use a few tens of miles a day, is it really all that efficient to drag around a battery twenty times larger than the average daily commute?

-Crissa

As for the working car/truck and the traveller, we really would like to have only one vehicle. The sooner range increases to 1000 miles/charge, the sooner electrification will happen.