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from the 490-must-be-enough-for-anyone dept.
With the latest long range Tesla rated at 402 miles, newcomer Lucid Air demos one of their cars going 450 miles in real-world driving. An additional 40 miles were driven after the Motor Trend witness called it a day.
2021 Lucid Air First Ride Review: 450 Miles on One Charge!:
Lucid engineering is located close to Tesla in the Bay Area and the article claims they employ 1200 people at this point--not a small effort. A clipping from the end of the story:
Back on the road and heading north, we pass a milestone: 402 miles, or the highest rated range for which a Tesla model is certified. At this point, the Air's battery reads 16 percent remaining, and the range prediction has now dipped to 478 miles. An hour and a half later, we roll into Lucid HQ for a coffee, a stretch, and a shake of our foggy heads, then crawl back in and head out again. We cut west across the Dumbarton Bridge to lap up and down the 101 as it arteries along San Francisco Bay's east side, increasingly reddening on the traffic map. The day is starting its reverse transition to twilight, and we're experiencing range anxiety of the opposite type: Instead of worrying about running out of juice, we're getting anxious that we'll never stop driving.
At 6:20 p.m., 450 miles and almost 12 hours after we started, we pull back up to HQ. A stubborn 7 percent of energy is displayed on the screen, predicting a range of 484 miles—that's now probably very close to reality for this trip—and we sit silently for several seconds before I concede the battery has beaten us. That's enough; we're calling it a day. I slowly climb out of the car and straighten up. Later that evening, a fresh Lucid driver took out the car again, finally ending the experiment at 490 miles. Not the FEV laboratory's 517, but 95 percent of it, every mile demonstrated in the hills and heat of the real world.
Also noted in the article is that Lucid have developed their system in-house, not using available parts from suppliers. They make their own 900V battery pack which allows motors to be smaller, and charging (with the right charger) to be faster.
Getting closer, but still not enough range for this AC--I'm headed out for a 730 mile road trip tomorrow, it took about 12 hours when I did the same trip last month (didn't want to fly for viral reasons). I stopped to pee a few times and twice for gas, never pushed the ~400 mile range of the gas tank of my Impreza. Yes, it's a bit noisy, that's what ear plugs are for!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2020, @08:20AM (4 children)
While Lucid moves the bar up for battery life, Audi has made a pretty weak first move says http://www.autoextremist.com/current/2020/8/11/the-grand-transition-will-leave-some-consumers-behind.html [autoextremist.com]
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2021-audi-e-tron-electric-suv-sportback/ [cnet.com] also chimes in,
(Score: 3, Funny) by ledow on Wednesday August 12 2020, @10:04AM (3 children)
What's "destination"?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2020, @10:34AM (2 children)
In the US, car dealerships add a fee to the vehicle price that - they claim - covers their shipping and preparation costs for the vehicle.
I think it's just an excuse to advertise one price and then charge something higher, like Comcast cable.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Wednesday August 12 2020, @11:21AM (1 child)
I'm assuming we don't have that in the UK. Never heard of that, and bought a new car only a few years ago direct from the dealer.
Sorry, but if the car is £20k, then the delivery cost to the dealer is out of YOUR profit, not added to my cost as an additional extra. Certainly not of that amount! A car transporter could be hired and traverse the country with 10 cars on it, for that kind of cost, let alone "per car".
I'd be happy to pay, say £50 or so for them to deliver it to my door, but apart from that, that's just profiteering. I mean... it has wheels and propulsion of its own! All you need is a driver and a mate to pick him up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2020, @12:13PM
Agreed. Like I said, it's part of the all too common tactic, at least in the US, of advertising one price but then charging the customer something higher.
Often you can haggle that cost away, but it's all a game anyway. Maybe the vehicle is advertised at $30k with a $1k destination fee. If you say you won't pay the fee and you want a lower price, they eliminate the fee and reduce the price to $1k, so your total discount is $2k. If you don't say anything about the fee but say you want a lower price, they preserve the fee but reduce the price to $2k. Either way your discount is the same - and it's a good bet they were planning on selling that model for $29k all along.