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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday August 12 2020, @06:12AM   Printer-friendly
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!


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 12 2020, @02:55PM (4 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 12 2020, @02:55PM (#1035560) Journal

    That is useful and interesting information. Most of us have little idea what's available, or how to use it.

    My general working range (to 90% battery) is a bit over 250 miles.

    Real life experience, vs advertised range, which may or may not mean anything. I long ago said that a range over 200 miles is something that I could probably work with, and that a range of 300 would definitely be workable. You're splitting the difference there at 250. And, again, those are real miles driven on real roads, as opposed to some special track at a test facility.

    I think that I could adapt to driving your car. Of course more range would always be a good thing.

    Only two things stopping me from seriously considering buying an electric then.

    A: I don't want Tesla (or anyone else) tracking my vehicle continuously. They don't own the data, I don't want them accessing it.

    B: Price. It's been thirty years since I bought an almost-new car, forty years since I've paid for a new car. I generally pay between $2000 and $3000 for a well-used vehicle, that has obviously been well maintained. If I only get 1 year of service from such a car, I've done well. The vehicle I'm driving now is over three years. No financing, no interest, no high dollar insurance, nothing. Paid $2500 cash, and drive, drive, drive.

    I don't anticipate that any electric vehicles will be in that price range soon. :^)

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2020, @06:35PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2020, @06:35PM (#1035699)

    The scrap value of the batteries in a Tesla is probably a few thousand by itself, so I doubt the used electric market will be great.

  • (Score: 2) by PhilSalkie on Wednesday August 12 2020, @10:28PM (1 child)

    by PhilSalkie (3571) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 12 2020, @10:28PM (#1035840)

    The data tracking is as always, a double-edged sword. An external website called TeslaFi logs every drive, lets me get my mileage for work driving, and exports as .csv so I have an IRS primary source.
    Tesla vehicles have the highest theft recovery rates because of the tracking, and the data access allows remote vehicle control (remote unlock saved my butt after I lost my keys at the beach once.)
    Data being sent back to the mothership also continuously improves the automated driving software, which is absolutely amazing.

    Prices will only drop over time as battery capability runs up the curve which CPU performance ran up 20 years ago. We've experienced about a 10X improvement in rechargeable energy density (NiCd, anyone?) and there's lots of room to improve in both density and price. Fuel cost is much less than petroleum, there's no oil to change, no engine air filter to change, no tune-up parts, so maintenance costs are much less - you're basically paying up front for the lack of fuel expense, consumables, and routine maintenance. (In my particular case, I've bought used Model S vehicles from Tesla, so got their warranty. The vehicles are old enough that power from SuperChargers is free - buying a newer vehicle where that cost isn't factored into the price makes it cheaper.) It'll be a while before any reasonable used EV is in the sub $5000 range, just because they don't wear out and die as fast as Internal Combustion cars do, so they have greater residual value. (Used Nissan Leafs have low prices because they beat the snot out of their battery packs.)

    For me, the Autopilot capabilities are the thing that makes the vehicle worth the price. I literally engage it at the on-ramp in Philly and be driven to the off-ramp in DC, touching nothing other than a light hand on the steering so the car knows I'm awake. I can drive to a customer 300 miles away and be ready to work when I arrive - the trip is no-longer tiring.