1,000 Miles in 36 Hours in Our Long-Term Lucid Air

• I took our Lucid Air on a drive covering 1,000 miles in 36 hours.
• The drive also included three stops totaling 2.5 hours of charging.
• I walked away impressed by the Air Grand Touring.

The key to our long-term Lucid Air Grand Touring was in my pocket when I got a call from my cousin. There was going to be a family gathering in Northern California over the weekend. It was short notice but I wasn't about to miss it. The road trip would take me 1,000 miles in 36 hours. Game on.

To Kettleman City, CA

My alarm went off early Saturday morning. The Lucid projected 507 miles of range and my destination was 500 miles away. There wasn't a chance that I'd make it in one shot but the idea crept into my mind briefly.

Stop No. 1 was 213 miles into my trip, in Kettleman City. This was a low-stress choice given it was well within the Lucid's range and there were 10 Electrify America chargers available. I used the charge time for a rest stop and a walk around town.

Trip miles: 213.1
Range at arrival: 169 miles
kWh added: 54.904
Charging time: 45 minutes
Cost: $17.13
Range at departure: 412 miles (81%)

To Yuba City, CA

Stop No. 2 was another convenient 350 kW-capable Electrify America station along my route. It was also close enough to my destination that filling to near-full here meant I'd only needed one charge stop on my return leg home. The parking lot of this Target in Yuba City was busy when I pulled in at noon. Of the four total chargers, only one was available. And it was a 350-kW Hyper-Fast station. With this kind of luck I immediately went and bought a lottery ticket (lost, btw). To kill time during the charge, I strolled up and down every single aisle in Target. Apologies to anybody I creeped out along the way.

Trip miles: 252.5
Range at arrival: 66 miles
kWh added: 91.904
Charging time: 60 minutes
Cost: $50.84
Range at departure: 467 miles (93%)

To Oroville, CA, and Kettleman City (again)

That last charge got me to my destination in Oroville. The next morning, it also took me all the way back to déjà vu Stop No. 3: Kettleman City. I was reminded of the feral cat colony that used to live by the Tesla Supercharger station. I was pretty sure a GoFundMe cleared them out a few years ago but I spent charge time meandering around the area anyway. No cats found in the midday sun. Just a sweaty traveler waiting for his Lucid to reach 80%.

On my walk, I grew envious of the 16 Tesla Superchargers and lounge with refreshments, restrooms and air conditioning. The Tesla app grants access to the building. But you can't get in if your Tesla is parked 200 miles away, like all of the Edmunds' cars were. I learned later that there is another batch of 50-plus Tesla chargers on the other side of the highway. Tesla is doing it right in Kettleman City. But I promise none of its cars drove 323 highway miles on a single charge to get here, like the Lucid did.

Trip miles: 323.4
Range at arrival: 45 miles
kWh added: 83.335
Charging time: 45 minutes
Cost: $45.69
Range at departure: 411 miles (80%)

Trip summary

The drive home was almost exclusively highway miles, much like the rest of the drive.

The numbers shown here include charging the car back to 100% full, which was how I started, and seemed like a fair way to end. My total time spent charging during the trip was 2.5 hours. That last 1.25 was after I got home.

Total miles: 997.1
Total kW used: 302.3
Total cost: $155.50
Total charge time: 3.75 hours

For now, let's overlook charging wait time, which was an obvious downside for an EV on a schedule. There isn't a luxury gas sedan that could make this drive for the price. With 87 octane going for $5.76/gallon on this route, a comparable gas sedan would have to get 37 mpg. Bonus points if you can name even one. There are diesels that can do it. Diesel costs $6.36/gallon, requiring 41 mpg to match the Lucid. That's more attainable. But there aren't many of these in the U.S.

With an average highway speed of 70-75 mph, the Air GT went 323 miles with a projected 45 miles remaining. Let's generously call that 368 highway-only miles. That alone would be good enough for ninth place on Edmunds' EV Range Leaderboard, and our official range test results use a 40-mph average speed. It's no wonder the top two spots on our leaderboard are held by Lucids.

Edmunds says

Our Lucid Air GT impressed me as a highway cruiser. Based on the timing of this drive, it was also more cost-effective than it would have been in most luxury ICE sedans. I can't overlook the charging downtime compared to the quick click of a gasoline pump. But once I accepted my fate and planned accordingly, it wasn't all that bad.

Photos by Mike Schmidt