Photon Empress 🌸Dec 30, 2022

My Lucid Air is getting wrapped this week. So I needed to drive the X up to Vandy instead.

It’s weird how quickly I got used to 500 mile range. 300 on X isn’t enough.

While FSD beta is nice, I had a ton of required disconnects which is far more jarring than the Lucid. FSD can do a lot more, but Dream Drive is a much smoother experience.

The driving performance of the X is trash compared to the Air. Not a fair comparison since different types of vehicles.

Show threadPhoton Empress 🌸Dec 30, 2022

The X charges so… much… slower… than the lucid. 300 miles in ~20 minutes on Lucid. 300 miles in NINETY minutes on X???

My X creaks and squeaks a lot. My Air is whisper quiet.

Show threadTimHoyerDec 30, 2022
@PhotonEmpress The Refresh X was supposed to charge quicker. Not Model 3 quick, but close
Show threadPhoton Empress 🌸Dec 30, 2022
@TimHoyer I have the 2022 X Plaid w/ yoke and horizontal screen. It is so much slower than my Lucid when charging. I didn’t notice until I took it on a long road trip. Even the battery to 50% is slower.
Show threadTimHoyerDec 30, 2022
@PhotonEmpress God damn! Are you adopting by chance🤩🤩 I have the yoke in my Performance 3 (did it myself) and I actually love it. That's crazy it doesn't charge as fast as the air. I was under the assumption that the new refreshes charged considerably faster than the Legacy version
Show threadPhoton Empress 🌸Dec 30, 2022

@TimHoyer the smaller battery and 400v Tesla charging system simply can’t keep up with 900v larger packs coming out on other EVs like Lucid. Tesla will be moving to 1000v 1MW charging with the semi and cybertruck, which should put them back on par with Lucid.

Then again, I can buy a Lucid today. I can’t buy a Cybertruck. It’s a bit early to say yet, but it feels like Tesla is starting to fall behind.

Show threadTimHoyerDec 30, 2022
@PhotonEmpress oh I absolutely agree, we also have an ev6 and that 800 volt architecture is absolutely phenomenal for charges! As long as Electrify America is working correctly we can go from 20 to 80% in 16 minutes
Show threadPhoton Empress 🌸Dec 30, 2022

@TimHoyer EA seems to be pretty strong on the west coast. Have not had any issues yet, and great charging every time. Knock on wood.

I do hear in colder climates they tend to suffer. A lot.

Show threadTimHoyerDec 30, 2022
@PhotonEmpress 100% they seem to be better out here. I really like Kyle from out of spec and from about Colorado East they seem to have a lot of issues. I respect his work is a car journalist but you're right while we have some broken Chargers here it's nothing like what they have elsewhere
Show threadPhoton Empress 🌸Dec 30, 2022
@TimHoyer love out of spec! Used so much of his data on my Lucid buying decision. I wasn’t sure what charging would be like, his channels helped a great deal. Just sorry he didn’t get to experience v2 software!
Show threadRobotbeatDec 30, 2022
@PhotonEmpress @TimHoyer I love that Lucid is giving Tesla real competition. I think Tesla got too focused on driving profit and that’s why they’ve been falling behind. But Lucid had a revenue of $200m last quarter… and costs of ~$700m, and so they are going to have to ramp up QUICK to stay in business (luckily they seem to have plenty of cash).
Show threadTimHoyerDec 30, 2022
@Robotbeat it's not really competition when you're dealing with $150,000 car, versus the standard model 3 or model Y at $50,000-$60,000. Plus Tesla sells on a weekend what Lucid sells in a quarter
Show threadRobotbeatDec 30, 2022
@TimHoyer Sure, we were talking about the S and X tho. The high voltage/power charging and the range are valid points where the Air is winning now on the high end.
Show threadPhoton Empress 🌸Dec 30, 2022
@Robotbeat @TimHoyer yeah my X and Air were about the same amount of money. The Air sorta destroys the X in nearly every category. Obviously very different vehicles, but it is surprising how far ahead the Lucid seems to be, especially with what is essentially their first public car attempt (sorta combining the Dream and GT in to one attempt)
Show threadRobotbeatDec 30, 2022
@PhotonEmpress @TimHoyer Reminds me a lot of the Model S when it first come out. The Model S was unrivaled for a full decade. The Air is the first time it has been eclipsed. Will be excited to see how Tesla responds.
Show threadPhoton Empress 🌸Dec 31, 2022

@Robotbeat @TimHoyer IMO this is the first year that Tesla has had legit competition across their entire product lineup. And not just a bunch of converted ICE frames to EV. Legit, amazing, serious competition.

Tesla needs to step up their build quality, service, and customer experience *a lot* if they want to continue to be a viable player. Else they will slowly start to erode over the next decade.

Show threadRobotbeatDec 31, 2022
@PhotonEmpress @TimHoyer Agreed. And yeah, they had a decade of relatively low-effort competition. It has really taken some honest-to-goodness EV companies like Lucid to really give them a run for the money. Although I will say Hyundai is doing a decent job and the Lightning seems pretty good (Taycan was okay, too). I think a planned update to the 3 to incorporate lessons from the Y will help. 1000V helps a lot. Cybertruck is needed. Semi is really good because it shows what is possible.
Show threadRobotbeatDec 31, 2022
@PhotonEmpress @TimHoyer And actually... I think FSD needs a bunch of extra effort. Some people think FSD is a dead end and that others are ahead (Cruise and Waymo arguably are... with caveat they're expensive vehicles), but Tesla is still the only major one (that I can tell?) committed to self-driving for the masses. But IMHO it likely needs hardware updates, including possibly better sensors, conservative operation, lower speed, realtime mapping/communication, etc. I think it CAN be done.
Show threadPhoton Empress 🌸Dec 31, 2022

@Robotbeat @TimHoyer yeah, Lucid is certainly not the only one. I think the Ionic is amazing competition against the 3/Y, Rivian does really well against the X and Lucid against the S. With even more on the way!

I don’t think FSD is dead, but this isn’t it and it isn’t nearly as close as E would have you believe. It seems a pretty long way off yet.

Show threadTimHoyer
@PhotonEmpress @Robotbeat Agreed. I'm gearing up for a Death Valley road trip/Las vegas blast and thought about doing the subscription, but then thought....why. It's open Desert AP is just fine
Dec 31, 2022 at 5:48amWeb