Crossing the United States from coast to coast with a Lucid Air

The adoption of electric vehicles in the United States has so far faced two main obstacles: the limited range of the most affordable electric models and the scarce charging infrastructure. However, as two members of the German software company Pionix GmbH have demonstrated, these two obstacles are becoming increasingly smaller.

On a coast-to-coast journey, Julius Wilhelm and Janek Metzner covered just over 2,800 miles -4,506 km- separating Los Angeles from New York aboard a 2022 Lucir Air Grand Touring.

With an EPA range of 516 miles using 19-inch wheels, the Lucid Motors vehicle has been a key element in overcoming this challenge. Although the experts used a version with slightly larger 21-inch wheels, the real-world range of this vehicle never dropped below 400 miles -643 km, enough to comfortably cover the distance between the various fast-charging points encountered along the way. In fact, as they explain, along the main interstate routes it is rare for two fast-charging points to be more than 50 miles -80 km- apart.

An epic adventure

The journey followed the route of the famous Cannonball Run, crossing the states of Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania before reaching New York City. Apps such as A Better Routeplanner and PlugShare were also used during the trip to plan charging stops, selecting fast-charging points from the Electrify America, ChargePoint and EVGo networks with charging powers above 200 kW in almost all cases.

Having completed the entire trip, this journey has not only shown that electric vehicles are perfectly valid, even for long journeys with the current charging infrastructure in the United States, but has also documented the extraordinary efficiency of the Grand Touring version of the Lucir Air, with a consumption of 697 kWh over the 2,806 miles covered. That equates to 4 miles per kWh, surpassing even models such as the Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD in real-world efficiency.

Metzner and Wilhelm ultimately concluded, after completing the trip, that the charging infrastructure in the United States allows long journeys to be undertaken without any problem. However, that does not mean a substantial increase in the number of charging stations is unnecessary, nor a reduction in the prices of electric vehicles with high-capacity battery packs.