Three Years Of Daily Driving My 2022 Lucid Air Through The Rockies Taught Me An EV Secret, I Used 20% Battery Climbing 40 Miles Up A Mountain, Then Recovered Over 110 Miles Going Down

There are things no manual can teach you, lessons that only come with your hands on the wheel and your eyes locked somewhere between the summit and the charging station that may or may not be waiting on the other side. Range anxiety, for instance, isn’t something you overcome by reading another FAQ or obsessively refreshing an app. It’s not fear, it’s unfamiliarity. And like any road trip worth remembering, it takes miles, missteps, and a little trust in the machine to shake it off. Just ask Wayne Schell, a Lucid Air owner who's logged 71,000 EV miles across the unforgiving terrain of the Colorado Rockies.

He recently posted this to the Lucid Motors Discussion Group on Facebook, and it reads less like a Facebook post and more like a trail map through the emotional topography of EV ownership:

“A new owner asked How can you get over range anxiety?

I thought it would be a good idea to share my answer with everyone. I was an early owner of a Lucid. Now, three years later and 71,000 miles of EV driving, here’s my advice about range anxiety.

You mostly get over it by gaining experience. You come to know how many miles you can go on each 10% charge. Your mileage drops dramatically when climbing mountains but I found that if you’re climbing the mountain roads at a steep angle if when you go down the other side of the mountain at a gentle angle you will actually get better mileage when you get to the bottom than if you had driven the same distance on a flat road. For instance, I used 20% of my charge driving up the mountain on Interstate 70, going 40 miles to the top of Loveland Pass in Colorado at over 12,000 feet. I was still 110 miles from Denver with no charging stations and only 18% charge left. I drove downhill with the help of regenerative braking and still had 10 % charge left when I got to civilization and an EA charging station.

 One other tip is to always have your 50-amp charging cable in the trunk. You can always find an R/V park with a 50 amp plug and slow charge at 47 mph in an emergency. Good luck.”

Other EV veterans chimed in with knowing nods. Steve Mullen put it plainly: “You get over it by driving and see what happens. No different than buying any new vehicle.” He’s right. The difference between understanding EV range and mastering it is the same as knowing how to swim and being thrown into the deep end. Range anxiety isn’t a bug of EVs; it’s a stage in the learning curve. You drive, you learn, and eventually, you stop counting bars and start trusting your instincts.

From 2007 Founding & Silicon Valley Roots to 1,050 hp GT Performance

• Lucid Motors was established in 2007, and its flagship Lucid Air sedan was spearheaded by Chief Engineer Peter Rawlinson (formerly Tesla Model S lead) and CEO Peter Hochholdinger, blending luxury EV innovation with Silicon Valley design expertise. 
• With premium amenities like physical controls, starlight headliner, and an aluminum roof option, the Air delivers a refined, elegant ride often compared to Bentley-level comfort. 
• The Lucid Air GT packs up to 1,050 hp, crushes 0–60 mph times, and boasts a drag coefficient of just ~0.21—balancing power and aerodynamics. 
• Led by a team of high-profile Tesla and Apple alums, Lucid designed its Dream Edition battery system to hit a staggering EPA-rated 520-mile range, a world-class engineering feat.

That’s exactly what Ron Tanzi saw while road-tripping with his brother, a first-time Lucid owner. Despite the Grand Touring's impressive range, nearly double Ron’s Polestar, his brother was gripped by charging stress. Tesla Superchargers didn’t work. Charging maps felt unreliable. 

And yet, the solution wasn’t hardware; it was perspective. “I calm him down by reminding him that when his car has 35% on his battery, he can still go 130 miles,” Ron wrote. That, and a few app tutorials, turned panic into planning.

687 Miles on a Single Charge, 500+ Real-World Tests & Goodwood Triumph

Then came the comment that should be carved into every new EV owner's sun visor. Zeke Woollett wrote, “We started using the term 'Range Awareness' instead, which helps shift the mindset for sure.” Zeke and his partner drove early EVs with barely 73 miles of range, which makes the modern triple-digit numbers feel almost luxurious. It’s not about what the screen says; it’s what you understand it to mean. Awareness replaces anxiety when knowledge turns worry into strategy.

And here’s where physics steps in like a patient old professor. Schell’s experience descending Loveland Pass isn’t magic, it’s Newton in action. Regenerative braking captures kinetic energy and feeds it back into the battery like a mechanical Zen master. The downhill recovery of 110 miles of range wasn’t a miracle; it was the payoff of understanding your terrain and your drivetrain. 

Achievements Of The Lucid Air

• A group in a Lucid Air Dream Edition drove an incredible 687.4 miles on one charge, showcasing endurance far beyond typical EV capabilities. 
• In independent testing, the Air surpassed 500 miles (505 miles) under real-world conditions, outpacing competitors like the Mercedes EQS 450+. 
• Another test saw the Air drive over 500 miles (~506 miles) on a highway loop from 100% to depletion, averaging 4.3 miles/kWh. 
• A stock Lucid Air GTP seized the "Fastest Production Car" title at Goodwood, completing the hill climb in a blistering 50.79 seconds while delivering ~446 miles per charge.

Schell's advice to carry a 50-amp charging cable may not sound glamorous, but it's gold. An RV park becomes a lifeline when fast chargers fail. A trunk toolkit for the EV age. As Lucid owners quietly pass along these tips, where to plug in, when to trust the regen, how to read the topography like a charge meter, they’re creating something more than just a user manual. They’re building a new driving culture, one lesson at a time.

Because at the end of the day, the best lessons in life, and in EV ownership, aren’t found in user guides or online reviews. They live in the stories told in forums, on road trips, and on the shoulders of mountain highways. The great American road is still the best teacher we have. And whether it’s combustion or current driving the wheels, it’s the miles that make the motorist. Schell figured it out one peak and valley at a time. So will the rest of us.

Image Sources: Lucid Media Center

Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.