If there’s one thing I learned from reviewing electric vehicles (EVs) in cold weather for a solid six years now, is that you can never trust the car’s range estimates before taking off. EV geeks will tell you that you’ll need to preheat the cabin while the vehicle is charged to maximize range in the cold. And that’s sort of right. But no matter how I’ve attempted to tackle long road trips in EVs when the thermometer goes lower than the freezing point, the general rule of thumb is that you’ll lose anywhere between 30 and a whopping 50-percent range from what the automaker promises. There’s just no getting around that reality.
That all being said, some EVs manage their cold-weather energy consumption better than others, the result of better software tuning, but also better electric motor efficiency, as well as battery performance and management. After spending a full week behind the wheel of a 2025 Lucid Air Touring through the thick of a robust Canadian winter in the middle of February, I can tell you that the car did rather well, returning a solid and comfortable 217 miles of real-world range.
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And, I’ll be driving it in frigid cold conditions, too.
2025 Lucid Air Touring Cold-Weather Range Test: 217 Miles Of Highway Driving
Since this was a pretty straightforward cold-weather test, I’m simply going to explain how it went. Of course, I’m well aware that each cold-weather EV range evaluation never happens the same way. There are just way too many uncontrollable factors that affect an electric vehicle’s energy consumption in the cold, like exterior temperature, cabin temperature based on the vehicle’s climate control settings, driving behavior, limited traction caused by slippery conditions, and the types of winter tires installed on the car, as well as the battery’s general state of health (its wear and tear). In my case, here’s how it went.
After preheating the car’s cabin to 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit) using the Lucid mobile app while the car was connected to my level 2, Flo G5 home charger, the Lucid Air’s onboard computer told me I had 627 km (390 miles) of available range. Yeah, no, that was obviously a lie. My mission was to drive to my mom’s, who lives 154 km (96 miles) from my house. The trek is mostly composed of highway driving. The outdoor temperature when I took off was -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit), and my average cruising speed was 118 km/h (73 mi/h).
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This is one of the rare cases where I’d recommend getting the gas model instead.
My mom doesn’t have a home charger, so I would need to either utilize whatever range I’d have left for my trip back, or stop at a public DC fast-charging unit on the way. For reference, in such conditions, I have never managed to do the full trek to my mom’s with an EV without having to charge it on the go.
The Lucid Air Consumed Its Energy At A Rate Of 2.9 Miles Per kWh
I want to underline the fact that I never try to hyper-mill the cars I review, whether they be gas-powered or electric. I drive them the way normal folks drive their cars, meaning I don’t shy away from turning on the heat or air conditioning when needed. I drive these cars at the average speed the traffic moves at (while respecting the speed limit, of course), and I even allow myself to punch the accelerator pedal once in a while because I’m an enthusiast and I like speed. In the Lucid Air Touring’s case, it’s very addictive because the car is bloody fast.
Not only did the Lucid Air get there and back on a single charge, it returned a frankly impressive energy consumption average of 2.9 miles per kWh, which translates into a real-world range figure of 261 miles.
The entire drive was comfortable, smooth, and non-stressful. Never once did I worry that I would not make it back home. When I pulled up to a 180-kW fast-charging unit close to my house for a fast-charging test (which I shall get back to in my full review), the car’s onboard computer displayed that I had traveled 353.1 km (219 miles), and that I had 40 km (25 miles) of available range left.
Now, that’s a fantastic energy consumption and range index in such cold conditions, especially considering the relatively small size of the Lucid Air Touring’s 92 kWh battery. So there you have it, this is how the 2025 Lucid Air Touring performed in the cold. I’ll be back soon with the full review.
