Lucid Comes Again From The Brink With Tesla Supercharger Help

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The US startup Lucid Group has been struggling for a toehold within the home EV market. Now it seems just like the clouds have parted, simply in time to draw drivers searching for an elite, excessive efficiency various to a Tesla automobile.

Lucid Group Joins The NACS Membership

Lucid Group was among the many automakers caught in a bind a few years in the past, when Tesla vigorously promoted the “North American Charging Normal” (NACS) in its Supercharger community of EV charging stations. On the time, after all, NACS was not acknowledged because the common charging normal for the North American EV market. Tesla merely made the NACS identify up out of entire fabric, whereas nearly everybody else within the EV trade was already dedicated to the Mixed Charging System.

Nonetheless, because the nation’s #1 EV maker Tesla was nothing if not persuasive, and different EV makers quickly fell in line. On November 6 of 2023, Lucid Group pledged that its current CCS  outfitted autos would be capable to use an adapter to cost at a Supercharger station, and that its new autos would combine NACS tools starting in 2025.

“We imagine {that a} unified charging normal, backed by the nationwide rollout of future-ready higher-voltage charging stations, will likely be a essential step in empowering American shoppers to undertake electrical autos,” defined Lucid CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson

Built-in NACS Charging For Lucid Gravity

True to its phrase, on January 28 Lucid introduced that the brand new Lucid Gravity SUV will mix seating for as much as seven adults and further room for baggage with 450 miles of vary, 400 kilowatt quick charging, and entry to greater than 20,000+ Superchargers starting on January 31, no adapter required. The Lucid Gravity may also avail itself of the Electrify America community, amongst others.

Lucid claims that the Gravity SUV grew to become the primary non-Tesla automobile bought with an built-in an NACS port when it delivered the primary autos to clients in December of 2024 (followers of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 might disagree, however that’s what Lucid claims). On the Gravity, the NACS port is positioned on the rear driver’s facet of the automobile, to allow handy use of V3 and V4 Tesla Superchargers, the place a 12-minute quick cost can ship 200 miles of vary.

Lucid attributes its excessive efficiency EV charging to a propriety system that deploys the rear motor drive unit, giving the charging voltage of 500V a lift to match Lucid battery pack, which weighs in at 926V.

“In contrast to the pack splitting options utilized by some rivals, this high-tech answer permits charging with the very best voltage {that a} charging station is able to outputting and due to this fact permits the environment friendly utilization {of electrical} present and consequent discount of cable warmth,” the corporate elaborates, including that the system is absolutely appropriate with  500V and 1000V charging networks.

To finish the package deal, the Gravity SUV additionally comes with CCS1-to-NACS and SAE J1772-to-NACS adapters.

Sweetening The EV Charging Pot

Seamless Tesla Supercharger entry for the Gravity SUV is only for starters. Lucid additionally notes that the Gravity has bi-directional charging functionality, with its NACS port enabling as much as 80 A at 19.2 kW.

“RangeXchange, first obtainable on Lucid Air, additionally permits charging one other electrical automobile straight through the NACS connector with an elective RangeXchange cable,” Lucid provides.

Talking of the Lucid Air, Lucid is planning on NACS compatibility for that EV as properly, with entry to the Tesla Supercharger community deliberate for Q2 of this yr.

New Life For Lucid Group

In my car-happy area of the US, drivers have been fast on the EV uptake. The Chevy Volt gas-electric hybrid made an look on native roads early on, quickly adopted by quite a few Tesla EVs. I noticed one BMW i3 at a close-by toll sales space a couple of years in the past, however nothing else registered till simply a few years in the past. Now two houses on my block have non-Tesla EVs within the driveway, a Mustang Mach-E and a Hyundai Ioniq, and I’m seeing loads of Rivians move by.

And, I noticed my very first Lucid Air simply the opposite day. That’s a uncommon sighting certainly, contemplating that the corporate has solely bought a couple of thousand vehicles a yr because it launched the Air into manufacturing in 2021, a tiny fraction of Tesla EV gross sales

Nonetheless, indicators of exercise within the Lucid gross sales division appeared final yr. On January 6 Lucid reported that it produced 9,029 autos in 2024 and delivered 10,241 autos, a determine that features about 5% beneath working lease accounting. That’s a wholesome step up from the 8,428 autos it produced in 2023.

What Is This Gravity Of Which You Converse?

As for competing head-to-head in opposition to Tesla within the luxurious market, Lucid was among the many US EV makers to get pleasure from a rise in gross sales for 2024, presenting a hanging distinction to the gross sales drop skilled by Tesla.

It stays to be seen to what extent Lucid attracted automobile patrons turned off by the Nazi-adjacent conduct of Tesla CEO and high Trump advisor Elon Musk. Both manner, from the start Lucid aimed to compete head-to-head in opposition to Tesla within the rarefied world of luxurious EVs manufactured by EV-only startups.

CleanTechnica editor Zachery Shahan drove a Lucid Air again in 2022, and had this to report:

“There may be nothing else prefer it in the marketplace. Whereas many examine it to a Tesla Mannequin S, it’s distinctively completely different from the Mannequin S (which I beforehand owned), and way more luxurious. From the inside design, to the therapeutic massage seats, to the texture of the drivetrain, to the infotainment, Lucid is about one factor: luxe, luxe, luxe. The newly introduced Lucid Gravity takes that to a different stage — the SUV stage.”

Following up final month, Shahan took notice of stiff competitors within the luxurious SUV market. “The Lucid Gravity just isn’t low cost, starting from about $95,000 to about $127,000, so don’t count on it to see hovering gross sales. Although, it might exchange loads of fossil-fueled luxurious SUVs,” he noticed.

To the extent that the posh EV market relies upon partly on drivers who admire the chance to debate the finer factors of gas effectivity, Lucid seems to have a big edge on Tesla. Final August, Lucid Group CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson took to LinkedIn to emphasise that the Lucid Air Pure is “essentially the most environment friendly manufacturing automobile ever” at 146MPGe.

“It’s attention-grabbing to put the importance of this into context by evaluating Lucid Air with essentially the most environment friendly variations of its competitor set, the Porsche Taycan, the Mercedes EQS and the Tesla Mannequin S, and hint traits via respective manufacturing intervals,” Rawlinson continued. “Effectivity is of essential significance in making a greater, lighter, extra spacious, longer-range automobile, and straight impacts value to fabricate. Due to this fact, effectivity is arguably the one most legitimate litmus of an organization’s core EV technological functionality.”

Based on Lucid’s trendline calculations, Tesla gained’t make amends for power effectivity till 2032, or by no means. Maybe Tesla could make up the distinction by enhancing its model status…on second thought, perhaps not.

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Picture: The brand new Lucid Gravity luxurious SUV goes head-to-head with Tesla, as the primary (or second) non-Tesla manufacturing automobile bought with a built-in NACS charging port (courtesy of Lucid Group, through electronic mail).