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 different 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 Commonplace” (NACS) in its Supercharger community of EV charging stations. On the time, after all, NACS was not acknowledged because the common charging commonplace for the North American EV market. Tesla merely made the NACS identify up out of entire fabric, whereas virtually 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 commonplace, backed by the nationwide rollout of future-ready higher-voltage charging stations, shall be a important 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 can even avail itself of the Electrify America community, amongst others.

Lucid claims that the Gravity SUV grew to become the primary non-Tesla automobile offered 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 situated on the rear driver’s aspect 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.

“Not like 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 allows the environment friendly utilization {of electrical} present and consequent discount of cable warmth,” the corporate elaborates, including that the system is totally suitable 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 out there on Lucid Air, additionally allows charging one other electrical automobile straight by way of the NACS connector with an non-compulsory 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 just a few years in the past, however nothing else registered till simply a few years in the past. Now two properties 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 go 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 offered just a few 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% underneath 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 Communicate?

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 placing distinction to the gross sales drop skilled by Tesla.

It stays to be seen to what extent Lucid attracted automobile consumers turned off by the Nazi-adjacent conduct of Tesla CEO and prime Trump advisor Elon Musk. Both method, 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’s nothing else prefer it in the marketplace. Whereas many evaluate it to a Tesla Mannequin S, it’s distinctively totally 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 word of stiff competitors within the luxurious SUV market. “The Lucid Gravity shouldn’t be 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 change 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 “probably the most environment friendly manufacturing automobile ever” at 146MPGe.

“It’s attention-grabbing to position the importance of this into context by evaluating Lucid Air with probably the most environment friendly variations of its competitor set, the Porsche Taycan, the Mercedes EQS and the Tesla Mannequin S, and hint traits by means of respective manufacturing durations,” Rawlinson continued. “Effectivity is of important 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 only most legitimate litmus of an organization’s core EV technological functionality.”

In line with Lucid’s trendline calculations, Tesla received’t atone for vitality effectivity till 2032, or by no means. Maybe Tesla could make up the distinction by bettering its model fame…on second thought, possibly not.

Comply with me by way of LinkTree, or @tinamcasey on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

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