Lucid makes what’s ostensibly probably the most environment friendly luxurious electrical sedan available on the market, the Air. However in accordance with head honcho Peter Rawlinson, EVs have to develop into much more environment friendly to “save the planet.” He famous in an interview with the UK’s Autocar that “the holy grail” could be an electrical automobile able to driving 6.2 miles (10 km) on one kilowatt-hour of vitality calculated in accordance with the stringent US EPA tips for EVs.
That’s about 1.5 instances extra environment friendly than probably the most frugal model of the Lucid Air, the entry-level Air Pure RWD. The Pure RWD’s EPA-rated 4.1 miles/kWh places it significantly forward of probably the most environment friendly model of the Tesla Mannequin S. It is solely overwhelmed by the Hyundai Ioniq 6.
Get Absolutely Charged
EV effectivity is vital
Many EV advocates consider that effectivity—the flexibility to show vitality into movement with out waste—is an much more essential metric than simply driving vary. Startup Lucid is a frontrunner in EV effectivity and would not consider larger batteries alone are the important thing to maximizing vary.
It needs to be famous that Lucid charges the driving effectivity of the Air Pure, with 19-inch wheels, in a different way (and better) than the EPA does at 4.76 mi/kWh. A Lucid spokesperson informed InsideEVs that their calculation offers extra with how a lot vitality from the battery the automobile might want to journey a sure distance, and never how a lot vitality you will want in case you are totally recharging a virtually useless battery with a house charger. “Or to place it one other manner, 4.7 mi/kwh is battery-to-wheel, in distinction with the EPA numbers which measure wall-to-wheel,” the spokesperson informed us.
In consequence, Rawlinson informed Autocar that the corporate thinks the Air may be pushed to five miles/kWh “fairly quickly,” though he didn’t say when or how Lucid was going to realize this vital effectivity achieve.
The Lucid boss held a chat throughout the Automobile of the 12 months occasion held at this yr’s Geneva Motor Present. “Individuals assume that we’re on a bandwagon of constructing costly, luxurious SUVs however we’re right here to advance the know-how with state-of-the-art EVs,” he stated, per Autocar.
It is a reiteration of what he’s stated many instances in varied contexts, selling an organization philosophy that transcends the model and portrays Lucid as an actual power that’s working in direction of the development and proliferation of EVs—a bit like Tesla, however with a distinct taste.
In contrast to most electrical automobile producers (excluding Tesla), which supply key components from third-party suppliers, Lucid has designed most of its elements in-house to work with its novel 900-volt EV structure.
Having such a excessive voltage has allowed Lucid to scale back the scale of many key elements, and it additionally helps with the effectivity of its autos. We had been massively impressed when, in 2022, our personal Tom Moloughney exceeded 500 miles in a Lucid Air Dream Version whereas driving at a relentless 70 mph on the freeway, most likely probably the most vital vary assessments we’ve ever finished.
The Air might common 4.3 miles/kWh in that check as a result of every of its main elements was designed to work along with the utmost effectivity in thoughts, and it stays unbeaten to this present day.
Rawlinson didn’t say when, however he famous that “not far sooner or later, you may get 10km per kWh after which it’s a 300km vary from a 30 kWh battery, which is far smaller than right now. Then you may scale back the price of the battery from $20,000 to round $3000-$4000 with correct industrialization and economies of scale.”
Lucid can be engaged on a extra reasonably priced EV to rival Tesla’s smaller choices, the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y. Rawlinson informed us in late 2023 that this $50,000 mannequin would debut across the center of the last decade, however he didn’t point out how environment friendly it will be. We are able to speculate that being a smaller automobile benefiting from EV tech that has superior a couple of years for the reason that introduction of the Air, this cheaper Lucid might be probably the most environment friendly EVs available on the market.
Granted, Lucid faces an unsure future, like many EV startups. The corporate required a considerable money injection final yr from its majority shareholder, the Personal Funding Fund of Saudi Arabia. However it hopes that the rollout of the Gravity SUV, and finally the smaller and extra reasonably priced EV, will assist it cross the “valley of loss of life” and attain the size it must be secure long-term. The corporate just lately expanded its Arizona manufacturing facility for precisely that effort.
Whether or not this plan will obtain Rawlinson’s holy grail stays to be seen, however it’s definitely one thing thrilling for EV fans to look ahead to.