Lucid Comes Back From The Brink With Tesla Supercharger Assist

Join daily news updates from CleanTechnica on e-mail. Or follow us on Google News!

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

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 Standard” (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 complete fabric, whereas nearly everybody else within the EV trade was already dedicated to the Combined 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  geared up autos would have the ability to use an adapter to cost at a Supercharger station, and that its new vehicles would integrate NACS equipment starting in 2025.

“We believe that a unified charging standard, backed by the nationwide rollout of future-ready higher-voltage charging stations, will be a critical step in empowering American consumers to adopt electric vehicles,” 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 avail itself of the Electrify America community, amongst others.

Lucid claims that the Gravity SUV turned the primary non-Tesla car bought with an built-in an NACS port when it delivered the primary autos to prospects in December of 2024 (followers of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 could disagree, however that’s what Lucid claims). On the Gravity, the NACS port is positioned on the rear driver’s facet of the car, 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.

“Unlike the pack splitting solutions used by some competitors, this high-tech solution permits charging with the highest voltage that a charging station is capable of outputting and therefore enables the efficient utilization of electrical current and consequent reduction of cable heat,” 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 available on Lucid Air, also enables charging another electric vehicle directly via the NACS connector with an optional RangeXchange cable,” Lucid provides.

Talking of the Lucid Air, Lucid is planning on NACS compatibility for that EV as effectively, with entry to the Tesla Supercharger community deliberate for Q2 of this 12 months.

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 Ioniqand 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 bought a couple of thousand vehicles a 12 months 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 12 months. On January 6 Lucid reported that it produced 9,029 autos in 2024 and delivered 10,241 autos, a determine that features about 5% below 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 US EV makers to take pleasure in 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 automotive patrons turned off by the Nazi-adjacent behavior 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 is nothing else like it on the market. While many compare it to a Tesla Model S, it is distinctively different from the Model S (which I previously owned), and far more luxurious. From the interior design, to the massage seats, to the feel of the drivetrain, to the infotainment, Lucid is about one thing: Luxe, Luxe, Luxe. The newly announced Lucid Gravity takes that to another level — the SUV level.”

Following up final month, Shahan took observe of stiff competitors within the luxurious SUV market. “The Lucid Gravity is not cheap, ranging from about $95,000 to about $127,000, so don’t expect it to see soaring sales. Though, it could replace a lot of fossil-fueled luxury 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 major edge on Tesla. Final August, Lucid Group CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson took to LinkedIn to emphasise that the Lucid Air Pure is “the most efficient production car ever” at 146MPGe.

“It’s interesting to place the significance of this into context by comparing Lucid Air with the most efficient versions of its competitor set, the Porsche Taycan, the Mercedes EQS and the Tesla Model S, and trace trends through respective production periods,” Rawlinson continued. “Efficiency is of critical importance in making a better, lighter, more spacious, longer-range vehicle, and directly impacts cost to manufacture. Therefore, efficiency is arguably the single most valid litmus of a company’s core EV technological capability.”

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

Comply with me through LinkTreeor @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 car bought with a built-in NACS charging port (courtesy of Lucid Group, through e-mail).