MotorTrend recently witnessed a 2021 Lucid Air run 450 miles on a full charge of its battery pack—a figure that outperforms the Tesla Model S Long Range Plus and its 402-mile range, per the Environmental Protection Agency. What Tesla did to push the adoption of electric vehicles was not only make cars with long driving ranges but also improve charging capability and availability.
Now, Lucid has revealed a charging strategy for its 2021 Air sedan. The luxury EV is capable of charging at a rate of up to 20 miles per minute, and the company claims 300 miles of range can be added to the car’s pack in 20 minutes—in real-world conditions. Lucid is also partnering up with Electrify America to offer Air owners a three-year unlimited subscription to the charging network’s Level 3 350-kW (CCS standard) chargers. In order to achieve a peak charging rate of over 300 kW, Lucid has innovated an efficient one package “Wunderbox” onboard charging unit and a 900-volt-plus electrical architecture (which is higher than the Porsche Taycan’s 800-volt system).
How does it compare to the Tesla Model S and the EV automaker’s Supercharger network? Well, it seems Lucid has exceeded Tesla’s offerings in both range and peak charging rate. Tesla has only started to update the peak Supercharging rate of the Model S to 250 kW, and Lucid is already claiming over 300 kW. How the two setups compare in the real-world remains to be seen, since many factors affect a battery pack’s charging time. We also do not know how long either automaker’s cars can sustain a charge at the peak rate.
For daily Level 2 charging, the Lucid Air will come equipped with a 19.2-kW AC on-board charger, which can add up to 80 miles of range after an hour of charging. When paired with Lucid’s own home-charging station, Air owners can use the battery pack in their car as a backup energy reserve to run electricity in their homes.
Lucid SUV in the wild pic.twitter.com/01qwu7pFVF
— Coast Redwoods (@mvahead) August 15, 2020
Expect Lucid to apply this tech to its upcoming crossover SUV, too. The upcoming model was recently spied in the metal during what appears to be a photoshoot for the vehicle. Lucid’s EV SUV likely rides on the same underpinnings as the Air. Hence, range and charging capability ought to remain similar to that of its sedan stablemate. It appears Lucid’s SUV will have a square-er design relative to more blobular alternatives such as the Tesla Model X and Jaguar I-Pace. Lucid will host a reveal event on September 9, which will likely serve as the debut of its SUV.
The post Lucid’s SUV Spied, Air EV Will Add 300 Miles of Range in 20 Minutes appeared first on MotorTrend.
from MotorTrend https://www.motortrend.com/news/2021-lucid-air-suv-spied-charging-details-photos/
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