Lucid SUV caught! Due in 2023
An SUV Lucid Motors plans to roll out in 2023 has been snapped at a photo shoot in California around the same time the company was extolling its forthcoming Air sedan the fastest charging electrical vehicle in history.
Lucid Motors founder, CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson recently told greencarreports.com an SUV would soon follow the Air off the production line and a pick-up is possible.
The SUV and Air will be built at the same factory in Arizona currently under construction. The Air will be revealed on September 9 and start deliveries in early 2021.
“I can confirm that we’re doing an SUV off the Air platform,” said Rawlinson. “And I’m going to put that into production in early ’23.”
The SUV was caught by a passer-by during a shoot with an Air on a coastal road near Pescadero, west of Lucid’s Silicon Valley headquarters.
Meanwhile, Lucid is saying the Air can charge at a rate up to 482km (300 miles) in 20 minutes.
In theory, in ideal conditions, the peak climbs even further to 32km (20 miles) in a minute!
That should hand the Air the edge over direct rivals such as the Porsche Taycan and the Tesla Model S, although charging is influenced by a bunch of factors so real-world testing will eventually tell the whole story.
This latest claim follows on from last week’s mind-boggling 832km range verified by independent engineers based on the tough EPA test cycle.
Lucid says the Air achieves its astonishing rate of battery charging because of an ultra-high 900V-plus electrical architecture, custom lithium-ion battery cells from LG Chem, a “highly sophisticated” battery and thermal management system and exceptional powertrain efficiency.
An onboard charging unit Lucid modestly calls the “Wunderbox” makes the Air compatible with public charging stations up to 350kW in DC fast-charging capacity.
Lucid says it designed the Air to the Combined Charging System (CCS) standards — so it’s compatible with any open DC fast-charging station. Whenever needed, it automatically boosts voltage to charge at the quickest possible rate at any location.
“With our ultra-high voltage 900V+ electrical architecture and the proprietary Wunderbox, we have significantly increased the speed of energy getting into, around, and even out of the vehicle, delivering the world’s fastest charging EV packed with future-ready charging features,” said Eric Bach, Lucid Motors vice president of hardware engineering.
US Lucid Air customers will receive three years of complementary charging through the Electrify America network that has been set up with funding from Volkswagen Group in the wake of its dieselgate scandal.
Lucid also provides home charging facilities for the Air, including one of the first AC charging stations to provide bidirectional charging. The AC onboard charger can handled up to 19.2kWh.
Lucid is also working on the repurposing of batteries post their automotive lives as static energy storage systems. The first prototype has already been installed at Lucid Motors’ Silicon Valley headquarter.
Apart from a record-busting range and charging, Lucid is also claiming benchmark aerodynamics for the Air and outstanding performance. It will also come with a sophisticated suite of driver assists systems.
