Following last week’s news that Lucid Motor’s upcoming luxury EV, the Lucid Air, will boast the world’s longest range for a battery electric vehicle, it has now upped the ante by claiming it will also feature the fastest charging time of any EV, ever.
It was announced the Lucid Air will be the fastest charging electric vehicle ever offered with the capability to charge at rates of up to 20 miles per minute. That can offer owners 300 miles of range in just 20 minutes of charging.
This has been made possible through an ultra-high 900V+ electrical architecture, custom lithium-ion battery cells, a highly sophisticated battery and thermal management system, and the Lucid Air’s incredible powertrain efficiency. This efficiency plays a direct and invaluable role in the Lucid Air’s charging rate, determining the rate of mileage as distinct from the rate of energy flow.
Furthermore, Lucid’s so-called Wunderbox onboard charging unit combines several usually separated functionalities into one package-efficient and structurally integrated housing. This gives Lucid Air full interoperability with public charging infrastructure, including the ever-growing, 350kW fast-charging infrastructure being built-out nationwide.
“We designed every aspect of the Lucid Air and its platform in-house to be hyper-efficient, from the powertrain to the aerodynamics, and we’ve set several new benchmarks through these efforts including the longest range EV with an estimated EPA range of 517 miles,” said Eric Bach, vice president of hardware engineering, Lucid Motors. “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.”
The Lucid Air’s charging capabilities will include:
DC fast charging at up to 20 miles per minute, with a peak charging rate of over 300kW
Ultra-high voltage 900V+ electrical architecture
19.2kW AC onboard charger that can support AC charging speeds up to 80 miles per hour
Integrated boost charging and the broadest range of charging compatibility from AC Levels 1 and 2, up to the most powerful Level 3 DC fast charging, utilizing the universal CCS connector standard for connectivity to, and fast charging at, any public charging network.
Full bi-directionality for advanced Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) capabilities built-in for future enablement of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) features
Designed to Combined Charging System (CCS) standards and compatible with any open DC fast charging station, the Lucid Air automatically boosts its voltage when needed to charge at the quickest possible rate at any location.
For home charging, Lucid has also developed the Lucid Connected Home Charging Station, one of the first AC charging stations with bi-directional charging ever offered.
The production version of the Lucid Air will debut in an online reveal on September 9, 2020.
