Lucid Air does 500mi + 4.3mi/kWh in InsideEVs range test

[LightningShow]

Cool to see the evolution of EV efficiency. 500 miles is great but you can get that with any car if you put a big enough battery in it. 4.3mi/kWh (at 70 mph) is much more impressive for the 5200lb vehicle. I heard the podcast they did describing the range test. They run it for the full charge at 70mph and with the HVAC on at a low setting (Tom said he had it on '3' FWIW). Speaking as a Chevy Bolt owner, I get about 3.9mi/kWh running at 70mph and no HVAC, so seeing the Air get 10% more range with two much more powerful motors (vs one in the Bolt), plus ~1600lbs in curb weight AND running HVAC is pretty amazing. I don't know what Lucid did to manage this beyond the vehicle being extremely low drag but I hope whatever engineering went into it was involved in the Lightning development.

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[Tony Burgh]

5200 pounds vs 6600 pounds?

 

[LightningShow]

5200 pounds vs 6600 pounds?

What are you trying to say?

 

[Tony Burgh]

What are you trying to say?

 

[Tony Burgh]

Weight is definitely a concern.

 

[LightningShow]

I don't understand what you are trying to say. Clearly weight is a major factor in EV efficiency but that doesn't mean two vehicles of the same weight can't have different efficiency. The Chevy Bolt weighs 3600 pounds and it only gets 4 mi/kWh. Lucid seems to have incorporated some new design techniques in order to get 4.3 mi/kWh efficiency from a 5200 pound vehicle. That's more efficient than almost every EV on the market, regardless of size.

 

[Tony Burgh]

I don't understand what you are trying to say. Clearly weight is a major factor in EV efficiency but that doesn't mean two vehicles of the same weight can't have different efficiency. The Chevy Bolt weighs 3600 pounds and it only gets 4 mi/kWh. Lucid seems to have incorporated some new design techniques in order to get 4.3 mi/kWh efficiency from a 5200 pound vehicle. That's more efficient than almost every EV on the market, regardless of size.

It takes energy to move mass. More mass means more energy required. That has to be a contributing but not necessarily the only factor. Drag coefficient? There are limiting factors in a work truck versus a toy truck. Efficient cargo carriers are boxy and less aerodynamic. Think semi versus Formula 1.
There are some damned good engineers in Detroit. You can be sure they understand the technology and economic constraints as well as marketing. Why else would Chevy make an EV truck with unibody construction? Think they’re selling to commuters and the weekend home depot dyi group or the companies that use pickups in construction and manufacturing?

You’re correct that things can improve but perceived perfection is the enemy of the good.

 

[LightningShow]

I don't think I am communicating my point effectively. I'm not suggesting that the F-150 might have 4.3 mi/kWh. I'm saying that the Lucid engineers did something to significantly improve efficiency for a vehicle that size. The Model S is very similar in size to the Air but only achieves 3.6 mi/kWh.

As it relates specifically to the Lightning, the targeted efficiency is ~2.3mi/kWh. Many people predicted the efficiency would be closer to 2.0 mi/kWh. If it truly meets or beats 2.3mi/kWh it's probably a good indication they've made some advances in how to more efficiently design EVs and electric drive systems. My point in bringing up the Lucid was that they bested existing luxury EV sedan efficiency by ~20%. I don't know what they did to achieve that but if Ford uses some of those techniques maybe they could get to 2.4 or 2.5mi/kWh. Obviously not 4.3, that would be completely impossible. For example, if they do achieve 2.5mi/kWh in real world range then the SR would have 245mi or range and the ER would have 325mi. I think that would be a spectacular engineering achievement.

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