Ahead of its debut next month, Lucid Motors announced today its Air electric vehicle (EV) will be the fastest charging EV on the road, capable to gaining 20 miles (32km) per minute.
The company has already claimed the Air will have a jaw-dropping 517 mile (832km) range when it is officially certified by the EPA. In a press release today, Lucid says not only will the Air have the longest range of any EV, it will also be able to charge at over 300kW.
The current title-holder for the fastest charging EV goes to the Porsche Taycan, capable of charging at up to 270kW. Next up are Tesla vehicles, which can charge at up to 250kW at Tesla’s V3 Superchargers.
Lucid Motors says the high charge rates are possible thanks to its “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.”
“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.
Related: Lucid Air and prototype SUV spotted during promotional shoot ahead of next month’s launch
To allow Lucid owners the opportunity to charge at such high speeds, they have teamed up with Electrify America to provide 3-years of free charging at all of their charging stations, some of which can charge at up to 350kW.
Not only will the Air have super-fast charging capabilities, the company says it will also be fully bi-directional to allow for both Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) charging. Those features will be in the car, but won’t be available at launch and will instead be enabled in the future, presumably via an over-the-air (OTA) software update.
For V2G, the automaker has developed the first home charging station with bi-directional charging, the Lucid Connected Home Charging Station. No details on pricing or availability were revealed.
