Lucid CEO: Lower ranges and battery sizes in the future

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Lucid CEO: Lower ranges and battery sizes in the future-lower

Peter Rawlinson, CEO of Lucid, recently shared his thoughts on the electric vehicle industry, the battle for range supremacy and competitor Tesla’s efforts to design and manufacture its own 4680 cells. If Rawlinson has his way, the battles over reach will no longer be the decisive ones to be fought in the future. Which can also be explained by the change in society.

This is surprising insofar as Lucid-Motors is also constantly working on increasing the range of its debut Lucid Air. As is well known, the Air offers a practical range of 837 km with one battery charge. However, there are the difference that Lucid does not want to build more battery packs to get more range to get more range. Interestingly, Rawlinson believes that today there is a struggle for the reach of electric vehicles, but this is probably no longer the case in the future. Since electric vehicles are becoming more widespread and affordable and the charging at home becomes standard.

Therefore, the Lucid CEO believe that future electric vehicles could even have a smaller range. “In fifty or sixty years, electric vehicles may even have a smaller range. Psychologically, this type of paranoia and dependence on a public charging power network no longer. And the charging at home is healthier for the battery anyway, “says Rawlinson.

In addition, he is not entirely convinced that a breakthrough in batteries is imminent in the near future. In the case of Tesla’s 4680 cells, for example, the Lucid CEO sees potential in the technology. But the upcoming batteries appear to be a triumph of packaging rather than chemistry: “I believe there is an advantage in moving to a larger format. That would reduce internal resistance, and that’s a valuable step forward. But people see 4680 as the big breakthrough, and that’s a pipe dream.”

Ultimately, the 4680 cells are not necessarily the silver bullet for the EV transition, but coupled with incremental improvements in battery chemistry, dry electrode technologies, structural battery concepts and the use of megacastings, they could provide the backbone for the next generation of mass-produced vehicles. Ultimately, however, this has to be proven. It will be interesting to see which paths Lucid Motors will take.

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4 thoughts on “Lucid CEO: Lower ranges and battery sizes in the future”

  1. Charging can only become the norm where it is possible.
    Classic big cities do not have parking spaces for this, so charging has to be done at public stations.
    In Berlin, unfortunately, the stations are more and more permanently blocked by dummy loaders.so only a larger battery remains in the future, which can be charged on fast chargers at the supermarket.
    The cell format doesn’t matter at all, the main thing is that the price/performance ratio is right.

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  2. So in general, the man from Lucid could be right that the batteries will eventually get smaller again when people gain confidence and realize that they don’t need such a big battery. Maybe something will also be put into perspective if you manage to charge the batteries even faster. I think something like driving 300 km on the Autobahn and then charging for 10 minutes would be acceptable for almost everyone. But we’re not there yet, especially not in the affordable segment. Since there are also limits to the efficiency of BEVs, that should mean something like a 90-100kWh battery. If you then manage to increase the average (not peak) charging power to well over 200kW, then things will work out.

    He is also likely to misjudge the thing about the shop at home. Every tenant here in Germany should contradict him there. That’s not a problem for homeowners anyway. It is certainly a problem that it is precisely these who naturally derive the most benefits from BEVs (problem-free charging, extremely low long-term costs through self-generation of electricity, etc.). The tenants are the pinched ones anyway.

    I’ve been thinking that Tesla’s new “miracle battery” is no wonder ever since it was introduced. In the end, it’s still existing Li-ion chemistry built into a larger case, which is then a bit more packable. Of course, the internal resistance also had to be lowered, otherwise it would get too hot inside. But to this day I still don’t believe that this is the big hit that will leave everyone else behind. Ultimately, Telsa also buys plenty of other batteries. Also, there’s a lot of other things in development around the world, something will definitely come this decade.

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  3. and how should electricity storage and balancing of renewable energy work on a large scale? I’m thinking of a greater range in order to be able to participate more actively in future electricity trading with V2G – this will come at the latest after the first black out. https://app.electricitymap.org/zone/DE?wind=false&solar=false&remote=true CURRENTLY 30 cents at the wholesale market for the kWh, the majority of the coal-KW is running. Storing wind power becomes a tolerable and necessary business for EV drivers.

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  4. There is currently a lack of inexpensive cars with decent ranges.
    Below the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range+ with a WLTP range of almost 500km, no electric vehicles with inexpensive LFP batteries are offered by manufacturers with large market shares. Competitors like VW will probably need at least another year.

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