Lucid Motors just isn’t anticipated to be among the many first movers to undertake Tesla’s North American Charging Commonplace (NACS).

The Wall Road Journal‘s Stephen Wilmot had a chance earlier this month to talk with Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson and ask him about the entire CCS1 to NACS transition.

As we are able to see within the video (see from about 7:00 right here or a small half in a tweet beneath), Lucid’s boss doesn’t seem like too enthusiastic about NACS. He identified that the CCS1 and NACS are simply plastic plugs with some copper. The way more essential factor, in his opinion, just isn’t the plug, however the high-voltage (a degree of 1,000 volts), which should be utilized to scale back the present (assuming the identical energy) and losses, and thus improve effectivity. That is basic, in keeping with Peter Rawlinson.

The Lucid Air mannequin is thought for its ultra-high effectivity, lengthy vary (over 500 miles, in keeping with the EPA), and ultra-fast charging functionality, which is past Plaid. One of many key parts to cost shortly (at as much as over 300 kilowatts) is the high-voltage battery system of as much as round 900 V.

The Mixed Charging System (CCS1) charging normal absolutely helps such a voltage degree in the present day, and there’s a rising variety of CCS1 quick chargers prepared for as much as 350 kW of energy at as much as 800-1,000 volts. In different phrases, CCS1 does the job for Lucid.

Within the case of the NACS, so far as we all know, Tesla automobiles and Tesla Superchargers (V3) are at the moment utilizing a voltage degree of as much as 500 V (DC output). This considerably limits the flexibility to quick cost automobiles with the next voltage battery – just like the Lucid Air, Hyundai Ioniq 5, or Porsche Taycan – so long as there isn’t a particular on-board answer for that.

We noticed this challenge in a real-world take a look at (50 kW charging of a Lucid Air) when Tesla opened a few of its chargers to non-Tesla EVs. It was very properly introduced by our colleague Kyle Conner (Out of Spec) beneath:

With out rising the voltage, Lucid doesn’t have a lot curiosity in having access to the Tesla Supercharging community in the present day (by way of an adapter or natively), as a result of the charging energy might be too low and non-competitive, as in comparison with CCS1 chargers at Electrify America or different networks with 800+ V chargers.

An identical voltage-related concern was raised additionally by Hyundai Motor, though we imagine that it has a decrease impression as a result of a decrease voltage on the E-GMP automobiles (600-800 V relying on the battery pack) and a decrease peak charging energy (220+ kW versus 300+ kW on Lucid). However the nature of the difficulty is precisely the identical. Energy output might be compromised (by the best way, the identical considerations the 400-500 V CCS1 chargers as properly).

EV producers, which already adopted higher-voltage battery techniques, desire a higher-voltage quick charging infrastructure. Finally, increasingly more EVs are anticipated to be outfitted with such battery techniques, as a result of that is merely a extra environment friendly answer.

Peter Rawlinson says that 1,000 V (on the infrastructure aspect) is the long run and we agree. For top-end, and many of the mainstream electrical automobiles, we’ll most likely see 600-1,000 V battery techniques. There could be a section with 400 V battery techniques as properly – entry-level/smaller batteries.

Tesla Hints At 1,000 V – It is Coming

Tesla, when saying the opening of its proprietary charging connector in November 2022, mentioned that there’s a 1,000 V configuration of the NACS connector, in comparison with the at the moment used 500 V model. Furthermore, it will likely be able to supplying as much as one megawatt of energy.

In different phrases, as quickly as the corporate (and different OEMs) will begin producing 1,000-volt chargers, plugs, cables, and inlets (automobile aspect), the difficulty will progressively fade. The CCS1 chargers initially have been additionally solely low-voltage 50-100 kW models.

One other factor is that Ford, Basic Motors and Rivian, which joined the NACS coalition, wouldn’t determine on the change with out securing a transparent path of supporting higher-voltage battery techniques, which they’re utilizing already or intend to make use of sooner or later.

This makes us utterly calm that NACS will assist 1,000 V and most charging pace. Perhaps in a single 12 months, perhaps in two, almost definitely it will likely be mixed with the 350 kW V4 charging stalls (longer cable is required to achieve charging inlets in varied EVs).

As we perceive, Lucid’s place is extra associated to its present curiosity – they won’t profit a lot from the Tesla Supercharging community in the present day and they may not be keen to assist Tesla (competitor), so long as potential, to ultimately be a part of as soon as all the things is prepared (if your entire market will actually transfer in the direction of NACS). That is a very cheap place.

The final ingredient is that Lucid is enthusiastic about bidirectional charging – Car-to-Grid (V2G) functions, and this additionally should be absolutely outlined by Tesla, so different OEMs might think about adoption. Perhaps CharIN will assist to standardize NACS to keep away from misunderstandings.

Yet another factor identified by Peter Rawlinson is that one of the crucial essential issues within the EV trade within the US is to assist in a single day/residence charging (AC Degree 2) as a result of that is the dominant method of recharging EVs. The grid requires strengthening. We’d additionally add the difficulty of road charging for many who do not have a devoted parking spot.