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

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

As we will see within the video (see from about 7:00 right here or a small half in a tweet beneath), Lucid’s boss doesn’t look like too enthusiastic about NACS. He identified that the CCS1 and NACS are simply plastic plugs with some copper. The way more necessary factor, in his opinion, will not be the plug, however the high-voltage (a stage of 1,000 volts), which have to be utilized to cut back the present (assuming the identical energy) and losses, and thus enhance effectivity. That is elementary, in accordance with Peter Rawlinson.

The Lucid Air mannequin is thought for its ultra-high effectivity, lengthy vary (over 500 miles, in accordance with the EPA), and ultra-fast charging functionality, which is past Plaid. One of many key parts to cost rapidly (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 customary totally helps such a voltage stage as we speak, 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 present utilizing a voltage stage of as much as 500 V (DC output). This considerably limits the power to quick cost automobiles with a better voltage battery – just like the Lucid Air, Hyundai Ioniq 5, or Porsche Taycan – so long as there is no such thing as 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 effectively introduced by our colleague Kyle Conner (Out of Spec) beneath:

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

The same voltage-related concern was raised additionally by Hyundai Motor, though we consider that it has a decrease affect 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 strictly the identical. Energy output shall be compromised (by the way in which, the identical issues the 400-500 V CCS1 chargers as effectively).

EV producers, which already adopted higher-voltage battery methods, desire a higher-voltage quick charging infrastructure. In the end, increasingly more EVs are anticipated to be geared up with such battery methods, as a result of that is merely a extra environment friendly answer.

Peter Rawlinson says that 1,000 V (on the infrastructure facet) is the long run and we agree. For prime-end, and a lot of the mainstream electrical automobiles, we’ll most likely see 600-1,000 V battery methods. There may be a phase with 400 V battery methods as effectively – 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 present used 500 V model. Furthermore, it is going to 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 facet), the difficulty will regularly fade. The CCS1 chargers initially have been additionally solely low-voltage 50-100 kW models.

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

This makes us utterly calm that NACS will help 1,000 V and most charging velocity. Possibly in a single 12 months, possibly in two, more than likely it is going to be mixed with the 350 kW V4 charging stalls (longer cable is required to succeed in charging inlets in numerous 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 as we speak and they won’t be prepared to help Tesla (competitor), so long as attainable, to finally be a part of as soon as every little thing is prepared (if your entire market will actually transfer in the direction of NACS). That is a completely cheap place.

The final factor is that Lucid is concerned with bidirectional charging – Car-to-Grid (V2G) purposes, and this additionally have to be totally outlined by Tesla, so different OEMs might take into account adoption. Possibly CharIN will assist to standardize NACS to keep away from misunderstandings.

Yet one more factor identified by Peter Rawlinson is that probably the most necessary issues within the EV business within the US is to help in a single day/house charging (AC Stage 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 individuals who haven’t got a devoted parking spot.