Automakers have fought on the battleground of fuel efficiency for decades. Ever higher gas prices saw miles per gallon become a prime concern for customers. In the EV space, range is more visible than outright efficiency, but it’s still of prime importance. In this regard, Lucid has established a fine lead over its rivals.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson took to LinkedIn to celebrate the company’s technological achievements. Namely, with the new Lucid Air Pure, the company has achieved a milestone of 5.0 miles per kWh, and 146 MPGe on the EPA’s rating scale. The new model takes the crown as the most efficient production automobile of all time. Not bad, right?
Rawlinson notes that this new development places the company in a rarefied space at the top of the EV efficiency tree. He also reckons it’s going to take a long time for other automakers to catch up. Eight years, in fact! Let’s look at how he came to that number.
The graph prepared by Lucid shows us a plot of model years against EPA MPGe efficiency ratings. At the top of the graph are various models of the Lucid Air, with the 2025 Lucid Air Pure setting a new standard of 146 MPGe. Beneath that, the most recent Tesla Model S hit 122 MPGe, having come a long way from just 89 MPGe back in 2012. Meanwhile, the Germans lag far behind, with the best Mercedes EQS and Porsche Taycan only posting 96 and 83 MPGe, respectively.
The value of this? A more efficient EV can drive farther on a given amount of electricity. That’s good for range and good for your hip pocket. The latter point doesn’t come up much, given EVs are typically much more efficient than ICE vehicles, but it’s still relevant. Indeed, it’s a runaway blessing, too. The more efficient your EV is, the less battery capacity it needs to go a given distance. Further, a lower-capacity battery will be smaller and lighter than a higher-capacity battery, and require less material to build. The weight savings further aids efficiency, and there are other benefits: a smaller battery makes for easier packaging, and less material means lower cost.
Rawlinson’s graph suggests it will take Tesla until 2032 to reach the same level of efficiency that Lucid has achieved today. That’s based on a linear estimation of the company’s future technological progress. Is that a given? Well, no. Tesla might not be working on further efficiency improvements to its lineup at all, for example! That’s unlikely, but possible. It’s also true that Tesla—or other automakers—might make big leaps in efficiency in future years, rather than continuing to make incremental gains in a linear progression upwards.
There’s no denying that the new Lucid Air Pure is very efficient. It achieves 420 miles of range with an 84 kWh battery pack. Meanwhile, the Tesla Model S needs a 100 kWh pack to reach similar figures. So what exactly is it that has Lucid so far ahead of the competition?
I’m sorry to say that the answer’s not exactly obvious at this stage, though it’s likely a combination of factors. For a start, the Lucid Air is one of the slipperiest cars on the road, with a drag coefficient of just 0.197. Compare that to the 0.208 of the Tesla Model S—better, but not to the point of total domination. You might suspect a weight benefit with its smaller battery, but that’s not the case. The Pure weighs virtually the same as the Model S, at 4,564 pounds to 4,561 pounds respectively. Lucid also specified a heat pump as standard on the new ultra-efficient model, though this isn’t rare in modern EVs.
Naturally, the Pure model is RWD only for greater range, with 430 horsepower on tap. This alone gives it an advantage over less-efficient dual-motor models. We can speculate that perhaps the motors are part of the special sauce. If Lucid has found a way to build exceptionally efficient motors, that could be why it has a lead over the competition.
It’s also possible that Lucid has figured out how to wring more efficiency out of its power electronics that run the motors, or even, perhaps, its battery packs. The latter is perhaps a big part of Lucid’s advantage. Teardowns of Lucid Air battery packs have revealed the company uses a highly unique pack architecture with lots of attention paid to cooling.
Ultimately, though, we don’t know the precise source of Lucid’s excellent electrical efficiency. As far as the company is concerned, that’s just fine. After all, it’s a key part of the company’s competitive advantage. It’s likely that a number of engineers around the world are pulling apart Lucid vehicles as we speak, trying to divine how Lucid does what it does.
Rawlinson is right to brag about his company’s achievements. Whether or not it can maintain its extensive lead, however, is another thing entirely. One suspects other automakers might catch up sooner than later as investment in EV technology continues to grow. After all, technology growth is so rarely a linear affair.
[Ed note:Â We actually had a convo with Rawlinson about some of this coming up in and upcoming Podcast and one of the points he made is that he doesn’t get why more people don’t steal their ideas! – MH]
Image credits: Lucid
I want Lucid to survive, and succeed. Not just because they’re efficient, but also because they’re not Tesla and thus tainted by the Musk. Though Lucid being financed by Saudi money does leave a bad taste in my mouth. RIP Jamal Khashoggi.
Saw one in all metallic white at the bottom of the hill parked on Yucca the other day and damn, did it look *nice* I tell you what. I’ve never even sat in one, and I stopped going to the LA Auto Show a few years ago so I probably never will, but maybe they’ll stay in business long enough to bring a smaller $40Kish model to market before my car driving days come to a close.
One can only hope. 🙂
That graph looks like Donald Trump predicting a hurricane’s path:
https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2020-02/1/17/asset/ff90b1278a8b/sub-buzz-346-1580578270-8.png?downsize=700%3A%2A&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto
If – IF – the Aptera ever lands, Lucid will quietly put this graph away and never speak of it again. The Aptera is projected – I say projected in part because no production models exist – to handily beat 200 W-h/mi. and flirt with 100 W-h/mi, yielding as much as 400 miles of range from a mere 40 kW-h battery.
That’s funny I suspect it will take Lucid 8 years (if ever) to actually get to a company cost break even point, let alone start to come out with an average priced US market vehicle and making their vehicles at a high enough volume level that they have a prayer of inching the size of the company (to have a greater imact) to be larger than even Madza
While Rawlingson has said in the past that he wants Lucid to follow the same business growth model as Tesla, i.e.start w/a high cost models and then move down market with more affordable models… Lucid still sells several.variations of 1 car and yes they are trying to come out with their 2nd “totally not a minivan 3 row SUV”….
Making the Huge leap towards a mid-priced vehicle seems to be very far removed from where they are now, where they are at the mercy of their investors (The Saudi family investment fund being chief among them) to even be allowed to continue to exist.
Is the power in the 5kwh per mile figure from the battery or from the charger? It seems like a more efficient battery would be better at accepting energy as well as discharging it but I don’t know if that’s a safe assumption. I’m also unsure of what the point of using mpge is when there aren’t any ICE vehicles being compared.
Anyway my point is that if the kwh/mile figure is from the battery then it could conceal charging inefficiency if the car has, say, exceptionally good motors. The car with good motors could appear as or more efficient than a car with a battery that produces less waste while charging even if the actual $/mile of the car with the more efficient battery is overall lower.
You meant 5 miles per kW-h. That is to say, 200 W-h/mile.
it’s cool that lucid is trying to get people excited about their technology. But how important is efficiency to someone spending 80-120k on a luxury vehicle? They need to get a less expensive smaller vehicle to leverage their efficiency prowess on the market.
“Tesla might not be working on further efficiency improvements to its lineup at all, for example! That’s unlikely, but possible.”
Well they’re not a car company anymore, they’re an AI company, so this is probably true!
My 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV and I are at 4.9 mi/kwh from new. For $26500 after tax.
Yeah, my 2017 Bolt has an overall average of 3.9 mi/kwh over the last 10k miles since the battery was replaced. It’s not 5, but it’s way better than most other EVs! I wouldn’t say I’m babying the throttle either, if I was I think I’d be more like 4.2-4.5 mi/kwh.
Is it bad that it took me a minute to not read “Tesla Model sh!t 122 MPGe”?
“Beneath that, the most recent Tesla Model S hit 122 MPGe…”
If I drive very careful and under 55mph I can see 4.0 MI/KWH on my Chevy Bolt. This is insane, 5.0 MI/KWH under EPA Testing means this number should be higher if you keep it light on the accelerator pedal.
2 miles per KWH vs 4 miles per KWH makes a huge difference, you basically drive double the distance for the same cost. A lot of people don’t pay attention to efficiency on electric cars but it matters a lot like the article explains. Imagine having a very efficient gas engine and a huge gas tank, that’s why there is a reason hybrids don’t have huge tanks, they dont need it.
On one hand, I’m glad to see this talk of efficiency instead of 200kwh+ batteries.
On the other hand, my ioniq 6 isn’t all that far off from lucid @ less than half the price.
” … why more people don’t steal there ideas!”
Goodness, could we not? It got bad enough at the old place.
Also, farther vs. further.
Your write.
(I’m kidding; grammatical errors drive me nuts. I’ll have everyone read Strunk & White and AP Style again!).
Oh, don’t be so hard on them! Give ’em a brake! Its not there fault – blame the otter-correct.
I can’t bear this and buy golly I refuse to except it.
I’d be very curious what these things average in real-life driving.
My ’17 Volt is rated at 115 MPGe (or was when I bought it – it says 106 MPGe now with the updated ratings), but hitting 150-160 in the summer is not at all difficult.
I would imagine 170-180 MPGe isn’t out of the question on these.
Okay LUCID, now show the charts and graphs for your financials going forward eight years.
Lucid’s dreaming if they think it’ll take that long.
Yeah, they’re having Lucid dreams…
It should be noted that the Tesla Model 3 Long Range tops out at 4.17 miles per kWh.
But anyway… while it’s great that Lucid makes a really efficient BEV, it takes more than that to have a sustainable business. The only thing keeping Lucid alive is injections of Saudi money.
I hope they become self-sustaining, but they’re not there yet.
And I’m not so sure about it taking all competitors 8 years to reach Lucid’s efficiency.
Not all companies progress at the same rate. And the miles per kWh can also be impacted by the type of vehicles produced.
For example… Rivian. You could put the same motors and batteries Lucid has into a Rivian and the Rivian still won’t have the same miles per kWh because what Rivian sells are bigger/heaver/taller/boxier utilitarian vehicles
8 years? Call it six months to fully benchmark it (and this is already happening) then four years for a full vehicle project to replicate the results. So that’s 4.5 years tops.
Unless they don’t really care about efficiency, which would seem to be the case with Porsche and Mercedes Benz.
Um, “their”.
So, you don’t know, and apparently no one knows. And, they could be gaming the tests so that this is what they can advertise, but the cars do might NOT achieve these numbers in practice. Where are that data?
Came here to say the same. I thought about giving this a slide, but not much makes me angrier (granted, a snobbish and self-righteous anger, which isn’t becoming) than the easy ones.
In retrospect, it is probably more a problem with my bias that needs correcting….
Ah, Friday ruminations.
The downside is that my notification of their error is posted publicly. Editors are supposed catch this. But this WAS the editor! Who’s editing the editor? It’s editors all the way down!!
I just want this to be a quality site with these slight mistakes corrected when spotted. Not much to ask. I know that old Jalopy site hardly ever corrected, which meant they didn’t bother to read the comments.
Now, about how Lucid is gaming the system…
Looks like they made the edit. I guess they either caught it or saw us but did not acknowledge us (with which I am fine).
Lucid. Yes. Progress isn’t made in a linear fashion almost ever. The 8 year guess is a bit much for me.
Will it still be company in 8 years?
While I certainly hope the Lucid advantage is real, I can’t help but reflect back on VW crowing about its clean, thrifty, and powerful diesel motors. If there’s a way to cheat, car companies will, even if it’s something no more complicated than rigging odometers to display more miles travelled than are actually accrued.
Under $60k 2023 dual motor with 718 miles? What depreciarnation is going on with these?
https://shorturl.at/2ATFK
I’d consider it, but it might take me ten days to drive it back to SoCal. You know, those long charging stops and planning the stops and all. I guess I could have someone haul it here, write a story about it here, get a discount…
Lucid has a series of tech talk up on youtube where they talk about this kind of stuff in detail.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt7aixYFYzCT41gaTtV4DAEs6vYWKUM-X
3.5 hours? Can some car website summarize this for me?
We care about every detail and lose sleep over removing grams.
Also here’s our thing. Compared to the thing from a German manufacturer it’s smaller / lighter / more powerful.
Compared to the thing from an American manufacturer it’s also smaller / lighter / more powerful.
Now you need to watch 4 minutes of ads for me. Cool?
I really like the motor video but that’s super long. Definitely check out the space video. There’s a point where they go through the whole front end assembly and it’s impressively small
This is great and all but it doesn’t really matter. Not many people paying $100k+ care about efficiency. If Lucid could make an economy car then this would be a big deal.
People paying $100k+ don’t care about efficiency in their gas cars when you can add 300-500 miles of range in 5 minutes at every interstate exit in America.
When it’s a matter of making it to your destination while saving a 30-60 minute recharge stop, you bet your ass they do. Nothing is more valuable to rich people than their time.
When you can gauge how much you get paid by-the-minute in dollaridos (instead of cents), then yes, it certainly matters. IOW, I agree. Time is money.
Holy turdburgers, Batman…. I… I never thought about what I made a minute….
hashtagblessed
My humblebrag is when I realized I made $1/minute. It makes you think about all the bullshitting one does and slacking off. Blessed, yes, very very very very much. One must always appreciate every person in the working world and treat everyone with respect and dignity. Even though you may make $0.20/minutes, does NOT mean you are working less hard or not having to think about how to do your job.
Also, there is that story about how, for a person like Bill Gates, dropping a $100 bill on the ground is not worth his time to pick it up. It’s insane what the world is willing to pay a human. I am thankful for every penny.
Never stopping at a gas station ever again and having 100% range every time they take the car out of the garage is well worth it for some people.
And anyone for whom that is the case probably already owns an EV.
That’s probably true – tho there are a lot of people who also keep their cars 10+ years who didn’t get a Model S or X when it was time to purchase last for a variety of reasons.
And there are a lot of folks w/ older Model S/Xs who are looking to trade in for a variety of reasons – among them the age and lack of comfort features in their older cars.
Those are the folks who are most likely to consider a Lucid – as well as a Porsche, Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz EV for that matter.
People in that segment care about getting the best. In the EV space, that’s range, and by proxy, efficiency.
Also, the pure is now in $67k. These are really compelling cars. I’ve done a few hundred miles in them and can’t over state how impressive they are… especially when going from my 95 oldsmobile into one of these 🙂
Increased efficiency can directly correlate to increased range, which pretty much everyone cares about. Smaller battery and travel the same distance as competitors, or equal battery size and travel further than competitors.
Great achievement!
I look forward to this efficiency being rolled out on their 112-118 kWh models, giving them a range of 560-600 miles.
Conversely I’d be excited to see a low cost, lightweight ‘Lucid Xtra Pure’ with a 60 kWh battery pack that would compete on cost with a Tesla Model 3 / Y base model but deliver 300 miles of range instead of 225.