Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson has revealed that his company is unlikely to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) as one of the first adopters. The primary reason behind this decision lies in the voltage compatibility issues between NACS chargers and Lucid’s electric vehicles (EVs).
In a recent discussion with the Wall Street Journal, Rawlinson explained that Lucid’s EVs require 1,000-volt DC charging to support their high-voltage system. The company operates on a 900-volt architecture, necessitating a higher voltage for efficient fast charging. Fortunately, Lucid vehicles can make use of CCS1 chargers, which offer access to up to 900 volts, facilitating convenient fast charging.
While specific details are not yet available, it is known that Tesla Superchargers typically deliver around 500 volts through DC output. Although Tesla has confirmed the future introduction of a 1,000-volt configuration for the NACS connector, it is not currently available.
Additionally, Lucid is keen on exploring bidirectional charging for vehicle-to-grid applications. However, the exact approach of NACS in addressing this matter has not been fully outlined by Tesla, though they have hinted at its potential implementation in the coming years. It’s worth noting that Ford has actively embraced this application as a practical solution in recent years and has opted to switch to NACS.
Therefore, for the time being, Lucid’s decision is to continue using CCS chargers, a choice that may disappoint some Lucid owners who were hoping to access Tesla’s Supercharging network in the near future.
While the rest of the EV industry is adopting NACS, @LucidMotors and CEO Peter Rawlinson are refusing to switch until Tesla enables 1000V DC charging at Superchargers.
Why doesn't Lucid poll their customers to see what they prefer instead of making the decision for them? pic.twitter.com/NfCis75lmG
— Jeff 💙✌️ (@JeffTutorials) June 20, 2023
