Lucid and Motorsports – EV Development the Old-Fashioned Way
[Sept. 11, 2020]
It’s said that racing begets superior street cars, but rarely do we witness blatantly obvious examples, especially amongst EVs. But with this week’s reveal of the Lucid Air, we were reminded that for years, Lucid Motors has been largely clandestinely developing EV batteries through motorsports.
Since the 2018 racing season, Formula E, an all-electric international formula car racing series, has been powered by a 54 kWh battery supplied by McLaren Applied, part of the McLaren Group that also produces supercars, races in Formula One, and more recently has been attempting to stave off a coronavirus-induced bankruptcy.
This 54 kWh battery was a revelation for Formula E, as prior to McLaren’s battery tech, series drivers were forced to swap cars mid race in order to go the distance. Once the Williams Advanced Engineering 28 kWh were dumped for the McLaren units, racers could battle for the duration of the 45-minute sprints in the same race car with no replacement or recharge. That solitary distinction transformed the Formula E racing series from novelty to aspirational.
But with the Lucid Air announcement on Sept. 9, 2020, Lucid put in the limelight the fact that the Formula E 54 kWh batteries are not truly McLaren Applied’s. Instead, Lucid Motors, via its technology division Atieva, has been the true wizard behind the curtain. Lucid Motors is in fact the one Formula E was referring to when the series announced: “Gen2 Formula E cars are powered by McLaren Applied batteries which have been developed and manufactured in association with our battery partner.”
Formula E’s 54 kWh battery packs are listed as being supplied by McLaren Applied. Although with the Lucid Air reveal, everyone now knows the secret sauce for those batteries is really Lucid Motors. (Image courtesy Formula E)
As far as Formula E goes, the battery manufacturer is rather inconsequential, but for Lucid, it means the company’s battery technology has been pushed to the limit during every Formula E race weekend with zero failures since 2018. In Formula E, racers often finish sprint races with single-digit percentages of battery power remaining, which means Lucid has seen repeated real-world, high-heat full-battery depletion, followed by expedited rapid recharges. Basically, constant torture.
Because of this, Lucid undoubtedly now knows more about the limits of battery optimization than Jaguar has gleaned through its iPace eTrophy Championship race series, since Jaguar utilizes far larger capacity batteries in its iPace than are needed for the races at hand. And while Tesla has been considered the battery optimization king, Tesla has also been visibly absent from motorsports – when it comes to the tortures of racing and what’s to be learned, Tesla doesn’t know what it doesn’t know.
Lucid’s battery technology and optimization in its Air is impressive, with some of that technology coming via its involvement in motorsports. (Image courtesy Lucid Motors)
Also via Lucid’s Air reveal, we now know that Formula E will utilize its existing race batteries at least one year longer than the series had previously announced, as Lucid noted that its batteries will be utilized in Formula E through the 2022 season.
From electric drivetrain packaging to EV range, the Lucid Air is an undeniable game changer, but it’s nice to know that at least some of that cutting-edge EV game was changed the old fashioned way: motorsports.
(Main image courtesy Lucid Motors)
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