Lucid’s upcoming midsize platform will open a brand new chapter for the California automaker, one which’s arguably its most consequential but. The luxurious EV maker is quickly burning money, and the midsize fashions could also be its clearest shot at profitability. However success is way from assured on this extremely aggressive atmosphere.
After I walked into the Investor Day convention in New York Metropolis final week, I anticipated the identical trade playbook: loads of hype, lacking particulars, and daring guarantees with little substance. What I bought was the precise reverse of that.
Lucid bombarded us with info. The automaker not solely shared a transparent roadmap but additionally introduced alongside a Cosmos prototype for an early preview after which stunned us with the Lunar robotaxi idea. It went a step additional, exhibiting us the midsize EV’s physique in white, its new Atlas drive unit, and a take a look at its next-generation electrical structure. Images wasn’t permitted, however I can let you know every part I noticed.
With a beginning value of round $50,000, the Cosmos midsize crossover will lock horns with the Tesla Mannequin Y, Rivian R2, BMW iX3, Volvo EX60, and a rising record of newer EVs jostling for a share of the phase.
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Supply: Suvrat Kothari
Lucid Cosmos Exterior Design
The automaker introduced alongside a shiny pink prototype on the occasion, with officers claiming it was a near-final design. And it certainly appeared that manner. There have been no concept-car-like fender bulges, unusually giant wheels, or another outlandish design parts that will by no means make it to manufacturing.
At first look, the Cosmos appeared like a child Gravity with a coupe-like roofline. It has a stubby, curvaceous nostril and illuminated Lucid emblems at each ends with spaced-out letters in a a lot bigger font than on the Air and Gravity.
The sharp, angled daytime-running lights and Matrix headlamps give it a placing look. There’s additionally a front-facing lidar sensor embedded within the grille to help Lucid’s private autonomy and robotaxi ambitions.
The aspect profile reveals a cab-forward greenhouse much like the Gravity. However the largest change right here is the handbook door handles. They nonetheless sit flush with the bodywork, however now have a carved-out recess the place you may insert your hand and pull the lever again to open the door.
Photograph by: Suvrat Kothari
It is a small however significant departure that’s a part of a broader trade reckoning with digital door handles, which have sparked security controversies worldwide. When the low-voltage battery powering them fails, the handles can fail too. Automakers at the moment are returning to handbook door handles to forestall that from taking place.
The rear finish of the Cosmos is the place issues get polarizing. Suppose Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron, however decrease, sportier, and extra aggressive. The slippery form helps the Cosmos obtain a 0.22 coefficient of drag and allows a projected vary of over 300 miles. However how broadly individuals will prefer it stays an open query.
Derek Jenkins, the Senior Vice President of Design and Model at Lucid, defined why Cosmos’ sharp rear finish appeared the way in which it did. He stated the automaker wanted an answer for a number of useful necessities on the again.
“It’s a three-dimensional puzzle,” Jenkins informed a gaggle of reporters on the Investor Day. “You not solely (need) nice area and headroom, but additionally an excellent cargo space, nice rear visibility, and an excellent aerodynamic taper.”
Jenkins acknowledged the rear could be an acquired style, however stated it was inevitable given the useful necessities, and felt assured it solved most of the conventional drawbacks that include a coupe form.
The precise cargo dimensions stay unconfirmed, however each the rear cargo space and frunk appeared generously sized on the prototype.
Lucid Cosmos Inside Design
Inside, the Cosmos felt minimalist and upscale. The steering wheel is similar to the Gravity’s. The curved show and heart console display have been changed with a single, extensive show stretching from behind the steering wheel throughout to the passenger aspect. Nevertheless, it stops in need of a full pillar-to-pillar span just like the MBUX Hyperscreen on Mercedes-Benz EVs. It is barely offset towards the driving force.
Lucid made the change from the Gravity’s display structure to raised help autonomy-related options and to create a extra shared expertise within the cabin. Jenkins known as {that a} “democratic expertise” for passengers.
“We have now lots of plans for easy methods to present navigation, easy methods to present our AI system,” Jenkins stated. “Third-party purposes might occupy not only a small portion of the display, however maybe all the display if it had been the fitting alternative, both by way of larger ranges of autonomy, and even when the automotive is stationary whereas charging.”
Photograph by: Suvrat Kothari
A right-hand drive model of this display can also be deliberate, which is able to include totally different mounting factors. The automaker is planning to develop to seven European international locations this 12 months, together with the U.Ok. and Germany.
The inside will supply a mixture of material and “non-leather” seat supplies relying on the trims, with recycled supplies on the door panels. And fortunately, Lucid will not be ditching the bodily buttons, so drivers can simply entry necessary capabilities like local weather and quantity with out getting misplaced in touchscreen menus.
Whereas the Cosmos has a sporty and performance-focused design, the Earth can have a extra squared-off silhouette, going by the teasers shared by the automaker. A 3rd, unnamed mannequin shall be extra adventure-oriented, Lucid stated.
Lucid Cosmos Vary, Battery Choices And Charging
Whereas Lucid didn’t affirm the precise battery measurement and driving vary for the Cosmos, CEO Marc Winterhoff stated the midsize platform will supply each lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery packs.
LFP is the dominant battery sort in China, recognized for its sturdiness, decrease price, and fewer reliance on uncommon earth supplies. The trade-off is power density. LFP batteries are much less energy-dense in comparison with NMC packs, which makes them extra fitted to lower-priced, entry-level trims. That stated, developments in packaging by Chinese language battery giants have narrowed the vary hole significantly in recent times.
Lucid stated the midsize platform solely wants 69 kilowatt-hours of capability to attain 300 miles of vary. The precise battery measurement and vary might be larger, and that’s one thing we’ll know extra about additional down the highway. However it feels like a promising begin, as most electrical SUVs want greater packs to ship that sort of vary.
Photograph by: Suvrat Kothari
The Cosmos’ battery may also have a structural design, much like the Tesla Mannequin Y. Its energy electronics are housed below the rear seats, which is nice for serviceability since most battery points typically hint again to the electronics and never particular person cells, Lucid stated. This fashion, technicians don’t should carry the automotive and decrease the battery for repairs; they’ll merely entry the ability electronics from below the rear seats.
That is additionally an 800-volt battery structure, able to including 200 miles of vary in simply 14 minutes of charging. That’s comfortably quicker than the Mannequin Y and the brand new Rivian R2, and in the same ballpark because the BMW iX3 and the Volvo EX60.
It’s going to additionally help an necessary function most Teslas don’t have but: AC bidirectional charging. That can embody vehicle-to-home (V2H), vehicle-to-load (V2L), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) capabilities. So it is possible for you to to energy exterior home equipment, mild up your tenting website, and even energy your house with the suitable set up and tools.
Energy shall be moved into and out of the automobile by way of a Tesla-style North American Charging Commonplace (NACS) port, positioned on the rear left of the automotive.
Lucid Cosmos Centralized Structure
The midsize platform takes the Gravity’s zonal structure a step additional with a centralized structure. Which means a less complicated, extra succesful electrical and computing system that additionally prices much less to construct.
Photograph by: Suvrat Kothari
The automaker confirmed us a torn-down model of this electrical system, and the part depend appeared shockingly lean. Whereas the Gravity has about twelve digital management models (ECUs), the midsize platform has a complete of solely three ECUs. There’s a big central ECU and one every on either side of the automotive. ECUs are basically the computer systems serving because the “brains” of the automotive, controlling and managing its varied capabilities.
The result’s that the Cosmos has simply 0.6 miles (1.1 kilometers) of wiring, which is lower than the Tesla Mannequin Y’s 0.8 miles and the Xiaomi SU7’s 1.4 miles, based on Lucid. Fewer ECUs will permit extra frequent over-the-air updates, and allow extra AI and autonomous options over time because of the simplicity of the system, Lucid stated. It additionally simplifies automobile meeting and lowers manufacturing prices, which is vital for the automaker to hit that $50,000 beginning value.
Lucid Cosmos “Atlas” Drive Motor
In a closed room, Lucid officers confirmed us the brand new Atlas drive unit that may go into its midsize EVs. A drive unit sometimes consists of a planetary discount gear set, differential, rotor, stator, together with an inverter and an built-in cooling system.
As an instance simply how compact Atlas is, Lucid positioned it alongside the drive models from a Mannequin Y, a Hyundai Ioniq 5, and the Gravity. Atlas appeared visibly smaller than each the Tesla and Hyundai models, and even smaller than Lucid’s personal Zeus motor from the Gravity. The Ioniq 5’s unit appeared cumbersome, by comparability.
Photograph by: Suvrat Kothari
Atlas has 30% fewer components in comparison with Zeus, a 37% decrease invoice of supplies, and is 23% lighter. And the entrance and rear Atlas drive models are basically the identical, additional reducing the manufacturing complexity. Its tiny measurement additionally explains the Cosmos’ wonderful packaging and inside roominess—each of that are additionally the Gravity’s hallmarks.
With 40% higher energy density and 10% higher power effectivity than the Mannequin Y’s drive unit, Lucid is projecting the Cosmos to ship as much as 4.5 miles per kilowatt-hour of effectivity. Most EVs within the U.S. at the moment ship between 2.5 and 4.0 miles per kWh of effectivity in the actual world. Though effectivity additionally will get affected by driving model, local weather, and highway situations.
On the efficiency entrance, you may count on the all-wheel drive variations to go from 0-60 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds, whereas the rear-wheel drive fashions would be the vary and effectivity champions.
Lucid Cosmos Physique And Megacastings
I additionally noticed the Comos’ physique in white, which is the naked metal and aluminum shell of the automotive earlier than the powertrain, inside, and chassis parts are put in.
A notable distinction right here was the shortage of gigacastings. Lucid engineers stated that as a substitute of casting all the entrance or rear underbody as a single large aluminum piece—as Tesla, Volvo, and a rising variety of automakers have carried out to chop prices—the Cosmos makes use of smaller metal and aluminum castings together with aluminum extrusions.
Photograph by: Suvrat Kothari
Nevertheless, it does use megacastings above the wheel arches on all 4 corners. Lucid stated avoiding the bigger gigacastings will assist preserve insurance coverage prices down and decrease the overall price of possession over time. It is a direct response to a well-documented concern within the trade, the place EVs have confronted criticism for being costly to restore after even minor collisions.
Avoiding gigacastings additionally allowed engineers to design a multi-stage crumple zone up entrance, which is the a part of the physique that will get impacted in a frontal collision. This primary collision layer is designed to soak up minor impacts and restore simply. A second, stronger layer handles extra critical collisions whereas holding the shell intact, and repairs nonetheless possible. However gigacasting does are likely to decrease manufacturing prices, so there is a tradeoff right here. We’ll know extra about whether or not it was value it after we see how a lot the Cosmos prices, and the way straightforward to restore it truly is.
Wanting Ahead
Lucid plans to make the Cosmos in Saudi Arabia initially and the U.S. ultimately. Preliminary manufacturing will start in Saudi Arabia by the top of this 12 months, and a few early batches will first head to the U.S. The plant in King Abdullah Financial Metropolis, exterior of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will cater to the Center East, Europe, and different international markets sooner or later. About six to 12 months after manufacturing in Saudi Arabia begins, Lucid can also be planning to start secondary manufacturing at its Arizona manufacturing facility, the place most U.S. market automobiles shall be constructed within the long-term.
It’s additionally value holding in thoughts that the midsize EVs are additionally central to Lucid’s robotaxi goals. Lucid has already confirmed that the midsize fashions will launch on the Uber platform sooner or later. Given the present geopolitical local weather and ongoing provide chain disruption because of the warfare in Iran, the midsize EVs might face some headwinds. Nevertheless, Lucid officers stated the warfare in Iran had not slowed down issues simply but.
However based mostly on every part we all know at the moment, the Cosmos will certainly be crucial automotive Lucid has ever made. And if it lives as much as these guarantees, it might be a game-changer for the model.
Contact the writer: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
