- a 2022 lucid air dream edition performance averaged 135 kilowatts during our dc fast-charge test, making it the quickest-charging ev car and driver has tested.
- at a 350-kw electrify america charging station, it recharged its 118.0-kwh lithium-ion battery pack from 10 to 90 percent in 46 minutes.
- its peak charging rate of 297 kilowatts is 47 kilowatts higher than what the tesla model s plaid accepted, and its average rate is 10 kilowatts higher.
welcome to car and driver’s testing hub, where we zoom in on the test numbers. we’ve been pushing vehicles to their limits since 1956 to provide objective data to bolster our subjective impressions (you can see how we test here). a more comprehensive review of the 2022 lucid air dream edition performance can be found here.
an electric vehicle's average charging rate is a key factor when it comes to shortening the time spent at a charging station. to see how quickly they can replenish their batteries, we plug in electric vehicles at a dc fast charger that can support the maximum the vehicle can accept and charge from 10 to 90 percent. a 2022 lucid air dream edition performance just had the quickest charging rate we've seen yet, with an average of 135 kilowatts.
lucid, an electric-vehicle startup based out of newark, california, recently went to market with the air electric sedan, and the company touts one of the highest peak charging rates its cars can accept in the ev market today: 300 kilowatts. in our test, we saw a peak rate of 297 kilowatts—the highest we've seen yet—just after we plugged in the car at a 350-kw electrify america station in carson city, california. with the highest average charging rate we've observed thus far, the lucid completed charging 80 percent of its 118.0-kwh battery pack in 46 minutes.
a tesla model s plaid, which had an average rate of 125 kilowatts, was previously the ev with the highest average rate we've recorded. it held its peak rate of 250 kilowatts for almost five minutes and got to a 90 percent state of charge in 38 minutes, but its pack holds roughly 19 percent less energy than the lucid's. once the plaid dips below its 250-kw peak, the lucid charges at a higher rate for the remainder of the charging session.
the lucid air is currently available in dream edition range and performance (like the one tested here) models starting at $170,500. they're epa rated at 520 and 471 miles of range. three cheaper models, starting at $77,400, will be available by the end of the year.