Lucid Motors pushed back against suggestions that BYD’s new ultra-fast charging technology could undermine its efficiency advantage, arguing that raw charging speed is only one piece of the battery engineering puzzle.
The EV maker’s VP of Communications Nick Twork reacted to the Chinese giant’s recently launched ultra-fast chargers, which allow owners to charge their vehicle’s batteries from 10% to 97% in just nine minutes.
Questioned on whether Lucid‘s efficiency could be dethroned by that advancement — which is already threatening Nio’s battery swap technology, for instance — Twork wrote that “battery engineering is about choices and priorities.”
“Some systems prioritize extreme charge rates, others prioritize range,” he stated.
The executive highlighted that the Lucid Gravity Grand Touring combines both, offering up to 450 miles of EPA range and the ability to add 200 miles in under 11 minutes.
The figure that applies when equipped with 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels and connected to a 400-kilowatt or higher DC fast charger, according to Lucid‘s specifications.
Lucid disclosed that a 69-kWh battery would deliver 300 miles of range at the platform’s efficiency target, though the company has not confirmed a final battery capacity or range figure.
Earlier this week, BYD confirmed plans to roll out its ultra-fast charging system beyond China, with Europe already being considered.
WLTP x CLTC x EPA
The Lucid executive cautioned that the comparison may be misleading, since Chinese manufacturers typically cite range figures based on the CLTC test cycle, which produces higher numbers than the EPA standard used in North America.
“And remember many Chinese specs are reported on CLTC, which is more optimistic than EPA,” he noted, additionally flagging that “different markets have different needs. In North America, customers tend to value long trips between stops.”
The three major testing standards produce significantly different results for the same vehicle.
The EPA standard, used in the United States, is the most conservative of the three.
It factors in highway driving and air-conditioning use, then applies a correction factor of roughly 30%.
WLTP, the standard used across Europe and the UK, runs a longer and more varied test cycle but without that steep correction — producing figures that typically come in 10–20% higher than EPA for the same car.
China’s CLTC standard skews even further, since it is built around low-speed urban driving, where EVs perform best. CLTC numbers run about 20–30% above EPA.
Lucid Range Records
Lucid‘s debut model, the Air sedan, has achieved the longest driving range in Norway’s well-known El Prix test, conquering both the Summer and Winter editions.
In the Summer, it covered 828.6 km (516 miles) out of the claimed 960 km, a deviation of 13% — the largest discrepancy among the models evaluated at the time, but the highest range achieved within the competitors.
With temperatures dropping below –30°C (-22ºF), the Lucid Air Grand Touring achieved a range of 520 km (323 miles) — a 45.8% deviation from its officially advertised range of 960 km (596 miles).
As first reported by EV last July, the Lucid Air Grand Touring also set a new Guinness World Record for the longest distance driven by an electric vehicle on a single charge, covering 1,205.8 km (749 miles).
5 Miles per kWh
Lucid started out as a battery technology company more than a decade ago.
As an electric vehicle manufacturer, the company has made efficiency the cornerstone of its EV strategy.
That focus culminated in mid-2024, when the company announced that the 2025 Lucid Air — the most affordable version of its flagship sedan — featured 420 miles of EPA-estimated range with an 84-kWh battery pack, with an efficiency of 5 miles per kWh.
The model achieved a record MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) of 146 — the highest ever for an electric vehicle.
MPGe is the EPA’s way of measuring an EV’s energy efficiency in terms that can be easily compared to the fuel efficiency of traditional gasoline cars.
The milestone was celebrated by then-CEO Peter Rawlinson, who wrote on LinkedIn then that the Tesla Model S would need seven years to match the Lucid Air efficiency.
Thanks to its efficiency, the Lucid Air can recharge up to 380 miles overnight at home (in 10 hours), reaching 95% of its 420-mile range.
The Tesla Model S, which achieved 4.02 miles per kWh, was able to charge 306 of 402 miles (76%) in the same timeframe.
Latest EPA Ratings
The latest ratings — released by the EPA late last year — showed that the 2026 Lucid Air remains the vehicle with the best efficiency.
The trim equipped with 19-inch wheels has an EPA range of 420 miles, with an efficiency of 23 kWh per 100 miles.
The higher-end Air Touring, with the same wheels, can reach up to 431 miles.
The sedan clearly outperforms its competitors in the segment, with an MPGe of 146.
By comparison, the Tesla Model S has a rating of 124, while Mercedes-Benz luxury sedans like the EQS and CLA range from 98 to 109 MPGe.
Commenting on the data last November, Nick Twork wrote on X that while “other automakers often tout EV range using lenient WLTP or CLTC test cycles, masking efficiency gaps and inflating expectations,” with the official EPA numbers, “the story changes.”
“This advantage comes from a holistic engineering approach,” Twork remarked, highlighting Lucid‘s “complete vehicle system designed years ago and still ahead of any passenger car sold today.”
