How the Lucid Air Sapphire Just Became a $249,000 Power Bank on Wheels

A lot of people, myself included, believed back then EVs would be slow to become commonplace because there were simply not enough chargers in place, and not enough alternative charging means available. Boy, were we wrong!

Somehow, virtually unseen, the industry moved fast and with determination, so there are now enough charging stations in place in most countries on this planet to ensure any distance can be covered by an EV with no fear of running out of juice.

And now the alternative means of charging come into focus with increased fervor, the ones that allow EVs, for instance, to be fed electric power by other vehicles with the same kind of means of propulsion. Yes, I'm talking about vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) charging.

The concept of transferring power from one car to another is not new, and has been used for ages by ICE-powered vehicles as well. Whenever one ran out of battery, another could charge it by means of simple cables and a running engine.

Transferring power from one EV to another will be kind of like that, only now we'll not be moving power to run the car's systems, but the actual "fuel" the EVs use to go about their business.

V2V is a concept that's just taking hold, and even if virtually all-electric cars are capable of doing it, few of them actually do. And that short list just grew at the end of last week with the Lucid Air.

You probably all know this EV by now. Available in four trims (Pure, Touring, Grand Touring, and Sapphire) it is one of the best-looking EVs on the market, and as such quite expensive, too: prices range from $77,400 for the entry-level to $249,000 for the top-of-the-range Sapphire.

With a full battery, the Air is capable of going for as much as 469 miles (755 km, Grand Touring variant), but that could drop if the vehicle is used as a power bank to feed electricity into other EVs.

Lucid announced at the end of last week exactly such a capability, thanks to a new V2V adapter called RangeXchange. It's something that will be made available for all Air versions, including the highly expensive Sapphire.

The tech works in a very simple and straightforward fashion: two cars, one of them Lucid, are connected by means of a cable, and power transfer can begin, moving electrons from the battery of the Air to the one of the receiving cars. It's a direct approach that requires no intermediary hardware except for the adapter.

The transfer is made possible by the bi-directional charging technology and accompanying software that are already shipped with all Air vehicles. The RangeXchange adapter, however, is the first piece of hardware that puts this bi-directional charging tech to use.

In Lucid's books, the bi-directional charging is made possible by something called the Wunderbox. It's a system described as the fastest EV charging system available, as it can add up to 200 miles (322 km) of charge in 12 minutes.

But that only when an Air vehicle is plugged directly to a charger, and needs the electricity for its own battery. When feeding it to another EV in need of it, things go a lot slower.

Lucid says the Air can feed electricity into another EV at a rate of 9.6 kW, and the most range it can add is between 24 miles (39 km) to 40 miles (64 km) per hour. The large margin depends on what kind of vehicle is "fueled" this way, but also on environmental factors like air temperature.

Speaking of what vehicles the Air can charge, Lucid only says the RangeXchange adapter is suitable "for most EVs currently on the market in the U.S.," but doesn't provide a list of actual compatible models.

V2V charging is just one of the many uses the Wunderbox and even the RangeXchange adapter could have in the future. The EV maker talks about adding the capability to feed electricity back into the grid, when such a thing is possible. Furthermore, ways in which Air vehicles could be used to provide backup power for homes are also being researched.

Lucid says the RangeXchange will become available to U.S. customers later this month, and at a later date to customers in other markets. Using it will require the separate purchase cable and adapter, but at the time of writing we are not being told how much it would cost. The system will be activated in cars through over-the-air updates.