Lucid Air for daily use as home battery?

[noobzilla]

I'm looking into solar but with the rates and rate structure in my area it's not really financially beneficial to go solar. In my case if I produce 15kw at 12pm and use 9kw, then produce 9kw at 1pm and use 15kw .. that should even out but nope! I sell 7.4c per kw at 12pm but buy 11c per kw at 1pm. Having a battery could fix that but I'm not gonna spend $12500 on that.

I'm not upset at all because our rates are way cheaper compared to PG&E at 2.5x difference. The solar calculator says a solar system will net me $900 savings while my friend will save him $125k over 25 years for a similar sized system.

I still want to go green though if financially reasonable. I'm thinking what if I use a Lucid Air as daily battery? Imo sounds like a bad idea but I wanna hear what others think.

 

[PaulM]

At this point, using an Air (or any EV at this time) as a battery for home (V2H) is just in testing phase and the tie in to a solar is in it’s infancy. At this point we don’t have a Lucid charging system much less the equipment to tie it into solar.
With that said, the Lucid Air may be the best suited for a backup battery as it can draw 19.2kw and will likely be able to deliver the same.
I would expect that there will be limits to the amount of power allowed to be used… but even at 10% it will be more than the equivalent 10kwh Tesla powerwall.

 

[borski]

At this point, using an Air (or any EV at this time) as a battery for home (V2H) is just in testing phase and the tie in to a solar is in it’s infancy. At this point we don’t have a Lucid charging system much less the equipment to tie it into solar.
With that said, the Lucid Air may be the best suited for a backup battery as it can draw 19.2kw and will likely be able to deliver the same.
I would expect that there will be limits to the amount of power allowed to be used… but even at 10% it will be more than the equivalent 10kwh Tesla powerwall.

One big question will be about how much continuous power it can provide - that will help define whether it can be used to back up ACs or other devices that take a lot of power to kickstart. For Powerwalls, we had to install “sure start” devices for the ACs which lower the instant power needs at startup; these will work for the car too, of course, but we’d need more information on exactly how the battery will work.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

Even a little back-up power would be nice. The day we moved in we lost power...everything in boxes. It was July and very hot and humid (hence the electrical storm that took out our power) . No worries I thought, we'd just put fans in the windows and play cards or scrabble or read...no worries....oops. How can we be so dumb? I just needed a little power, not for cooking or cooling, just some light and a fan.

Here's a story: a few days later I was at Sears hardware buying batteries for the electric torches (flashlights for amerikans -- who don't know what Morse code even is). I'm in line, and everyone in front of me and behind me is buying batteries too....and window screening. It took me some minutes to figure out what was happening. Where I live, everyone enters their houses through the garage...so they use Homelink or the garage door opener remote. Like me...they don't even carry a house key. But the opener has no power. They are locked out.

My neighbors broke in to their own houses.

 

[noobzilla]

Alrighty! Thanks for info. So currently not really feasible. Will have to wait for development but no timeline on that.

 

[PaulM]

It is feasible and both Audi and Lucid have demonstrated it can work. It’s about iso standards which need to be approved for AC and DC bidirectional charging before it will be fully implemented. I would imagine it will takeoff by mid 2023. It will have cost associated with changes to your home system. It is a nice selling point that I am sure Lucid will like to have. “Why buy a powerwall when you have 10 of them on wheels.”

 

[LCIDdreams]

It is feasible and both Audi and Lucid have demonstrated it can work. It’s about iso standards which need to be approved for AC and DC bidirectional charging before it will be fully implemented. I would imagine it will takeoff by mid 2023. It will have cost associated with changes to your home system. It is a nice selling point that I am sure Lucid will like to have. “Why buy a powerwall when you have 10 of them on wheels.”

Can’t you already do this with an F150 Lightning and the Ford EVSE?

 

[Tagilroy]

Have had my Lucid AGT and Home Charging Station for about seven months now. Thus far the news about bi-directional implementation is very limited. Any of you out there hearing anything more concrete?

 

[SaratogaLefty]

Have had my Lucid AGT and Home Charging Station for about seven months now. Thus far the news about bi-directional implementation is very limited. Any of you out there hearing anything more concrete?

Next Tuesday there is a virtual meeting with PG&E at 2 and again at 6. Supposedly we can ask questions during the meeting. I will be asking that very question if I get the chance.

 

[sk8ndad]

Next Tuesday there is a virtual meeting with PG&E at 2 and again at 6. Supposedly we can ask questions during the meeting. I will be asking that very question if I get the chance.

Is it between Lucid and PG&E?

 

[Tâm]

Is it between Lucid and PG&E?

I don't think Lucid owners need a utility company's permission for V2H (vehicle to home). A qualified electrician would make sure to set up that your home is isolated from the grid during a session of V2H.

If you want V2G (vehicle to grid) then you need a permission to export your car's battery to their grid.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

Well hopefully we will get that answer next Tuesday. If it isn't PG&E that is the holdup then what is it? Ford F150 to the best of my knowledge also isn't up and running here either so ???

 

[sk8ndad]

Do you know if your solar will charge your battery during the day and car charge house at night?

 

[Tagilroy]

Next Tuesday there is a virtual meeting with PG&E at 2 and again at 6. Supposedly we can ask questions during the meeting. I will be asking that very question if I get the chance.

It sounds like you plan to be a part of that meeting. If you could pass along the key points from that meeting, it will be appreciated. That said, my electric utility is Arizona Public Service, so any info from the meeting may not be applicable. Nevertheless, it is heartening that they are still working on this front.

 

[Tâm]

Well hopefully we will get that answer next Tuesday. If it isn't PG&E that is the holdup then what is it? Ford F150 to the best of my knowledge also isn't up and running here either so ???

Most likely, the hold-up is from Lucid’s end.

I don’t know the reasons but most likely because of money. The money would speed up things. A lack of it would slow down the implementation.

Lucid can charge Vehicle-to-Vehicle, as demonstrated in Lucid’s official video. That does not need any permission from a utility company because Rivian is doing it on the road.

First of all, the software must be available just like F-150 screen under the menu “Intelligent Backup Power”:

Then other components need to be sold to us, like Ford Inverter, Grid Shutoff, and Start Battery (instantaneous temporary power while waiting for the car supplying the power):

If you watch the video, notice that although the equipment costs are reasonable, like about $5,000 but other labor cost can add another $5,000 to $10,000 for a total of $15,000 or more.

I suspect that will be the same for Lucid too.

Also, notice that it will most likely be a proprietary system. After spending almost $20,000, you will have to pay up again if you want to switch the brand of your car.

It’ll be more practical when all brands agree on a standard so you can switch brands of cars without paying up with each switch.

 

[Tâm]

Do you know if your solar will charge your battery during the day and car charge house at night?

It's all in the software. It depends on how it is written. It's reasonable that you should be able to do what you described above, but we won't know until you got the system.

For the Ford system, you can arbitrage as mentioned in the video above: Buy low and sell high, get cheap power during the day from the sun or from the grid, then sell back at expensive peak rates.

There's a report of making $150 a day in Texas from another brand with stationary battery storage.

 

[PaulM]

Hi all,
Still loving my Lucid Air GT and recently installed solar power on our house. I opted for no battery backup as I was hoping to use the Lucid as battery backup. Initially Lucid told me it would be available Q1 but my questions have gone unanswered.

Anyone know of a working solution to use our Lucid for backup power? I know it won’t be trivial but it would be nice to have it sooner than later.

I did not see a recent discussion on this. Sorry if this is redundant.
BTW… totally jinxing it but no real issues with our car from day 1…. Had some speaker baffling installed and they fixed a logo and rear deck alignment. A gorgeous car now with 11k miles

 

[MikeTz]

Can’t you already do this with an F150 Lightning and the Ford EVSE?

Yes F-150 does this. It is actually a lot less complicated than everyone pretends it is. Most local electricians know how to install the equipment needed to connect the car to the house. The install is not tha much different than installing a Generator.

 

[Tâm]

Hi all,
Still loving my Lucid Air GT and recently installed solar power on our house. I opted for no battery backup as I was hoping to use the Lucid as battery backup. Initially Lucid told me it would be available Q1 but my questions have gone unanswered.

Anyone know of a working solution to use our Lucid for backup power? I know it won’t be trivial but it would be nice to have it sooner than later.

I did not see a recent discussion on this. Sorry if this is redundant.
BTW… totally jinxing it but no real issues with our car from day 1…. Had some speaker baffling installed and they fixed a logo and rear deck alignment. A gorgeous car now with 11k miles

Your guess is just as good as mine because we need to hear the plan from Lucid.

People have been installing V2H from Ford, so we can now see how it works.

Ford requires 3 additional components:

1) Inverter
2) Grid Disconnect
3) "Dark Battery" instantaneously kicks in when your house goes dark while waiting for the car to supply the power (if your car is unplugged, it's time to plug it in. If it has been plugged in, it takes time to get the power to your home, not microseconds like the "dark battery."

The Ford equipment is about $5,000 or less, but the labor might add up to a total cost of over $15,000 for a complex home (old home, needs panel upgrades...)

Currently, the V2H, V2G are not standardized, so you must pay again each time you get a different car brand.

You already have an inverter for your solar. You will need another one from Lucid. You already have a Grid Disconnect from your solar, but again you might need another one from Lucid.

Once Lucid sells you the V2H kit, it should work with your current solar fine with additional installation costs.

In the meantime, you can't get your car to do bidirectional without the Lucid V2H kit.

 

[PaulM]

Great info… thanks.
so I am guessing the V2H kit is not available anytime soon?