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State of Charge with Director of Cost Engineering Corey Steuben

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Need4Sleep

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State of Charge was also at the Lucid Investor event and had a discussion with Corey Steuben, Director of Cost Engineering. Corey was previously Assistant Chief Engineer for the midsize project before he took over the cost engineering role for Air, Gravity, and midsize. If you've watched Munro & Associates beforehand, Corey may be a familiar face. Having seen his work at Munro before, I got very excited to see what he would do at Lucid. Some interesting technical details discussed with regards design-for-cost, design-for-servicing, design-for-assembly, design-for-ride/handling, and other design-for-X considerations.

Corey also mentioned being a regular at Costco, and he did envision the Costco runs when working on midsize!
 
Watching this now. My concern after all the press stuff has been that I didn't see how Lucid was reducing BOM costs and getting even to positive gross margins. Hopefully, Corey can convince me.
 
Smorgasbord said:
Watching this now. My concern after all the press stuff has been that I didn't see how Lucid was reducing BOM costs and getting even to positive gross margins. Hopefully, Corey can convince me.
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After listening to Corey, I'm now much more convinced they were able to meaningfully reduce BOM costs
 
Need4Sleep said:

State of Charge was also at the Lucid Investor event and had a discussion with Corey Steuben, Director of Cost Engineering. Corey was previously Assistant Chief Engineer for the midsize project before he took over the cost engineering role for Air, Gravity, and midsize. If you've watched Munro & Associates beforehand, Corey may be a familiar face. Having seen his work at Munro before, I got very excited to see what he would do at Lucid. Some interesting technical details discussed with regards design-for-cost, design-for-servicing, design-for-assembly, design-for-ride/handling, and other design-for-X considerations.

Corey also mentioned being a regular at Costco, and he did envision the Costco runs when working on midsize!
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I'm excited that Lucid is taking cost-of-repair seriously for their coming vehicles. One of my top concerns with buying a Gravity is the potential for very expensive repairs, and outrageously expensive repairs have been a complaint about other company's EVs as well. For all the bashing that people do of the "big 3", they historically have done pretty well on the repair front.
 
TahoeMichael said:
I'm excited that Lucid is taking cost-of-repair seriously for their coming vehicles. One of my top concerns with buying a Gravity is the potential for very expensive repairs, and outrageously expensive repairs have been a complaint about other company's EVs as well. For all the bashing that people do of the "big 3", they historically have done pretty well on the repair front.
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Same here, I'm glad to hear there were numerous design-for-repairability and design-for-insurance considerations. If the results truly yield even lower insurance and repair costs, then the Cosmos (fingers crossed for a Sapphire trim) would become my do-everything car that I would drive until it disintegrates
 
TahoeMichael said:
I'm excited that Lucid is taking cost-of-repair seriously for their coming vehicles. One of my top concerns with buying a Gravity is the potential for very expensive repairs, and outrageously expensive repairs have been a complaint about other company's EVs as well. For all the bashing that people do of the "big 3", they historically have done pretty well on the repair front.
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Should be good for insurance premiums as well.
 
This video shows these guys now have their business in order. Cosmos is going to knock it out of the park.......so long as it looks good. We know most people only buy on aesthetics or to be part of the herd.
 
babylou66 said:
This video shows these guys now have their business in order. Cosmos is going to knock it out of the park.......so long as it looks good. We know most people only buy on aesthetics or to be part of the herd.
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Given that they included some feedback on the Cosmos and Earth during the investor presentation, I think we have reason to be cautiously optimistic
Screenshot 2026-03-22 222125.webp
 
Dirney said:
Lucid Motors is focusing on reducing costs (BOM), improving repairability, and lowering insurance/maintenance expenses through better engineering. This makes future models like Cosmos more affordable to own and more competitive.
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I do wonder if the insurance companies are going to get the memo or just do what they tend to do with all EV's and slap a ridiculous premium on them. My Air & Gravity basically cost the same price, clean driving record still and yet they increased my premium by $2,500 a year when I switched to the Gravity. I think half the time they have a dart board with costs on it and whatever the dart lands on is the premium you pay.
 
Need4Sleep said:
Given that they included some feedback on the Cosmos and Earth during the investor presentation, I think we have reason to be cautiously optimistic
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This comparison is Lucid against "Peer Average". Shouldn't Lucid compare its offerings to the "Top 3" instead? Say in field of 10 offerings, "Peer Average" is, by definition, substantially below the "Top 3", correct?

I am not a statistician, but the benchmark-baseline is suspect!
 
BS8899 said:
This comparison is Lucid against "Peer Average". Shouldn't Lucid compare its offerings to the "Top 3" instead? Say in field of 10 offerings, "Peer Average" is, by definition, substantially below the "Top 3", correct?

I am not a statistician, but the benchmark-baseline is suspect!
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They used words during the presentation that made you think Tesla and a German manufacturer were the peers benchmarking. No names mentioned - but inferences were there.
 
HC_79 said:
I do wonder if the insurance companies are going to get the memo or just do what they tend to do with all EV's and slap a ridiculous premium on them. My Air & Gravity basically cost the same price, clean driving record still and yet they increased my premium by $2,500 a year when I switched to the Gravity. I think half the time they have a dart board with costs on it and whatever the dart lands on is the premium you pay.
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Insurance guy here.

Lucid flew under the radar, now that insurance companies are getting nailed $35k for a bumper repair and 90 days of rental cuz lucid doesn’t have parts, they are getting revenge.
 
tmichael said:
They used words during the presentation that made you think Tesla and a German manufacturer were the peers benchmarking. No names mentioned - but inferences were there.
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For the mid-size offering, shouldn't Volvo, Kia/Hyundai, Rivian, low-end Range Rovers, etc. also be included?

Tesla's offerings are getting long on the teeth.

Irrespective, for Lucid mid-size offerings, ALL their competitors have (historically) more stable initial offerings, lower prices, and (compare to Lucid) more extensive service networks. These are important differentiators for the segment. Lucid will face very stiff competition!
 
Insurance will lag. Carriers price based on past claims, not promises. If Lucid fixes parts supply and repair times, premiums should drop, but it’ll take time.


On “peer average” vs top 3, that’s just framing. What really matters is total cost of ownership in the midsize segment. Price, service network, and repairability will decide it.


If Lucid actually delivers simpler repairs and lower labor time, that’s the real win. Execution matters more than the slides.
 
Tesla just refreshed the Model Y with what they call the Jupiter. It's version with light bars in the front and back. Whatever you think of the company, it's the best seller and clearly the benchmark in the US midsize SUV EV market.
 
erigion said:
Tesla just refreshed the Model Y with what they call the Jupiter. It's version with light bars in the front and back. Whatever you think of the company, it's the best seller and clearly the benchmark in the US midsize SUV EV market.
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I am not a Tesla fan. That said, I do give Tesla/Elon a lot of credit for making the EV industry real with what they've done, EV vehicles and the charging infrastructure. Looking forward, I am not sure Tesla will be innovating with same passion as the past two decades.
 
HC_79 said:
I do wonder if the insurance companies are going to get the memo or just do what they tend to do with all EV's and slap a ridiculous premium on them. My Air & Gravity basically cost the same price, clean driving record still and yet they increased my premium by $2,500 a year when I switched to the Gravity. I think half the time they have a dart board with costs on it and whatever the dart lands on is the premium you pay.
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Data scientist here that's work on projects related to auto insurance.

In short, it depends on how well they've set up their modeling.

In detail, when insurance companies do their modeling work, anything and everything that could be measured and noted can be considered. This allows them to note every vehicle's details such as material choice, sensor availability, detailed interior dimensions, detailed exterior dimensions, crash safety ratings, etc. Insurance will also consider factors such as exposure, past claim experience, accident rate, claim rate, cost of damage, etc.

If the insurance company set up their modeling pipeline appropriately, then they should be able to note the repairability choices that Lucid has made. From a pure modeling perspective and in an ideal world, that should reflect on better premiums.

I do want to note that since Lucid is a new brand relative to the traditional auto companies, I'm not sure what other considerations actuaries and underwriters add when dealing with such a scenario.
 
BS8899 said:
For the mid-size offering, shouldn't Volvo, Kia/Hyundai, Rivian, low-end Range Rovers, etc. also be included?

Tesla's offerings are getting long on the teeth.

Irrespective, for Lucid mid-size offerings, ALL their competitors have (historically) more stable initial offerings, lower prices, and (compare to Lucid) more extensive service networks. These are important differentiators for the segment. Lucid will face very stiff competition!
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In the places Lucid has service, it will beat all other luxury EV's. You cant expect Lucid to outsale countrywide when they dont have that many service centers. Point to note- Lucid Air sales were double that of Tesla model S in the US in 2025.....
 
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