LUCID Ceramic Brake Upgrade?

Just received an offer from Tesla to add ceramic brakes to our Model S Plaid at a price of 20k. Funny thing is, we no longer have the Plaid. Any chance of Lucid offering Ceramic brakes as an Option? Should be a simple thing to do. I for one would grab a set. I wonder how many owners would go for it as well.

I don't use the brakes

MikeTz said:

Just received an offer from Tesla to add ceramic brakes to our Model S Plaid at a price of 20k. Funny thing is, we no longer have the Plaid. Any chance of Lucid offering Ceramic brakes as an Option? Should be a simple thing to do. I for one would grab a set. I wonder how many owners would go for it as well.

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The Sapphire has ceramic brakes

A google search indicated it’s more for heat dissipation and brake dust prevention. Beyond that, I’m not understanding why you’d want a $20k upgrade like that for a vehicle that can use regen braking with little real brake use to stop.

Can anyone explain the benefits to me beyond what I’ve stated, because I don’t see anything in a search?

Dog poop said:

A google search indicated it’s more for heat dissipation and brake dust prevention. Beyond that, I’m not understanding why you’d want a $20k upgrade like that for a vehicle that can use regen braking with little real brake use to stop.

Can anyone explain the benefits to me beyond what I’ve stated, because I don’t see anything in a search?

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Unsprung weight.? Track performance. Sounds as if Google search has never tried to slow down a 6,000 pound car doing 150 miles on the track. Not sure I would spend the money either. I was surprised to see TESLA offering it as a retrofit to existing customers. Given the fact Lucid Sapphire comes with ceramic brakes it would be simple for Lucid to do the same.

I had ceramic brakes on my Audi S8 plus. That made sense. But I live in Germany and I could drive it with up to 190 mph on the Autobahn. Fast driving here means a lot of breaking for slower cars. Driving 190 mph you do once per year at 5am on a Sunday morning but 150 mph is not unusual.

Now I drive an EV. Still I drive 125 mph if possible. But I don’t use the breaks at all. In almost all cases recuperating in sufficient. I don’t know why I would need ceramic breaks.

Race tracks might be the only place where the break temperature could be a problem. But a Lucid on a race track? And I don’t know anyone using ceramic brakes on a race track. A small stone can cost you a fortune.

But I’m sure you can find a tuning shop that will sell you ceramic brakes for the Lucid.

Ceramic brakes for a corvette or Ferrari ICE make sense because friction brakes are the only thing stopping a high performance car. Well some engine compression if you’re adept at downshifting. For an EV like lucid you are using your regen for 95 percent of stopping under normal driving. It you track the car yes you could see some benefits, but really who of us are going to track a 5300 lb car? It’s like the people who drive Gwagons and H1 Hummers. Yes there is a tremendous off road capability with those cars but maybe 5 percent of them see anything more challenging than a gravel driveway or a snowy day. In my opinion spend your 20 k on a nice vacation

Ceramic brake main benefit is on track right ?

The track is the only reason I can think of for an upgrade like this. Constant braking will lead to brake fade as they heat up. Ceramic helps with that.

You’d never see any real difference on regular highways. Especially with 1-pedal driving and regen.

The real answer is yes they do offer it as an option, it costs you $250k, but you also get a change in car color, interior, Exterior, hp, added torque vectoring, and being the fastest production sedan ever built.

In theory the track idea makes sense. But not a single diver uses ceramic brakes e.g for Porsche Cup Racing. You will destroy your brakes within a day. Ceramic breaks don’t like the combination of hight temperatures and shocks. And that’s what happens on a track.

A Lucid is not a Formular 1 car. A Lucid’s break must work in winter too. You may impress your buddies with ceramic brakes. But they make no sense on a Lucid.

Dog poop said:

A google search indicated it’s more for heat dissipation and brake dust prevention. Beyond that, I’m not understanding why you’d want a $20k upgrade like that for a vehicle that can use regen braking with little real brake use to stop.

Can anyone explain the benefits to me beyond what I’ve stated, because I don’t see anything in a search?

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Correct. Ceramic brakes are primarily for rrace track use where repeated use causes regular brakes to fade. But they are not necessary at all for road use (exception: If one lives at the top of Pikes Peak one might need ceramic brakes to get down).

I have enjoyed driving vehicles with ceramic brakes immensely.

I haven't driven a Lucid on a windy road yet - but on very windy roads, even the Lucid's decent Akebono-brand brake set up will possibly see some minor fade in performance, especially if there's a large downhill section where you're constantly hitting the brakes and have to go at a high speed. Of course, most civil engineers don't design roads to be this aggressive - so this would be an unusual circumstance. Or more likely, you're probably just driving faster than the prescribed speed limit.

The benefits of ceramic brakes on a Lucid is two fold - yes it has superior braking performance but it also the massive reduction in unsprung weight and rotational masses. The carbon ceramic disc is likely less than half the weight of the conventional iron metal disc. This reduction in rotational masses really helps the car speed up and slow down. Imagine speeding up a round soccer ball made of rock - it takes some effort - now imagine slowing it down while it's rolling down a hill! Now imagine if that rock weighed only half the weight - it'd be a lot better to speed it up and to slow it down.

So I'd like to see a Lucid with carbon fiber wheels (or something else that's lighter in weight) and with ceramic brakes! That would save probably 15 pounds or 7 kilograms on each corner - probably over 60 pounds or 28 kilograms of rotational masses! That'd make a VERY NOTICEABLE improvement in the car's willingness to change direction as the reduction of rotational inertia is definitely able to be felt. Even something as little as 2 pounds shaved per corner is extremely noticeable - I had a BMW 5 series that used to come with run flats - when I switched to non runlets saving 2-3 pounds on each tire, the difference in the car's behavior was noticeable. Good thing that the BMW had a spare tire. Too bad, the Lucid does not have a spare tire!

One last note, don't drive cars with ceramic brakes on dirt roads or roads with little rocks, there is a chance that these rocks or pebbles can damage the disc. So the ceramic discs can be more fragile in a certain sense.

You are right, reduction in unsprung weight is always an advantage. It makes the cassis more agile and improves traction.

On the other hand it is not necessary for avoiding fade on downhill drives. Recuperation is underestimated. Recuperating with 300+ kWh doesn’t require any real braking. Imagine you would use this power for driving uphill. You wouldn’t believe how fast my EV slows down from 120 to 50 mph without touching the break. It’s almost like throwing an anchor.

I don't expct Lucid to offer the carboceramic brake upgrade as their set up for the Sapphire includes centerlock wheels.

I have carboceramics on my Gen 2 NSX and they are fantastic.

I never go to the track, they provide top flight stopping power and don't create a lot of brake dust.

Heavy track users typically don't want them due to high consumables cost.

I mean, the lucids breaks are absolutely phenomena. Almost had a heart attack on a sudden break on a test drive.

xponents said:

I mean, the lucids breaks are absolutely phenomena. Almost had a heart attack on a sudden break on a test drive.

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I agree, the stock brakes have serious performance.
This is just about having more.
It's crazy to have a family sedan with over 1000 HP but I wanted one.
Some folks will want the carboceramics to go with that kind of power.

MacDriver said:

You are right, reduction in unsprung weight is always an advantage. It makes the cassis more agile and improves traction.

On the other hand it is not necessary for avoiding fade on downhill drives. Recuperation is underestimated. Recuperating with 300+ kWh doesn’t require any real braking. Imagine you would use this power for driving uphill. You wouldn’t believe how fast my EV slows down from 120 to 50 mph without touching the break. It’s almost like throwing an anchor.

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That's true, 300 kwh recuperation does eliminate the need for most braking. But I can also see potential major range improvements with the reduced unsprung weight. And sometimes it's not about need, it's about having the best! It's about - my weekend Ferrari or Porsche has these carbon-ceramic brakes and I like the brakes so much that I want it on my normal commuter car.

Overcharged said:

I agree, the stock brakes have serious performance.
This is just about having more.
It's crazy to have a family sedan with over 1000 HP but I wanted one.
Some folks will want the carboceramics to go with that kind of power.

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It is indeed about having more - about having the best. Some people are just accustomed with the best!

Overcharged said:

I agree, the stock brakes have serious performance.
This is just about having more.
It's crazy to have a family sedan with over 1000 HP but I wanted one.
Some folks will want the carboceramics to go with that kind of power.

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Yeah, a 5000 pound object really needs the BEST breaks you can get it.