The charge issue from Lijunli is interesting; the reply from dbsb3233 more so. Here are two papers from battery engineers/developers:
That forum post is
partly right in general, but I would not follow the “charge to 100% every few months” advice for a Lucid Gravity unless Lucid specifically tells you to.
Lucid’s own guidance is quite clear: for the Gravity, use the
Daily limit—up to 80%—for normal use, and reserve higher states of charge, including 100%, for trips when you actually need the range. Lucid explicitly warns that frequent charging to 100% or letting the battery sit full can accelerate degradation.
The forum poster is correct about one concept: a battery-management system does not directly “see” state of charge. It estimates SOC from voltage, current flow, temperature, cell behavior and accumulated charge/discharge. Those estimates can drift somewhat. But modern EV BMS software continually corrects that estimate during normal operation;
it does not necessarily require periodic 100% charging to recalibrate the upper boundary.
That advice is more relevant to some
LFP batteries, whose voltage curve is unusually flat over much of their operating range. Because voltage changes so little with SOC, occasional full charging can help the BMS estimate SOC more accurately. The Gravity uses a
nickel-rich lithium-ion chemistry, whose voltage/SOC relationship gives the BMS more information to work with. So the LFP-style “charge to 100% periodically for calibration” rule shouldn't automatically be transferred to the Gravity.
As for the
80% setting resulting in 85%, I would regard that as more interesting than a need for calibration. Lucid says the charging system is supposed to charge until the selected limit is reached, while dynamically adjusting for SOC, temperature and other battery conditions. A percentage or two of apparent variation after charging could reasonably arise from temperature changes and subsequent BMS estimation.
Five percentage points repeatedly is large enough that I wouldn't simply dismiss it as normal SOC drift.
If it happened to me, I would do three things:
- Continue setting Daily to 80%. I would not start deliberately charging to 100% for calibration.
- Note whether the car actually stops charging at 80% and later displays 85%, versus actively continuing to draw power until the display reaches 85%. Those are quite different phenomena.
- If it repeatedly continues charging well past the programmed 80% limit, I would report it to Lucid—particularly because Lucid itself describes the setting as a maximum battery percentage at which charging should stop.
There is also no harm whatsoever from the battery occasionally finding itself at 85%. The longevity issue is cumulative exposure to high SOC, especially
sitting near 100% for prolonged periods, not an occasional excursion from 80% to 85%.
So my reaction to that forum discussion would be:
reasonable explanation of how SOC estimation works, but an unjustified leap to “therefore charge the Gravity to 100% every few months.” Lucid itself does not recommend that.
If you're still awake:
The Gravity uses a
nickel-rich lithium-ion chemistry in Panasonic’s latest-generation
2170 cylindrical cells. Lucid’s regulatory battery data identifies the chemistry as
Li MM(NRMC), which corresponds to a nickel-rich lithium metal-oxide cathode family rather than LFP.
For the Gravity Grand Touring, Lucid pairs those cells with a roughly
123 kWh battery pack and a ~926V electrical architecture. Panasonic and Lucid specifically developed the cell for high energy density, fast charging, temperature performance, and longevity; Lucid says the cells exceed
800 Wh/L volumetric energy density.
So, in practical terms: it is
not an LFP battery. It is a
high-energy, nickel-rich lithium-ion battery, optimized for range and power density—one reason the Gravity can get such long range from a comparatively compact pack.
This comparison is quite interesting because the Gravity, Model X, and high-range R1S all favor high-energy nickel-rich chemistry, whereas Rivian also offers an LFP alternative. Mercedes uses NMC811.
| Vehicle | Battery chemistry | Approx. pack / architecture | Practical character |
|---|
| Lucid Gravity GT | Nickel-rich lithium-ion; Lucid codes it Li MM(NRMC) | 123 kWh, 926 V | Exceptional energy density and charging |
| Tesla Model X | Historically NCA, Panasonic cylindrical cells; Tesla does not publicly specify every current pack detail | ~100 kWh, ~400 V class | Mature, high-energy-density design |
| Rivian R1S Large/Max | NCA | Large/Max packs | High energy density; optimized for range |
| Rivian R1S Standard | LFP | Smaller Standard pack | Longer cycle life, thermally more tolerant |
| Mercedes EQS SUV | NMC811 | ~108–118 kWh depending model year; ~400 V | Conservative charging and thermal management |
[th]
Peak DC charging
[/th]
[td]
lower than Max/Large
[/td]
Lucid confirms that Gravity uses Panasonic's newest 2170 cylindrical cells with more than 800 Wh/L at the cell level, while the vehicle operates at up to 926 V. The Grand Touring pack is 123 kWh.
1. Energy density: the Gravity's major advantage
This is where Lucid really distinguishes itself.
The Gravity gets as much as 450 EPA miles from 123 kWh, while simultaneously carrying seven people and producing 828 hp. Lucid says the Panasonic cells exceed 800 Wh/L volumetrically.
That doesn't mean the entire pack achieves 800 Wh/L—cooling plates, structural components, wiring, crash protection and electronics all reduce pack-level density—but the cells themselves are exceptionally energy dense.
The Model X's NCA chemistry is also very energy dense, and Rivian's NCA Large/Max packs pursue the same general strategy. Mercedes' NMC811 is slightly different chemically but belongs to the same high-nickel family.
The alternative is LFP. LFP generally has roughly 20% lower gravimetric and about one-third lower volumetric energy density than NMC, although the gap continues to narrow.
For something like the Gravity, where Lucid wants enormous interior room without carrying a gigantic battery, nickel-rich chemistry makes considerable engineering sense.
2. Charging: Gravity wins decisively on architecture
The Gravity can accept more than 400 kW from sufficiently capable high-voltage chargers. Lucid says it can add about 200 miles in under 11 minutes.
That isn't simply because of battery chemistry. The 926-V architecture is enormously important.
At the same power level, higher voltage means lower current, which reduces resistive heating and allows more power through the cable and battery system.
Even more clever is Lucid's solution for Tesla's lower-voltage V3 Superchargers. The Gravity uses its rear drive unit as a voltage booster, allowing up to about 225 kW at those stations despite the mismatch between Tesla's roughly 400-V infrastructure and Lucid's 926-V battery.
By comparison:
- Model X: up to 250 kW on Tesla Superchargers.
- Rivian R1S: roughly 220 kW maximum.
- EQS SUV: about 200 kW, with Mercedes quoting roughly 31 minutes for 10–80% on the earlier 107.8-kWh pack.
So the Gravity isn't merely carrying a good battery. Its electrical architecture lets it exploit the battery unusually well.
3. Longevity: I wouldn't worry about the Gravity's nickel-rich chemistry
LFP has an intrinsic cycle-life advantage. Rivian itself recommends different charging behavior according to chemistry:
- R1S Standard LFP: periodically charge to 100%.
- R1S Large/Max NCA: normally keep the battery around 50–70% and reserve 100% for trips.
Lucid gives essentially the same advice for Gravity: 20–80% is the preferred everyday range, and repeated storage at 100% can accelerate degradation.
For an owner who drives perhaps 10,000–15,000 miles per year, however, chemical cycle life is generally not the limiting factor. Modern battery thermal management and battery-management software matter enormously.
A large 2026 Geotab analysis of more than 22,700 EVs found average degradation of about 2.3% per year. Vehicles relying heavily on >100-kW DC fast charging showed higher degradation—up to about 3% annually—but normal use still produced quite long battery life.
4. Thermal runaway and fire: LFP has the chemistry advantage
This is where I would give the Rivian Standard-pack LFP battery the clear intrinsic advantage.
Nickel-rich NMC and NCA cathodes contain more stored chemical energy and become less thermally stable as nickel content rises. LFP's phosphate structure is considerably more thermally stable. DOE describes LFP's strong phosphorus-oxygen bond as one of the reasons for its resistance to thermal runaway.
Experimental comparisons generally find:
LFP
- higher temperature before severe thermal runaway,
- less violent reaction once runaway occurs,
- lower energy density,
- excellent cycle life.
High-nickel NMC/NCA
- substantially greater energy density,
- better cold-weather performance,
- but a more energetic thermal-runaway event if a cell catastrophically fails.
One ORNL-linked experimental study found that high-nickel NMC cells had progressively poorer thermal stability as nickel content increased; LFP produced a much less severe reaction once thermal runaway occurred.
But here's the important qualification: cell chemistry is not equivalent to vehicle fire risk.
Actual vehicle safety depends heavily on:
- mechanical protection of the pack,
- cooling architecture,
- cell spacing and propagation barriers,
- monitoring of individual cells/modules,
- crash isolation,
- contactors and pyrotechnic disconnects,
- battery-management software.
Panasonic says it had supplied roughly 15 billion EV cells by the end of 2023 without a vehicle recall attributed to the batteries, which is reassuring background for the cells Lucid selected.
I therefore would not regard the Gravity as a meaningfully unsafe vehicle because it uses nickel-rich cells.
Putting it together
For the four SUVs, I'd characterize their battery strategies this way:
Gravity: maximize efficiency, energy density and charging performance. Lucid uses a relatively modest 123-kWh battery exceptionally effectively.
Model X: mature high-energy NCA architecture with perhaps the world's most mature charging ecosystem, but its ~400-V architecture now looks relatively conventional.
R1S Large/Max: prioritizes capacity, power and ruggedness using NCA. The battery is considerably larger than Lucid needs to achieve similar range.
R1S Standard LFP: sacrifices range/energy density in exchange for inexpensive chemistry, excellent cycle durability and inherently better thermal stability.
EQS SUV: conservative luxury-car engineering—NMC811, strong thermal management and relatively modest charging power rather than pursuing 350–400+ kW.
And this is the part I find most impressive about your Gravity: Lucid's advantage isn't primarily the chemistry.Panasonic, Tesla, Rivian and Mercedes all have access to very good lithium-ion cells.
The exceptional part is the system engineering around those cells—the 926-V architecture, very efficient motors/inverters, aerodynamics, thermal control and remarkably effective packaging. That's how Lucid gets 450 miles out of 123 kWh rather than solving the range problem simply by putting a much larger and heavier battery underneath the vehicle. 
