- Joined
- Nov 19, 2021
- Messages
- 6,812
- Location
- Cupertino, CA
- Cars
- Air DE-P, ZR, 21"
- DE Number
- 241
- Referral Code
- Q1BTN5Y3
Wunderbox is the onboard charging equipment inside the Lucid. Everything else we’re talking about is a glorified cable.
You can hook up a 14-50 plug and use the charging cable supplied by Lucid at a rate of 40 amps (or trickle it on a regular 110v outlet at a piddly 3mi/hr) and that works fine, but it charges when it’s plugged in and doesn’t charge when it’s not. In general, it’s recommended to limit plugging and unplugging the end of the cable on the 14-50 side, as it can degrade over time (it’s heavy). Lucid even handily provides a cable hook you can mount on your wall for this purpose. Lucid does not yet have scheduling features in the car. Most of us use it as a travel charger in case we can’t find a charging station somewhere but can find a hotel or home with a dryer we can unplug or something.
You’ll also see the talk of a hardwired EVSE; this is referring to products like the Wallbox Pulsar Plus, JuiceBox, ChargePoint, Grizzl-E, etc. These get hardwired (not via a plug, though some can use an existing plug if you have one and charge at a lower rate) and can charge at a higher rate, on a 60A circuit, charging at 48A. (You can’t charge continuously at higher than 80% of what the wire and breaker are rated)
Those hardwired EVSEs all have scheduling features so you can charge when electrical rates are low (for those of us on time-of-use plans, for example) and other features like WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities so you can track energy use, share power, export data and control via OCPP; some will even let you set a charge price and charge neighbors (or anyone) for using your plug.
Lastly, you’ll see talk of the Lucid Wallbox charger; this is the insanely fast 80A charge rate (on a 100A circuit) hardwired EVSE (see above) that Lucid has promised but has not been released yet. Some electricians, like Willow Glen Electric, do have a pre-production version though so they can prep to install. In addition to all the features all the other EVSEs have, it promises to also be able to use the car’s battery as a backup for your home in the case of an outage - this will require significantly more wiring, and a transfer switch, etc., though, so YMMV. You can install the Lucid Wallbox as just a charger, too, without the battery backing up your home, but it’s overkill for most people. I’m going to get it because I like the convenience of being able to charge in just a couple hours, and it uses a standard plug that will be forward compatible with other EVs that aren’t Tesla. Basically, for me it’s future-proofing, but it’s definitely also overkill for my current needs, since I have solar and Powerwalls and don’t need the battery backup (and don’t plan on hooking it up for that).
How’s that for a summary?
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