New Tech Talk with Rawlinson, Drive Unit: Motor

I agree that some rants seem petty, but others are genuine issues that should not be glossed over. The thought of my wife accidentally hitting the stalk and shifting into neutral going down Signal Mountain is scary.
Oh right you’re near Chattanooga. Yeah Signal Mountain without throttle control would be scary as hell, especially if you’re used to strong regen! But the stalk shifter thing can happen in any Mercedes too, it’s actually harder to get the Merc out of neutral than the Lucid, and in both cars the brakes still work in neutral.
 
I agree that some rants seem petty, but others are genuine issues that should not be glossed over. The thought of my wife accidentally hitting the stalk and shifting into neutral going down Signal Mountain is scary.
Now that you mention it you reminded me of a scary event. My friend Lawrence in high school (I went to CSAS) lived up on Signal Mountain and I had a 86 Volvo 240GL wagon then, and the prior owner had put US brake fluid into the car when they did the brakes instead of Volvo spec. I found that out the hard way coming down the mountain after visiting him, the seals on the master cylinder were leaking, so I was having to put the car in 1st gear and engine brake down, smelled like cooked metal by the time I got down to Red Bank. Ended up needing a new master cylinder.
 
That would be scary. As a teen I went flying down Lookout one time and wound up with brakes overheating and fading toward the bottom. Developed more respect for gravity and more wisdom.
 
My brother, who pores over everything in the press about EVs and is a Tesla owner and fan (a rational one, not a fanboy) was blown away by the technology leaps Lucid has made with its motor.

He had this to say after watching this Tech Talk: "I wonder how many TVs Musk trashed before he got to the end of this video. The next thing we'll hear is that Rawlinson was nothing but a janitor at Tesla."
 
My brother, who pores over everything in the press about EVs and is a Tesla owner and fan (a rational one, not a fanboy) was blown away by the technology leaps Lucid has made with its motor.

He had this to say after watching this Tech Talk: "I wonder how many TVs Musk trashed before he got to the end of this video. The next thing we'll hear is that Rawlinson was nothing but a janitor at Tesla."
I have been half tempted to forward the video to my sales person at Mercedes who calls Lucid "nothing but a software company". Think I'll wait until I get my order before giving him a hard time though.
 
I have been half tempted to forward the video to my sales person at Mercedes who calls Lucid "nothing but a software company". Think I'll wait until I get my order before giving him a hard time though.

Doesn't Mercedes buy its motors off the shelf? From Siemens, maybe? That's probably why no EQS motor was dissected in this video.
 
I have been half tempted to forward the video to my sales person at Mercedes who calls Lucid "nothing but a software company". Think I'll wait until I get my order before giving him a hard time though.
Lol I’d call them “anything but a software company”

Software is the one area they really need to improve, ha
 
Doesn't Mercedes buy its motors off the shelf? From Siemens, maybe? That's probably why no EQS motor was dissected in this video.

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Finally got around to watching this. Great physics lesson.

I love that Rawlinson got "The proof of the pudding is in the tasting" correct. Most people think it's "The proof is in the pudding." Which makes no sense and completely misses the point of the expression.
 
I've been keeping tabs on Lucid for over 2 years now, and I have a couple of thoughts that I think will bode well for us as current and future owners. First and foremost is the development of the motor. I think Lucid has set the benchmark for performance in that arena. More importantly, hardware patents are much more defendable in terms of patent infringement and enforcement. Second, Lucid (as Atieva) has a wealth of experience in battery design and performance based on their participation in Formula E. Any driving that we do pales in comparison to what Formula drivers put their cars through, so I'm both comfortable and confident that battery performance is a strength with Lucid. I don't think even Tesla has that type of experience under grueling conditions. That's speaking to the high-voltage (power unit) side. I've not done any "research" into the control voltage side, but I suspect that's why we're here for as beta testers. Third, I expect the software to improve in quantum leaps. Why? I suspect Lucid is investing resources to reverse engineer the software in their competitors' vehicles. Lane centering? I'll bet they are looking at the best versions out there and adapting that to the Lucid platform. It's no surprise to me that features like led headlights, adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert, intelligent high beams, cross traffic alerts, blind spot monitor, all became widespread in very short order. IMO, software patent infringements are tougher to enforce and defend, but that's a pure guess on my part. Any legal eagles out there can chime in.

That said, I think the 12V battery issue is what we will be discussing for a while, but I hope I'm dead wrong on that. Just my two or three cents worth.
 
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