LOS ANGELES: Electric-vehicle startup Lucid Motors Inc is following Tesla Inc.’s footsteps into the energy-storage business.
The Newark, California-based company is developing home batteries — similar to Tesla’s Powerwall — and utility-scale devices, chief executive officer Peter Rawlinson said in an interview.
They will have the same battery-cell modules the company is installing in its debut EV, the Lucid Air.
"There is a multiplier effect: They are cost-effective to make,” so they can be used in stationary storage systems, said Rawlinson.
The energy-storage systems are an extension of the same technology but may require lower-performance cells than the cars, Rawlinson said. Lucid has an agreement with LG Chem Ltd. for the cells in its battery packs. The company aims to have a prototype of a commercial system installed at its headquarters by the start of next year that will store power generated from solar panels on the facility’s roof and provide electricity during peak hours.
Lucid is also in preliminary talks with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund about an industrial-scale energy-storage system, Rawlinson said. The goal is that Saudi Arabia could store solar-generated power in Lucid’s batteries, helping the country to shift from dependence on oil and diversify its economy.
The fund — which invested more than US$1 billion in Lucid in 2018, giving it a much-needed injection of cash and credibility — declined to comment when asked about any energy-storage discussions.
"It’s a natural place for us to help our investors and work with our investors,” Rawlinson said.The company is often compared with Tesla, in part because Rawlinson was chief engineer on Tesla’s Model S between 2009 and 2012.
But Lucid has catching up to do in both EVs and energy storage. Tesla has been offering storage products since 2015, when it introduced the Powerwall. It doesn’t report revenue data for batteries alone but recorded US$1.5 billion in sales last year for batteries and solar arrays. By comparison, Tesla earned US$20.8 billion in automobile revenue in 2019.
