Lucid unveils an EV racing motor but – spoiler alert! – it’s already driving Formula E’s Gen3 cars
Lucid Group has shared an interestingly timed press release late this evening/early this morning, depending on where you live. The American automaker has unveiled a new electric drive unit designed specifically for motorsports, including the “world’s leading single-seater electric racing series.” One look at the photo above is a clear indication this drive unit is for Formula E, but better still, Lucid shared that the technology is already present in all of the Gen3 EVs competing in the ninth season of the championship series that began two weeks ago.
To truly understand how Lucid Group got involved in motorsports and how the hell it snuck its tech into Formula E without many people noticing, you have to start at the automaker’s beginning.
Back in late 2000’s, long before the Lucid Air or even Lucid Motors for that matter, there was Atieva – the precursor to the Group that brought us the ultra-speedy tri-motor Sapphire. Back then, however, Atieva, was focused on developing batteries and electric powertrains for other vehicle manufacturers, accumulating over 50 patents pertaining to its core battery system in the United States alone.
By 2013, Atieva had become a highly capable producer of connected battery packs and electric powertrains, so naturally its team began entertaining the idea of developing a car of its own. As fate would have it, that’s when Tesla’s former VP of Vehicle Engineering and Chief Engineer of the Model S, Peter Rawlinson, joined the team as Chief Technology Officer.
Following a nine-figure round of funding a year later, Atieva began its journey to developing what would become the Lucid Air, rebranding itself along the way. While much of Lucid’s focus the past eight years has been bringing its flagship EV to market, it’s nice to see the company hasn’t forgotten where it came from.
Better still, Lucid has still been developing advanced EV technology for motorsports without making a huge deal about it. That could have something to do with the FIA, and it’s not like Lucid has hidden the fact that its been working with Formula E … it’s just been doing so under a familiar pseudonym.
Lucid gives a nod to its roots by supporting Formula E racing
If you’ve really been paying attention to Formula E the past two years (who hasn’t right? … right?) Lucid’s news this morning should come as little surprise. The Lucid Group was already developing and supplying battery packs to the Formula E vehicles under the Atieva monicker when news came out in 2021 that it would be supplying the “front powertrain kit” to the championship racing series’ third generation of EVs.
Flash forward two years, and here we are, sharing Lucid’s news about its “Atieva” technology inside Formula E vehicles without specifically mentioning the series by name. What’s even more of a head scratcher is the timing itself. Lucid dropped this bomb firecracker of news while you all were sleeping and a whole two weeks after the Formula E vehicles equipped with the drive units began racing. Better late than never I suppose?
Ok, enough about the bizarre love triangle between Lucid, Atieva, and Formula E and back to the tech itself. This new electric front drive unit combines the motor, inverter, differential, and transmission into one cohesive unit that produces 469 horsepower and is capable of a max rotor speed of 19,500 rpm.
Additionally, the drive unit only weighs 70.5 pounds (32 kg) – providing power density that is a bit of a calling card for Lucid Motors these days. Lightweight power is also perfect for motorsports, but that probably goes without saying. Lucid Group CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson shared his thoughts:
With incredible power density of 14.7 hp/kg and immense energy recuperation, this drive unit will once again transform electric motorsports, following in the footsteps of our revolutionary battery pack in prior race seasons. For Lucid, the transfer of technology between motorsports and road cars is a two-way symbiosis. This new motorsports drive unit builds directly upon the groundbreaking powertrain technology developed in-house by Lucid and proven on the road in every Lucid Air. I’m excited by the prospect that some of the technical advancements introduced may in turn make their way to future Lucid road cars
Lucid explains that when you tune into Formula E, the nose cone of every Gen3 race car is being powered by its new drive unit, which also provides regenerative energy recovery from the front wheels under braking. The automaker explains that this design enhances the racing EV’s performance, efficiency, and “relevance to road car advancement.”
The system also features the same high-voltage, continuous wave winding and proprietary microjet cooling system present in the Lucid Air, although my money is probably on the Formula E racer when it comes to the track.
So what do you think? Surprised?
Are you more interested to check out Formula E now? Round 2 starts in Diriyah on January 27.
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Germany’s largest offshore wind farm under construction, EnBW’s He Dreiht, just hit a big milestone: The first enormous turbine is now up in the North Sea.
He Dreiht – which means “it spins” in Low German – is using Vestas’s massive 15 megawatt (MW) turbines, the first project in the world to install them. Just one spin of one of the rotors can generate enough electricity to power four households for an entire day.
When it’s finished, He Dreiht will have 64 mega turbines cranking out 960 megawatts (MW) of clean power – enough to supply around 1.1 million homes. And it’s being built without any government subsidies.
EnBW, one of Germany’s major energy companies, has been working in offshore wind for more than 15 years, but He Dreiht is their biggest project yet. “It will play a key role in helping us to significantly grow our renewable energy output from 6.6 GW to over 10 GW by 2030,” said Michael Class, who heads up EnBW’s generation portfolio development.
The project is a win for Vestas, too. “With the installation of the first V236-15.0 MW, we have reached an important milestone for both the He Dreiht project and our offshore ramp-up, which helps Germany build a more secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system,” said Nils de Baar, president of Vestas Northern & Central Europe.
He Dreiht is located about 85 kilometers (53 miles) northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Helgoland. At peak times, more than 500 workers will be out at sea building the farm, using a fleet of more than 60 ships. EnBW’s offshore team in Hamburg is running the show.
The installation process is a major operation. The 64 foundations were already set in the seabed last year. Parts for the turbines are loaded onto the installation vessel Wind Orca in Esbjerg, Denmark, and shipped out in a 12-hour journey to the construction site. From there, the turbines are lifted into place. Meanwhile, crews are also working on internal wind farm cabling.
A partner consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP, and Norges Bank Investment Management owns 49.9% of the shares in He Dreiht.
Read more: Trump admin halts $5 billion NY offshore wind project mid-build
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Tesla has released a quick update about its Tesla Semi factory in Nevada. It says that it is on track for volume production of the electric semi truck in 2026.
The Tesla Semi was first scheduled to go into production in 2019, but it has faced numerous delays.
Now, it appears that there is finally some momentum to bring it to volume production.
For the last two years, Tesla has been working to build a new factory next to Gigafactory Nevada, where it builds the battery packs and drive units for most of its electric vehicles built in North America.
Today, Tesla released a “progress update on the factory, confirming that it finished building and it’s now working on deploying the production lines:
Tesla had previously mentioned aiming for volume production by 2025, but it is now only talking about starting production toward the end of the year and ramping up next year.
The automaker reiterated its planned production capacity of 50,000 units.
We recently reported that an early Tesla Semi customer, Ryder, stated that the electric truck program is experiencing more delays and a price increase described as “dramatic.”
They now expect to take deliveries of their first trucks later in 2026 and said that the price has increased “dramatically,” leading them to scale back their pilot program from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks.
When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.
However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2022. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.
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Vietnamese solar panel maker Boviet Solar just opened the doors to its first US factory — a huge new PV module plant in Greenville, North Carolina.
The company dropped $294 million into the state-of-the-art facility, which will pump out Boviet’s Gamma Series monofacial and Vega Series bifacial solar panels. They’re using advanced PERC and N-Type solar cell tech, which basically means these panels are built to deliver higher efficiency and better performance across residential, commercial, industrial, and utility-scale projects.
The Greenville factory’s first phase is now online with an annual PV module output capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW). For Phase 2, which is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2026, Boviet will invest another $100 million to add 600,000 square feet and ramp up to another 2 GW. It will make high-efficiency solar cells.
Once both phases are complete, Boviet’s campus will cover more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and R&D space. It’s one of the biggest clean energy manufacturing projects North Carolina has ever seen.
The jobs impact is significant, too. The first phase will create 460 skilled local jobs. Phase 2 is expected to add another 908, bringing the total to over 1,300 direct jobs, plus nearly 2,000 more indirect jobs across the region. That’s good news for Pitt County’s economy, real estate market, and workforce training programs.
“This facility is not just creating jobs, but creating opportunity, innovation, and a stronger foundation for eastern North Carolina,” said Senator Kandie Smith. Governor Josh Stein added that Boviet Solar’s move shows how North Carolina is leading the way in clean energy growth.
Read more: Thomas Built Buses debuts its next-gen electric school bus
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