Lucid Motors (LCID) Q2 2023 results: Revenue holds, deliveries slip on path to 10k+ annual units
Lucid Motors shared its financial report for Q2 2023 this afternoon, ahead of its call with investors later today. The financial details follow a production report made public last month that shows a decrease in deliveries for a second straight quarter. Still, Lucid’s revenue has held steady and its liquidity is strong, providing optimism the young American automaker can reach its annual production guidance… at least the low end of it.
It’s been a busy three months since we covered Lucid Group’s ($LCID) Q1 2023 results – leaving a Sapphire colored trail of both excitement market wariness. Less than a month after its Q1 results went public, the automaker announced a $3 billion raise through a public stock sale and investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
That same week, Lucid announced the hiring of Zhu Jiang – a former executive at Ford and NIO – to help the American automaker enter the ultra-competitive EV market in China. Lucid sure kept us busy in June as it also shared details of a new strategic tech partnership with Aston Martin to supply the latter with its proprietary EV powertrain components.
Ahead of today’s full Q2 2023 report, Lucid Group shared its production and delivery numbers, which once again left something to be desired, leading to a downward trend in the automaker’s shares. The market will most likely not be blown away by today’s results, but should at the very least be pleased at Lucid’s ability to maintain revenues. Here’s the latest:
Lucid holds in Q2, aims for low end of production guidance
As previously reported last month, Lucid Motors produced 2,173 EVs between April 1 and June 30, 2023 – 1,404 of which saw deliveries to customers. These sales led the American automaker to a Q2 revenue of $150.9 million, up slightly from the $149.4 million achieved a quarter prior.
Compared to Q4 2022, Lucid’s Air production slipped 33% to 2,314 units in Q1 2023 and have now dropped another 6% in Q2. Still, the automaker believes it’s on track to achieve its production guidance of at least 10,000 annual units. Per Lucid Group CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson:
We’re on track toward achieving our 2023 production target of more than 10,000 vehicles, but we recognize we still have work to do to grow our customer base. During our second quarter, we achieved several major milestones, including signing agreements to enter into a long-term strategic partnership with Aston Martin. Following a competitive process, their investment validates our award-winning technology and marks the first partnership for Lucid Group’s technology arm. We look forward to exciting new products in the second half of this year, including the planned start of production of the Lucid Air Sapphire and the Lucid Air Pure Rear Wheel Drive, plus the highly anticipated unveiling of our new SUV, Lucid Gravity, forthcoming in November.
Those milestones laid out by Rawlinson are significant, but it may be an understatement when he says that Lucid needs to grow its customer base. Building 10,000 EVs this year loses a bit of its zeal if only 6,000 or 7,000 are purchased and delivered to consumers. That’s some expensive inventory to sit on.
Over the weekend, Lucid shared that it is slashing prices of its Air models back to the originally promised MSRPs – some seeing cuts as large as $12,000. That should help sway some consumers on the fence about purchasing a new Air sedan, but even at its lowest Pure trim – it’s still an $82,400 EV.
The RWD Pure alongside the long-anticipated tri-motor Sapphire Air are expected to hit the assembly lines in September and could do wonders for Lucid’s revenue before the end of the fiscal year. Lackluster deliveries aside, there’s a lot to recognize from Lucid in Q2, and the company looks flush with cash to get it well into 2025 – that’s past the arrival and SOP of the long-teased Gravity SUV, another potential factor in increased sales and deliveries. Per Lucid CFO Sherry House:
In the second quarter, we raised $3.0 billion in capital, including $1.8 billion from the PIF, and I’m pleased to say that our current liquidity of $6.25 billion is expected to take us through the start of production for the Lucid Gravity, and into 2025. In addition, the targeted actions underway to invigorate our marketing programs in the luxury and premium segment have resulted in greater brand awareness, which we aim to capitalize on through the launch of our latest pricing program.
Lucid’s call with investors will take place at 5:30PM EST today alongside a webcast you can access here.
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Fueled by incentives from the Illinois EPA and the state’s largest utility company, new EV registrations nearly quadrupled the 12% first-quarter increase in EV registrations nationally – and there are no signs the state is slowing down.
Despite the dramatic slowdown of Tesla’s US deliveries, sales of electric vehicles overall have perked up in recent months, with Illinois’ EV adoption rate well above the Q1 uptick nationally. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that the number of new EVs registered across the state totaled 9,821 January through March, compared with “just” 6,535 EVs registered in the state during the same period in 2024.
Those numbers represent more than 50% growth in EV registrations – far beyond the expected 12% first-quarter increase nationally being projected by Cox Automotive. (!)
What’s going on in Illinois?
While President Trump and Elmo were running for re-election, they campaigned on the threat promise of canceling the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs. Along with California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois’ Governor JB Pritzker made countermoves – launching a $4,000 rebate for new electric cars and up to $1,500 for the purchase of a new electric motorcycle.
At the same time, the state’s largest utility, ComEd, launched a $90 million EV incentive program featuring a new Point of Purchase initiative to deliver instant discounts to qualifying business and public sector customers who make the switch to electric vehicles. That program has driven a surge in Class 3-6 medium duty commercial EVs, which are eligible fro $20-30,000 in utility rebates on top of federal tax credits and other incentives (Class 1-2 EVs are eligible for up to $7,500).
We covered the launch of those incentives when the program was announced at Chicago Drives Electric last year, but the message here is simple: incentives work.
SOURCES: Chicago Business, Ray Cunningham; featured image by the author.
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The electric construction equipment experts at XCMG just released a new, 25 ton electric crawler excavator ahead of bauma 2025 – and they have their eye on the global urban construction, mine operations, and logistical material handling markets.
Powered by a high-capacity 400 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery capable of delivering up to 8 hours of continuous operation, the XE215EV electric excavator promises uninterrupted operation at a lower cost of ownership and with even less downtime than its diesel counterparts.
XCMG is delivering on part of that reduced downtime promise with the lower maintenance and easier repair needs of electric equipment, and delivering on the rest of it with lickety-quick DC fast charging that can recharge the machine’s massive battery in 1.5-2 hours … but that’s not the slick bit. The XCMG XE125EV can be powered up without leaving the job site thanks to its BYD battery swap technology.
We first covered XCMG and its battery swap technology back in January, and covered similar battery-swap tech being developed by MOOG Construction offshoot ZQUIP, as well – but while XCMG’s battery tech has been in production for several years, it’s still not widely known about in the West (even within the industry).
XCMG showed off its latest electric equipment at the December 2024 bauma China, including an updated version of its of its 85-ton autonomous electric mining truck that features a fully cab-less design – meaning there isn’t even a place for an operator to sit, let alone operate. And that’s too bad, because what operator wouldn’t want to experience an electric truck putting down 1070 hp more than 16,000 lb-ft of torque!?
Easy in, easy out
The best part? All of the company’s heavy equipment assets – from excavators to terminal tractors to dump trucks and wheel loaders – all use the same 400 kWh BYD battery packs, Milwaukee tool style. That means an equipment fleet can utilize x number of vehicles with a fraction of the total battery capacity and material needs of other asset brands. That’s not just a smart use of limited materials, it’s a smarter use of energy.
You can check out all the XE215EV’s specs at this tear sheet, and get an in-person look at the Chinese company’s latest electric excavator this week in Munich, Germany.
SOURCE | IMAGES: XCMG.
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As “extreme” weather events become more commonplace, the demand for reliable and portable energy continues to rise. In response to that growing demand for dependable off-grid power, Volvo has developed the new PU500 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) designed to take electrical power when it’s needed most.
Designed to be deployable in a number of environments at a moment’s notice, the Volvo Energy PU500 BESS is equipped with approximately 500 kWh of usable battery capacity (up to 540 kWh total). More than enough juice, in other words, to power a remote construction site, disaster response effort, or even a music festival – anything that needs access to reliable electricity beyond a grid connection.
That’s great, but what sets the PU500 apart from other battery storage solutions is its integrated 240 kW DC fast charger.
“With an integrated CCS2 charger, the PU500 is designed to work with all brands of electric equipment, trucks, and passenger cars,” says Niklas Thulin, Head of BESS Product Offer at Volvo Energy. “This ensures that no matter what type of electric vehicle or machinery you rely on, the PU500 can provide the power you need, making it a truly flexible solution for any grid constrained site or location.”
The integrated charger in the PU500 has the impressive ability to charge a heavy equipment asset (be that an electric semi truck or something like a wheel loader) in under two hours. Its on-board capacity allows to fully recharge up to 3 electric HD trucks or 20 electric cars per day, making it an incredibly versatile disaster response asset.
Electrek’s Take
As we often say over at The Heavy Equipment Podcast, “just because you’re working for the power company doesn’t mean you have power,” and there are hundreds of scenarios where the extra power provided by something like the new PU500 would be useful. Its ability to be palletized and easily moved or swapped out of a larger BESS array, too, just add to its flexibility.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo.
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