Tesla Model S competitor Lucid Air called in for sudden electric motor shutdown in traffic

Electric car maker Lucid is one of the few in the market that can say they have a real alternative to Tesla models. Not only do its cars look great, and perform as well or better than Tesla’s, but they also have as good or better range, something many competitors still can’t offer. But it seems that Lucid also has similar problems to Tesla, with hundreds of cars sold last year and this year being called in for service for a problem that causes electric motors to suddenly shut down.

Lucid Air is an alternative to Tesla, but it’s not immune to problems

US authorities have issued a report calling on Lucid to recall Air cars that have been identified as having this problem. Apparently only 637 of the cars sold in total by the company last year and during 2023 are affected, or about 6% of the total. Lucid needs to call these cars in for service and fix the problem for free, as it has been found to be a manufacturing defect.

The company says it has detected through analysis of the data the cars sent back when they were updated that 273 cars are equipped with the faulty component, while another 336 vehicles have so far not made an update, and those will be called in for service to check. If they have the problem component, it will be replaced.

The problem appears to be a switch called a “contractor”. This is used to close a circuit when the car starts to transfer power to and from the electric motors. When the machine stops, the circuit is opened again by this contractor. It appears that a number of contractors manufactured by Snsata Technologies and supplied to Lucid at that time were delivered with the defect. The two companies worked together to identify and fix the problem.

The defect in these machines manifested itself by the electric motors shutting down while driving, something that could be very dangerous, especially on the highway where a pileup could occur. One such accident happened recently due to a Tesla car braking while on Autopilot and creating a multi-car pile-up.