Lucid CEO Recalls His Time At Tesla: Why Model S Was Nearly Named 300 Megajoule

Lucid Group Inc LCID CEO Peter Rawlinson said on Thursday his former workplace Tesla Inc TSLA nearly named its full-sized electric sedan Model S as 300 Megajoule about a decade ago when he was leading the project at the Elon Musk-led company.

What Happened: Rawlinson, who is also CTO of Lucid, revealed the anecdote in the debut episode of Tech Talk, which sees him transform into a battery expert and professor on his YouTube series.

The former chief engineer for Tesla's Model S, Rawlinson quit the company to join Lucid in 2013.

Beginning his show with a talk on energy, power and joule, Rawlinson shared an anecdote about the Model S from a decade ago.

“When I was working on Tesla Model S we nearly called one of its models the 300 Megajoule. It actually came out as 85-kilowatt hour …but if you do the math, it is 300 megajoule,” he said.

“Now, it would have sounded cool but in the end, we thought no one's going to understand that as it's too scientific, it's too techy.”

The Tesla Model S was launched in June 2012 four years after a prototype was revealed in 2009.

See Also: Tesla Rival Lucid Cuts 2022 Production Target By Up To 40% Due To Extraordinary Supply Chain Issues

Why It Matters: Lucid last year became the first EV maker to reveal its Air Dream Edition would have a range of more than 500 miles. 

The announcement had evoked a response from Musk, who said Tesla could have made a 600-mile Model S a year ago but that would have included “unneeded battery mass” that makes acceleration, handling and efficiency worse. 

Recently listed Lucid significantly lowered 2021 production targets earlier this month, citing extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges. 

Price Action: Lucid stock closed 4.2% lower at $24.2 a share on Thursday and is down 41% year-to-date.

Photo courtesy: Tesla Inc