Everything We Know About Lucid Air Electric Vehicle.Tesla Killer? The $150,000 Electric Car!!!

 

Unveiled: Lucid Air, the $150,000 electric car challenging Tesla.

© Provided by The LA Times The Lucid Air is an ultra-luxury ride with advanced battery technology. (Lucid)

Tesla considers itself the electric car technology leader, but there's a new competitor emerging to vie for that title.

The company is Lucid Motors, a start-up in Newark, Calif., near Silicon Valley. The car is the Lucid Air, an ultra-luxury ride with advanced battery technology that sets itself apart with posh accoutrements and a market-leading range of 400 miles — more than 500 miles in a special edition. The base model matches the top range on the Tesla Model S and the special edition exceeds it by 100 miles. It also boasts a top speed of 200 mph, should anyone need to drive that fast. The Model S tops out at 155.

Unveiled online Wednesday, the Lucid Air "might finally rival the Tesla Model S ... and challenge Elon Musk and his team," said Jessica Caldwell, an executive director at auto market researcher Edmunds.

It'll cost you. The price is $140,000 to $170,000. Sure, the vast majority of Times readers can only dream of owning such an automobile. But much of the cutting-edge technology that goes inside will trickle down to mass-market electric cars, which, by replacing internal combustion engines, will help fight global warming. That's something to think about when the trees are on fire and the temperature is 111 Fahrenheit.

More "affordable" versions of the car — meaning they'll cost a mere $80,000 — are scheduled for release late next year. Taxpayers will subsidize the buyers of these vehicles via a federal tax credit of $7,500.

The company is accepting $1,000 deposits. Deliveries are set to begin early next spring.

Lucid is run by Chief Executive Peter Rawlinson, an affable Brit who came up through Jaguar and Lotus and served as chief engineer for the Tesla Model S, the car that woke the world to the possibilities of an electric automobile.

The target buyer is someone who might otherwise consider a gas-powered Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan. Or a Bentley.

Rawlinson said focusing only on competition with other electric cars, such as the Model S or the Porsche Taycan (another $150,000 car) limits the market opportunity.

“We’re competing in the worldwide luxury car market,” he said.

“Lucid seems to be setting its sights on global elites, people who might wish to trade up from BMW or Mercedes rather than switching over to Tesla,” said Michael Dunne, chief executive of ZoZo Go, an auto industry consulting firm with an emphasis on Asia.

Lucid originally planned to make a big splash in China’s high-end market, with capacious legroom to appeal to back-seat executives driven about town by chauffeurs.

“Chinese consumers are transfixed by exclusive products. They buy more Rolls-Royces and Bentleys than anyone else,” Dunne said via email. “So on paper, Lucid would be a good bet there. But China's daunting import duties and tense relations with the U.S. will put a damper on sales — at least for now.”

That may be one reason the company has dialed down initial plans to make 60,000 vehicles a year to less than 40,000 next year.

Lucid Air has been a long time coming. The company first unveiled what would become the Lucid Air in 2016, but soon ran into a cash crunch and scrambled for more than a year to raise more money. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund channeled $1 billion Lucid’s way in September 2018.

The rescue came in the nick of time: Just weeks later, agents of the Saudi government murdered dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which temporarily put many of Saudi Arabia’s international business dealings on ice.

While it searched for money, Lucid made use of its bad luck. It took time to revisit all the engineering that went into the Air, applying developments in batteries and electric drivetrains toward greater efficiency, packing more power into smaller components, such as the two electric motors that drive front and rear axles at 650 horsepower each.

Lucid worked closely with its own Atieva battery division, which was chosen in 2016 as the sole supplier of battery power to racing teams at Formula E, the electric car version of the Formula 1 car race series.

As a result, the Lucid Air will rocket from 0 to 60 in under 2.5 seconds, the company said. Quarter-mile speed is under 10 seconds, which the company says is the fastest around for an EV. Top speed is over 200 mph, which is great for laps around the track but on public roads could put you in prison.

The look of the Air, inside and out, has already won over the automotive media. Alex Roy, an influential writer and podcaster, called the Air’s retro-futuristic design “simple, clean, perfect” in an assessment for the Drive.

© (Lucid) Lucid Air interior (Lucid)

Lucid’s head designer is California native Derek Jenkins, a graduate of Pasadena’s Art College of Design, who designed the well-received fourth generation Mazda MX-5 Miata.

“We see this as an opportunity to shake up the sector,” Jenkins said.

That’s a big ambition. Tesla is still regarded as the company that shook up the sector — but Tesla is now 17 years old.

At a recent event at Lucid headquarters, in a building once leased by the now-defunct blood-test company Theranos and just a few miles from Tesla’s Fremont, Calif., auto assembly plant, Jenkins showed off the car’s interior.

The roof is mostly glass. There’s a 34-inch touchscreen stretching across the dash, and an iPad-ish screen on the console that retracts to reveal an extra storage compartment.

The materials and the way they’re put together create a highly refined sense of uncluttered luxury that could have rescued Cadillac a long time ago if General Motors had a better handle on interior design.

The efficiency of the battery and drivetrain, which allowed the reduced size of motors and other components, creates more space for storage. Under the hood of most electric cars is what’s known as the “frunk.” There’s no engine so you can put stuff in there. The Air’s frunk is a cavernous 9.8 cubic feet. Add the trunk and the Air provides 26 cubic feet for luggage or groceries (or a hedge fund manager’s gold bullion).

Giving up a bit of legroom in the back seats gets you a few more battery modules, adding about 100 miles to the estimated 400 mile range.

The car comes with an advanced driver assist system known as Dream Drive, which includes adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping and other features. Attention is maintained through a driver-facing camera system that is becoming a key safety feature for the industry.

Lucid doesn’t pretend to offer “full self driving,” which is unlikely to be available for several years in any car sold through retail, though the company says it will be able to offer that level of autonomous driving via an over-the-air software update when it’s safe to do so. Notably, the car is equipped with lidar, an expensive kind of sensor that most driverless car experts say is essential to driver and public safety when full self-driving cars actually become available. (Teslas lack lidar, and CEO Elon Musk has disparaged it.)

As to how well the thing drives — who knows? Lucid has not yet made its new machine available for the automotive media to review.

Tesla Killer? EV Startup Lucid Unveils Air Sedan To Battle Tesla Model S

KEY POINTS

Lucid Motors has revealed the production version of its Lucid Air luxury EV, which was first introduced in 2016

Refinements to the power train makes this sedan faster than the Tesla Model S, Lucid claims

The Lucid Air also travels farther on a single charge and also charges faster than other EVs 

Electric vehicle (EV) startup Lucid Motors on Wednesday unveiled the final production version of its "Lucid Air" all-electric, four-door luxury sedan built to exceed the Tesla Model S.

Scheduled for production in 2021, the Lucid Air is a captivating EV sporting an elegant aerodynamic shell designed to be easier on the eyes than the Tesla Model S. It was designed to compete against the Tesla Model S, which was introduced in 2012, as well as big-name European brands such as Porsche and BMW new to the luxury high-end EV market.

Lucid Motors asserts its new machine is the fastest, longest-ranged and fastest-charging production EV currently on the market.

“This has never been done before,” said CEO Peter Rawlinson, who was chief engineer for the Model S as a Tesla vice president from 2009 to 2012. “An electric car which has got 500 mile range and is the fastest thing on the planet.”

The Lucid Air can run a quarter mile in 9.9 seconds, brags Rawlinson, which would make it the fastest EV on the market. Tesla’s fastest EV takes 10.4 seconds to cover the same distance.

The Lucid Air carries a 400 horsepower (hp) front motor and a 600 hp rear motor for a combined 1,000 hp. Both motors allow the Lucid Air to zoom to a software-limited top speed of 349 km/h (217 mph). In July 2017, a special version of the Lucid Air with a disabled speed limiter roared to 378 km/h (235 mph).

In addition, Lucid Air can charge 300 miles in 20 minutes thanks to its 900-volt architecture. Its highest charging rate is 2 miles per minute. Third party testing shows the Grand Touring version can achieve an EPA-rated range of 517 miles on a single charge compared to the 402 miles for a Tesla Model S.

“What we’ve got is a breakthrough in electric cars,” Rawlinson boasted ahead of the Ludid Air’s unveiling Wednesday. “That’s not just due to batteries, it’s due to a whole host of big picture thinking that’s added up.”

The starting price for the Lucid Air will range from $80,000 for a base model to $169,000 for the limited-volume “Dream Edition.” Lucid Motors plans to sell a Grand Touring version with a 517 mile range for $139,000. A Touring version with a 406 mile range will go for $95,000.

Lucid Air Photo: Lucid Motors

Everything we know about the Lucid Air electric vehicle

After much waiting, here it is—the production version of the Lucid Air.

Lucid Motors

Lucid's engineering team cut its teeth on the Tesla Model S and have aimed to better that car in every aspect with the Air.

Lucid Motors

Early adopters will need deep pockets, though—the first two variants on sale in 2021 will cost north of $100,000.

Lucid Motors

A cutaway of Lucid's electric vehicle platform.

Lucid Motors

Lucid (under its previous name Atieva) has supplied battery packs for Formula E's second-gen race car to good effect.

Lucid Motors

Lucid says that its electric motors are unrivaled for their power:volume ratio, which means more room for passengers and cargo in a small footprint.

Lucid Motors

The Air features a panoramic roof, similar to the Tesla Model X.

Lucid Motors

The press images we were sent do not include the cool reclining rear seats that we tried out in an earlier prototype.

Lucid Motors

The main instrument panel is a 34-inch 5K display. Like the Porsche Taycan, it lacks a cowl.

Lucid Motors

Lucid has been testing a trimotor version of the Air.

Lucid Motors

The company is also working on an electric SUV.

Lucid Motors

On Wednesday Lucid Motors unveiled the production version of its first electric vehicle. It goes into production this year with deliveries starting in Q2 2021 and uses Formula E-proven battery tech to achieve a range of 517 miles (813km) with a 113kWh pack. Despite a steady drip-feed of Air-related news over the past few months, until now we've been in the dark regarding important facts like how expensive it is, how powerful it is, and how fast it can go. The answer to all three of those—at least for the first year of production—is very.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first: the Lucid Air is not going to be cheap. When we first met Lucid in 2017, it was hoping that the entry-level Air would cost $60,000. Unfortunately that won't be the case—now the company says "below $80,000" before tax credits for the cheapest version, which won't arrive until 2022. But no carmaker kicks off a new model with stripped-down economy versions; whether you're Tesla or Porsche, you bring out the big guns first.

The biggest gun here is the Air Dream Edition. And I do mean big: 1,080hp (805kW), zero to 60mph (97km/h) in 2.5 seconds, the standing quarter-mile (402m) in 9.9 seconds (at 144mph/231km/h), and a price tag to match at $169,000 (or $161,500 once you file your tax return and claim the IRC 30D credit). The tradeoff for so much power and speed is a slight range hit, but fear not, the Air Dream Edition will still take you far on a single charge, with an estimated EPA range of 503 miles (810km) on 19-inch wheels, or 465 miles (748km) if it's wearing 21-inch alloys instead.

The other alternative for early adopters is the Air Grand Touring, which is the one that long-distance trumpet haulers will want. The Grand Touring's battery only has to power 800hp (597kW) from the Air's front and rear electric motors, and so this variant is slightly slower (3 seconds 0-60mph, 10.8 seconds for the 1.4 mile) but has the longest legs (the aforementioned 517 miles). But this one still isn't cheap, with a base price of $139,000 before tax incentives.

In late 2021, the Air Touring goes on sale at $95,000 (before credits). With "only" 620hp (462kW), at 3.2 seconds this one is only as quick as a McLaren F1 in the dash to 60mph. (The McLaren F1-rivaling top speed of the prototype Air remains the preserve of the test driver, with Dream Editions and Grand Tourings restricted to 168mph/270km/h, and the Touring to 155mph/250km/h.) Range for this version of the Air is estimated at 402 miles (647km)—equal to the current Tesla Model S—which suggests it might use a slightly smaller battery pack.

The final variant that has been officially announced is the regular Air. But other than the price (sub-$80,000) and its estimated arrival (2022) the only other concrete fact we have from Lucid is that, like the more expensive versions, it, too, will be able to add 300 miles (482km) of range in 20 minutes when connected to a 350kW DC fast charger. Like many existing OEMs with new battery EVs on the market or due to arrive shortly, Lucid has partnered with Electrify America, and owners will get three years of free DC fast charging.

In fact, Lucid has at least one more Air in the works, one that will use three (rather than two) electric motors. All we really know about this version is that at the drag strip it will run a quarter-mile in 9.3 seconds, which makes it even quicker than Jonny Smith's Flux Capacitor, which set a world record in 2016 as the quickest street-legal EV at 9.8 seconds.

Listing image by Lucid Motors