Final Piece Falls Into Place at Lucid Motors

First came the renderings, then the concept car, then the money, then the factory, then the braintrust. Now, Lucid Motors has a supplier to power it all.

On Monday the Silicon Valley electric vehicle startup, which hopes to shake up the premium EV market with its plush and powerful Air sedan, announced a partnership with a trustworthy battery maker.

“Full production of the Lucid Air is expected to start in late 2020 in Lucid’s new state-of-the-art factory in Casa Grande, AZ, with LG Chem battery cells exclusively powering standard versions of this luxury EV through 2023,” the automaker said in a statement.

“The advanced battery cells provided by LG Chem effectively allow Lucid to lock in core volume production forecasts for the Lucid Air for the next several years, with additional agreements to be announced in the future for special versions of the EV.”

Lucid broke ground on its Arizona factory late last year. After showing off an Air at the entrance to the New York International Auto Show in 2017, Lucid soon found itself the recipient of $1 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. With that cash, it was able to move forward with its production plans.

Lucis aims to tap both the wealthy and middle class with its Air, offering a variety of powertrain and battery configurations. A base, rear-drive, single-motor Air should deliver 240 miles of range and 400 horsepower for a price of $60,000. Well-heeled buyers can expect a 1,000-horsepower, 400-mile AWD offering.

“In conjunction with its proprietary battery architecture and flexible manufacturing technique, Lucid will optimize the LG Chem cells to meet or exceed all target goals for range, energy density, recharge/discharge rates, and more,” the company stated. “In this way, Lucid will leverage the specific cell chemistry of LG Chem’s batteries to develop the most compact, yet energy dense, battery pack form possible.”

[Image: Lucid Motors]