Lucid Motors Claims 517 Miles of Range From Upcoming EV Sedan
The Lucid Air, an unabashed luxury electric expected to roll out of an Arizona factory early next year, just got the PR boost it needed.
Working with FEV North America at the firm’s Auburn Hills, Michigan test center, Lucid and its partner put the Air to the test, applying standard EPA testing procedures to wring out the vehicle’s maximum driving range. The resulting number was impressive, to say the least.
Slated to come in many flavors, the Air ladder tops out at a luxed-up super sedan boasting a 130 kWh battery (of which 110 kWh is usable) and twin motors totaling 1,000 horsepower. It first appeared in early 2017, though necessary cash and brain trust collection took time. The factory is currently under construction.
Applying the EPA’s Multicycle Test Procedure to the most capable of Airs resulted in an adjusted range figure of 517 miles, Lucid claims. In its early marketing efforts, the fledgling automaker claimed a maximum range topping 400 miles — no small distance, considering Tesla’s groundbreaking Model S has only just now eked its way up to an EPA rating of 402 miles.
When the Air debuted, 400 miles was a lofty promise, indeed. Topping 500 would do much to squash the range anxiety concerns that still dog electric vehicles, delivering Lucid bragging rights in the process.
“FEV’s exhaustive verification process closely follows the official EPA standard testing procedure and has been executed for several leading vehicle manufacturers,” the automaker said in a release. “Lucid conducted thousands of miles of real-world range testing, and FEV’s results validate these endeavors.”
All that said, the EPA has yet to issue a final range figure of its own.
Regardless, Lucid is making hay with this sunny data. CEO Peter Rawlinson credited the Air’s 900-volt architecture, miniaturized motors and transmission, aerodynamics, weight savings, and general system efficiency for setting a “new standard” for the industry.
The production version of the Air is scheduled for a September 9th reveal.
[Images: Lucid Motors]
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My question involves grinding out money and lawyers will be involved somehow. A guy in my condo complex has a Tesla. We don't have chargers, I asked and he said he recharges at work. I have a feeling most people won't be so lucky. I don't like to fly, lived through two helicopter crashes. In 8-12 hours of driving will Flying J/Pilot/Truck stops of America install charging stations? Can I whip into a dealership in another state and charge up? Will some nationwide fun-drinkery place like TGI FRidays install chargers at various locations? And advertise that fact? Will valet parking include charging and properly trained valets to plug my car in correctly? Around town? EVs more than make sense. A road trip? I need a place to charge up. Yes, I don't mind stopping to eat, go pee-pee and get a cup of coffee while my car is charging. Maybe Bezos will bring chargers like Amazon brings stuff to my door.
Owners of certain types of vehicles may never need to do 0-60 in 3 seconds or pull a 20ft boat thru a blizzard, but its not about how they actually use a vehicle but knowing what it is capable of doing which attracts them. The same logic applies to BEV’s and battery range. I may never need to take my BEV on a 500 miles trip, but its darned nice to know I could. More realistically, assuming the average car is driven about 15K miles/yr or 288mi/wk; 400 miles is the magic number for BEV range. 400 miles on a charge covers almost every driving situation, even middle-distance road trips (200-300 miles round trip) can be completed without planning stops around public charging stations. For BEV homeowners, 400 miles of range all but guarantee nearly all of their charging will be done at home with enough flexibility for charging to not be a daily requirement. Given this, 500 miles of range is gravy.