Month: September 2020

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