Aspiring luxury electric car (EV) maker Lucid Motors has announced that its Lucid Air sedan will have a record battery range of 517 miles per charge. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) currently offers a maximum range of 402 miles for its Model S sedan. Lucid’s CEO and chief technology officer, Peter Rawlinson, came from Tesla, where he was a chief engineer on the Model S development.
Lucid says verification for the record-estimated EPA range was performed with engineering service company FEV North America. Lucid has plans to unveil the final version of the Air on September 9th. Initial production, originally planned for late 2020 at its Arizona facility, has been postponed to early next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Image Source: Lucid Motors.
Lucid credits its own technology for the ability to reach the EV record, saying that specifically “the expertise of Lucid’s technology division, Atieva, played a major role, as it provided battery packs for the entire field of Formula One. A racing series since 2018. ”
Lucid originally said the Air would exceed 400 miles of battery range. Rawlinson said later technological developments resulted in “reducing the capacity of our battery pack, thereby reducing the weight and cost of the car and improving interior space.”
In addition to the record range, Lucid said the air will reach an acceleration of 0-60 mph in less than 2.5 seconds. By comparison, the Tesla Model S accelerates from 0-60 mph in 2.3 seconds.
