Automotive publication Road & Track recently published its glowing review of the Lucid Air, highlighting “the best driving range and fastest charging system of any EV on the market”.
The publication got hands-on with the Lucid Air Dream Edition, the first electric vehicle ever to receive an EPA range rating of 520 miles.
“The Lucid Air is so good it should make Tesla sweat,” says Road & Track about a $170,500 electric car the manufacturer only plans on delivering 520 of this year, starting in late October.
Tesla, on the other hand, is well on its way to delivering close to a million cars this year, and with Giga Berlin going online by year’s end, a lot more next year.
Tesla’s top-of-the-line offering, the Model S Plaid, only costs $129,900 USD, is readily available to order, and holds the world record for fastest 1/4 mile time in a production car at just 9.08 seconds.
Lucid hopes to produce 20,000 all-electric Air sedans in 2022, which will include a 650 horsepower, dual-motor Air Touring for $96,500 USD, and a more affordable 480 horsepower, single-motor Air Pure with 408 miles of estimated range for $78,900 USD.
“That’s about $12,000 less than a Model S Long Range, or $31,000 less than a 2022 Mercedes-Benz S500 with 51 fewer horses,” says Road & Track. That’s also $27,410 USD more than a Model 3 Long Range with 353 miles of EPA-rated range, a.k.a the world’s best-selling premium vehicle as of earlier this month.
The review also goes on to over-enthusiastically rave about the Lucid Air’s quick-charge capability, which claims to add 300 miles of battery range in 20 minutes. However, the feature only works with compatible 350 kW DC chargers, which are far and few at the moment.
In addition, since Lucid has no charging infrastructure of its own right now, consumers will have to rely on third parties like Electrify America and their infamously inconsistent power outputs, says Road & Track.
The Lucid Air has received some outstanding reviews so far and could quite possibly “take away the Model S’s crown” as the publication puts it, but we’ll have to wait for it to actually become a ‘production car’ and reach volume production and deliveries before rendering a verdict on that.
Saudi Arabia owns roughly 65% of Lucid Group and looks to make $20 billion in profit off its original $2.9 billion investment.
The Lucid Air starts at $105,000 CAD in Canada, and the company’s first Canadian store opened up on Saturday in Vancouver, B.C.
