Lucid Air Touring. Photo: Lucid Motors
Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson, once an engineer for Tesla, is looking to push the boundaries of the electric vehicle (EV) market. Drawing from his rich experience with Tesla, Rawlinson is now steering Lucid to tackle two of the most pressing concerns in the EV world: range anxiety and affordability.
As the brains behind the Lucid Air sedan, Rawlinson, also the company’s Chief Technology Officer, is setting his sights on a broader market with aspirations to produce an EV within the $50,000 price range, according to a recent interview with ABC News.
Although Lucid’s current model, priced at $82,400, boasts a 516-mile range on a single charge, Rawlinson acknowledges the need to make EVs more accessible to average consumers.
During his recent interview with ABC News, Rawlinson touched upon his time with Tesla, emphasizing his role in designing the NACS charging plug while at the company. He revealed Lucid’s consideration in adopting this plug, noting the importance of a unified, future-proof charging standard for the growing EV industry.
Despite the market’s current fixation on “dethroning” Tesla, Rawlinson expressed that his goal isn’t about competing with his former employer. Instead, he envisions a market where great cars, regardless of their power source, prevail. He firmly believes that as more consumers experience the allure of EVs, particularly ones that balance performance with affordability, the transition from gasoline cars will naturally accelerate.
“We are targeting a price — and don’t hold me to this — around $50,000. That’s the vision. Right in the heart of Tesla Model 3, Model Y territory. I wish I could go to a lower-price car but it’s the best this company can do in this mid- to late decade time frame. What the world needs of course is the $25,000 electric car. I think that can come as a consequence of the technology we’re developing today. And we’re doing that with a sense of utmost urgency,” said Rawlinson.
Rawlinson’s vision for Lucid is clear: to leverage his Tesla experience and harness it to create EVs that are not only technologically advanced but also financially attainable for a broader audience. It remains to be seen if Lucid can ramp up production because it has struggled to do so.
Last I read they were targeting something like only 500,000 vehicles by 2030. If they want to be competitive with Tesla (masters of manufacturing AND coin), they will need to up that somewhat as Model Y will be about 1M this year and Model 3 about 1M next year or the year after….AND both still a long way away from fully ramped.
Rawlinson was at Tesla from 2010 – 2013, his experience there is over a decade old and kinda irrelevant. Instead of fantasizing about competing with Tesla’s mid-tier cars, he should worry about ramping up production of existing models, adopting NACS, and keeping the company from going bankrupt.
Yep, improve what you are doing instead of trying to copy what someone else is doing.
Lucid “targets” Tesla Model 3….! Now they just need to spend a decade or so at the firing range to improve their “aim”. Even then, they’ll still have a hard time “hitting” it as Tesla will have made so many changes in that time period they just won’t be able to “zero” in and “hit” it.