Let's forget about Tesla, shall we? Lucid Air's first test

The Lucid Air is better than that model from that brand that I don't want to pronounce.

Okay, I give up. It's an impossible exercise. Talk about Lucid Air without talking about it. Tesla It is practically impossible for two reasons.

The first reason is that the North American brand was founded by Tesla dissidents. Peter Rawlinson, one of the founders of Lucid Motors, was the chief engineer of the Tesla Model S, and Bernard Tse, also one of the brand’s founders, was one of Tesla’s first vice presidents. Your stories make a good article, but that will have to wait for another time…

Second, because Tesla is the authority when it comes to electric car technology – note that I didn't say it was a reference to the auto industry, they are different things. Onward.

We finally got to test drive the Lucid Air. It was almost eight years ago that we first talked about this model. That’s right, almost eight years ago, and here’s the proof.

Was it worth the wait? The answer is in this video:

Lucid Air is a testament to clarity.

I'm not kidding. The name “Lucid” was chosen to reflect clarity, innovation and a focus on electric mobility. A kind of clarity, if you will.

As I explained in the video, the entire interior of the Lucid Air shows a lot of clear decisions. It’s well-built, intuitive, spacious, and technological. Sure, we have screens everywhere, but there are still some physical controls left.

Then, the use of interior space is great. As I mentioned in the video, on the outside it’s smaller than a Tesla Model S, but on the inside it’s bigger than its arch-rival. If that were the only criteria, the Lucid Air would be a sure winner.

Did someone say rest?

Remember our recent talk about the origins of Citroën's flying carpet? If you'd like, you can read that story again at this link:

This is exactly what we feel behind the wheel of the Lucid Air: it rides very comfortably, and it feels like a model from the French school. But strangely, it remains a very firm car when we accelerate.

And we can increase the pace… In this Touring version we have more than 600 horsepower at our disposal (456 kilowatts, or 620 horsepower, if you prefer). Then there is the Lucid Air Sapphire (920 kilowatts, or 1,250 horsepower), the fastest sedan in the world. From that point of view, it is a very good model. But I will leave these considerations for the feature video.

Returning to the Lucid Air Touring, which we had the opportunity to drive, it is important to say that it uses two electric motors (one on each axle) to provide a maximum power of 456 kilowatts (620 horsepower).

With these numbers, the Lucid Air Touring is now able to achieve the goal. race From 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.5 seconds, while reaching a top speed of 250 km/h.

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As for the battery, it has a useful capacity of 89 kWh, which allows it to announce a combined range (WLTP cycle) of up to 684 kilometers.

However, for those looking for more autonomy, know that in the Air Grand Touring version, which features a battery with a useful capacity of 106 kWh, it is possible to travel up to 830 kilometres (WLTP cycle) between charges.

Speaking of charging, in the version we tested, the Lucid Air supports charging speeds of up to 200 kW DC and up to 19.2 kW AC.

Anyone want to buy a Lucid Air?

This is the main problem with Lucid. The brand plans are good, the models are good, but Lucid lacks acceptance and recognition in the market.

There is no way to increase sales. I explained this in the video that shows the reality of sales of this brand in North America. It's just that while Tesla is making money, Lucid continues to struggle.

The reason may be price. In Germany, the Lucid Air Pure (base model) costs €109,000. It’s not cheap, but considering what this model offers, it’s decent value.

The verdict