Lucid Motors, the California based automotive company, has been in the news for all the right reasons. A few days ago, it was reported that the Lucid Air, which is their first car to be launched, has an EPA-rated range of 517 miles (832 kms). This is an unprecedented figure in all-electric vehicles and has put Lucid on the market as a fierce Tesla rival. Now, a video was released yesterday by the American company that shows the Lucid Air Dream Edition complete a quarter-mile in a mind-boggling 9.9 seconds, thus beating the Tesla Model S Performance edition as the quickest production sedan.
Lucid Air Beats The Tesla Model S In A Quarter Mile Race
Lucid has made many bold claims prior to the launch of the Air, which is less than a week away now. Recent reports stated that Lucid Air will have a peak charge rate of 300 kWh, which gives the owner fast charging of up to 20 miles (32.3 km) worth of charge per minute. With a 900-volt electronics system in place to drive the motors, Lucid has managed to reduce current losses, thus increasing efficiency as well. It can also get charged for a range of up to 300 miles (483 km) in just 20 minutes.
Through the use of a well-packaged and efficient powertrain, the car is able to generate up to 1000 horsepower. The Air also has full charging bi-directionality, with advanced Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) capabilities built-in for future enabling of Vehicle-to-Grid(V2G) or Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) features. Thus, the technology that Lucid is introducing in the Air edition is going to be extremely attractive for the electric vehicle industry.
While trying to build an extremely reliable car in terms of range and efficiency, Lucid has also managed to pack some performance and luxury into it. A top speed of over 200 mph (322 kph) and an acceleration time of 0 to 60 mph (96.5 kph) of 2.5 seconds has already been reported. Now Lucid has shown that the Air Dream Edition has a quarter-mile timing of 9.9 seconds, thanks to the 1080-horsepower-producing powertrain and the dual motor configuration.
With this, the Lucid Air Dream Edition is set to become the first electric sedan to achieve a quarter-mile timing of under-10 seconds. This also makes it one of the quickest cars ever, with expensive high-performance hypercars like Dodge Challenger (9.65 sec), Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (9.7 sec), and Ferrari LaFerrari (9.8 sec) just a smidge faster. In the electric category, Tesla Model S comes in a close second spot with a timing of 10.4 seconds.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson also claimed that the process of increasing aerodynamic efficiency has helped them to achieve world-beating range and performance. He also mentioned that their focus is not only on performance but also on luxury. With a closely packaged powertrain, the Lucid Air also provides a great amount of space in the interior for the passengers as well as trunk and frunk size. Their aim is to pit the Air against German luxury heavyweights such as the Mercedes S Class.
With some really good performance aspects (high power, high voltage, low acceleration time) and a reliable powertrain (long-range and good efficiency and packaging), the Lucid Air will also provide a sense of luxury to its customers. The impressive numbers have definitely aroused initial interest among prospective customers, and the final result of this will be understood only after the launch. For Peter Rawlinson and his team, September 9th cannot get here faster.
