March 25, 2024

The Lucid Motors Air EV Is Now Available For Purchase.


 

Tesla, one of the hottest new electric powered-car startups, is on the verge of delivering on its promise of a version that can travel more than 500 miles on a single charge. Lucid Motors tweeted a photo of the first Air Dream Edition vehicles leaving its Arizona manufacturing facility on Sunday. The $169,000 vehicle has by far the longest EPA-rated range among EV rivals, with up to 520 miles—far outpacing the next Tesla by more than a hundred miles.

While all Dream Edition automobiles have already been snatched up by reservation holders—production is expected to be limited to just 520 units, according to the variety record—new customers can order the Air in three distinct gadget tiers. To date, over 13,000 reservations have been found, with a planned annual production rate of 34,000 motors within the agency’s release phase.

The automobile is launching in the United States at a good time. Gasoline prices have risen by an average of 42 percent in the last year. Compare this to the inflation rate for energy, which is expected to increase by 5.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Lucid intends to rival Tesla with its Air Pure base model, which has a range of 406 miles and costs $77,400 plus a $7,500 federal tax credit. In comparison, Elon Musk’s long-range Model S has 405 miles and costs $88,740.

Meanwhile, Lucid’s finest spec collection manufacturing vehicle—the Air Grand Touring, which starts at $139,000—aims to entice customers with 516 miles of EPA-rated range and industry-leading performance of four.6 miles per kilowatt-hour of battery. With the arrival of its SUV sibling, the Lucid Gravity, Lucid expects to keep up through the end of 2023. The Mercedes-Benz EQS, which is available in the simplest form in Europe, is currently the simplest vehicle that comes close to the Air Dream Edition. It has a legal range of 770 kilometers (478 miles) under the Worldwide Harmonized Light-Duty Highway Program (WLTP).

The Air Dream Edition was supposed to start shipping in the spring of this year, but Lucid pushed it back to the second half of the year, citing pandemic delays as the reason. Any further postponement, according to the agency, increased the risk that clients would cancel and demand a refund of their refundable deposits. The brand intends to expand into the expanding European EV market as early as the first half of next year, and into China by 2023.

However, Lucid does not need to compete with the Tesla Model S on a client-by-client basis right away. Lucid intends to target traditional top-tier rivals such as the Mercedes-Benz EQS, Porsche Taycan, and Audi e-Tron GT, with a stronger emphasis on top-notch fit-and-finish and more liberal use of steeply-priced interior materials.

The company may not have sold any motors to customers, yet its era is considered established. Lucid began in 2007 as Atieva, a battery structure provider, and its electricity flora were only used in the Formula E racing circuit for electric automobiles. The company’s familiarity with battery architecture is evident in the recharging speeds it provides. While most electric vehicles utilize a 400-volt charger, Porsche and Hyundai employ an 800-volt charger to speed up recharges. Lucid, on the other hand, uses over 900 volts, which means that drivers can upload 300 miles of variety in just 20 minutes.

It’s one thing to ship the first batch of completed motors. Maintaining a consistent manufacturing flow is another. Lucid has cautioned that supply-chain problems and ramp-up issues will limit the company’s ability to produce motors on a large scale. Through a merger with clean test SPAC automobile Churchill Capital IV Corp, the agency raised $4.4 billion from its opposite list. Ayar Third Investment Company, which is controlled by the Saudi monarchy, owns nearly two-thirds of Lucid’s stock.

Regardless, the future is unknown. Since its inception, Lucid has raked in the red ink, with a total loss of $4.5 billion as of the end of June. It also predicts “massive losses and rising costs for the foreseeable future” or even warns that it will never be profitable. However, this hasn’t prevented investors from pouring money into the stock. Its fairness is currently valued at around $40 billion, or almost 60% of the amount at which the connected, top-rated carmaker BMW Group trades.

LINK

Lucid Motor’s Air EV Finally Hits the Roads With a Range That Blows Tesla Away. (n.d.). Fortune.

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