We got a hint of this in April, but today Lucid stated that its upcoming Air will get a shit-ton of range, or an estimated 517 miles of it to be exact.
That would beat the current market leader, the Tesla Model S Long Range Plus, which gets 402 miles of range. Lucid will fully debut the Air next month, with the first deliveries expected early next year. This does, to some degree, echo what Lucid told us when we got a ride in a Lucid Air prototype. Lucid told us it expected low-volume production within two years. That was in 2017.
Lucid says it achieved that range in what sounds like a process of making everything smaller and lighter. It’s important to note that the 517-mile number is not an EPA number, but instead the number an “independent” tester achieved following “official EPA standard testing procedure.”
From its release:
How did we do it? The answer is Lucid’s proprietary technology, along with careful engineering of every aspect of the Air’s performance and efficiency. Starting with the in-house development of an industry-leading drivetrain, Lucid miniaturized and integrated the Air’s motors, transmission, and inverter, and paired this with an ultra-high, 900+ volt architecture to achieve unmatched compactness and efficiency.
“I believe that our 900-volt architecture, our race-proven battery packs, miniaturized motors and power electronics, integrated transmission systems, aerodynamics, chassis and thermal systems, software, and overall system efficiency have now reached a stage where they collectively set a new standard and deliver a host of ‘world’s firsts,’” said CEO Peter Rawlinson.
Five-hundred seventeen miles is about eight hours of highway driving, or all the driving one might want to do in a given day, even on a road trip. And so this is big if true, and might even put range anxiety to rest for some people. Just kidding, the people that fret over range anxiety will always fret over range anxiety, even though the vast majority of trips are very short.
Further, the Lucid Air is expected to cost something north of $100,000, so this car will not be as much of a threat to Tesla as you might otherwise think. But, still, the range wars seem to finally be here in earnest. Let them continue.
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