The dazzling electric luxury: Lucid Air

Competing in the electric car market is challenging as technology moves at a rapid pace - contributing to a growing sector of four-wheelers and new car companies popping up all the time. While some electric vehicle brands bring new things to the table, others get labelled as yet another mere 'Tesla copy'. Although Lucid Motors is a fairly new peddling company, the Lucid Air borrows nothing from the competitors, bringing in new standards in terms of electric efficiency with a range of 530 miles whilst having 1111 horsepower for their highest trim. Here is a brief look into the brand-new electric wonder known as Lucid Air.

Overview

Lucid Motors, an American company that primarily supplies batteries to Formula E, first came out with their Lucid Air concept back in 2017. Recently, the car went into production, and thus brought forward a lot of bleeding edge tech Lucid Motors had previously promised. Two of these key features are the headlight design and the interior, which can be directly compared with the Mercedes EQS in terms of luxury and material quality. The comparison is valid as Lucid Motors has been marketing itself as a 'luxury electric car brand'.

The Lucid Air comes in a handful of trim selections, where the base model - which Lucid calls 'pure' - comes with a single motor, producing 480 horsepower on the rear wheels. The rest of the models come with a dual motor, with horsepower and range buffs on the upper models, where the top of the line - named the Dream Edition Performance - comes with 1111 horsepower, 530 miles of range and a quarter mile time of just under a nick of 10 seconds.

Design and exterior

At first glance, you might notice the huge set of wheels - 245/35R21 on the front and 265/ 35R21 at the rear. This gives the Lucid Air an upper-class, luxury look befitting an electric sedan. However, aside from that, the rest of the car looks fairly simple, with the lines on the design adding a futuristic feel. The car does not bear the angular and edgy electric car look, but the body lines flow through the panels in a traditional way, whilst still giving subtle cues about the powertrain not being gas-powered. The headlights have microlens arrays which help with the autopilot mode of the car as well as contribute to the futuristic cues of the car with the DRLs. All in all, it sports a rather notable design as far as electric cars go.

Interior and Infotainment

The interior of the lucid air feels roomy, even though it is a mid-sized sedan. The extended windshield and sunroof which extends to the back of the car (for what Lucid initially solely was known about) allow plenty of light inside the car. This gives off a cosy environment inside the cabin, perfect for a comfortable ride. The seats are made out of premium leather, and also have massage features, which adds to the luxury aspect of the vehicle.

The infotainment system mainly consists of a whole section on the dash which consists of the gauge cluster on the driver's side and a screen in the middle, and a small touchscreen tablet which slides out in the middle of the centre console, which is also retractable. Other than that, the materials used in the interior are fairly high quality, with visible usage of mahogany on the wooden panels.

Verdict

Lucid Motors can be seen to have a bright future ahead judging from their first iteration of a luxury electric vehicle. Starting at $87,400 and going up to $220,000 for the top-of-the-line Air Sapphire model, It goes past the complaints from people towards Teslas, where the interiors were mostly janky, whilst being similarly priced, at least compared to the base model Lucid Air. The promising Lucid Air combines massive power with the benefit of efficiency, making for an adequately good combination that helps decrease the tendency of range anxiety in electric cars.