Not too long after Rivian announced the start of production, fellow EV startup Lucid has announced that its Lucid Air has entered production.
It has been many years since we first heard of a promising startup that plans to bring a real competitor to the Model S and other luxury sedans in general. The initial claims seemed to be far from believable, but as the years went buy it was looking like Lucid was accomplishing all that it had set out to do.
It had built a large production facility, set up a showroom network, and was able to deliver a car with over 500 miles of range, taking the crown away from the Tesla Model S. Finally the company was able to reach the ultimate step and has started production of its Lucid Air Dream Edition.
This week was Production Preview Week for Lucid. This included opening the doors of the Advanced Manufacturing Plant (AMP-1) and Lucid Powertrain Manufacturing (LPM-1) factories to media, investors, future owners, and policymakers. One large announcement made was that the factories were now ready to start production.
To kick things off, the first batch of the 13,000 reservations would be 520 Dream Edition Airs to commemorate the company’s range achievement.
Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of Lucid had the following to say regarding the range achievement:
“The proprietary EV technology that Lucid has developed will make it possible to travel more miles using less battery energy. For example, our Lucid Air Grand Touring has an official EPA rating of 516 miles of range with a 112-kWh battery pack, giving it an industry-leading efficiency of 4.6 miles per kWh. Our technology will allow for increasingly lighter, more efficient, and less expensive EVs, and today represents a major step in our journey to expand the accessibility of more sustainable transportation. I’m delighted that production cars endowed with this level of efficiency are currently driving off our factory line.”
Reservation holders of the Dream Edition should expect their cars in late October. With a ramp up occurring afterwards, we will then see the Grand Touring, Touring, and eventually, Air Pure versions being built. Then in 2023 we will have the Gravity SUV to look forward to as it enters production as well.
So far Lucid has been doing a lot of things right and looks to have built a great foundation. Unfortunately, all the effort goes to waste if production issues arise or the final product doesn’t meet expectations. In the next couple of months, we will see if Lucid can produce a quality product that deserves the consideration of EV and luxury car buyers.
