2022 Lucid Air — A remarkable all-new electric vehicle

By Jim Prueter
MotorwayAmerica.com

(May 20, 2022) PHOENIX — A year ago, if I mentioned the name “Lucid Air” it may have you thinking of a '70s rock band rather than a luxurious all-new all-electric vehicle built in a sparkling new factory here in Arizona. Lucid Motors is a multi-billion-dollar startup with its sites set as a legitimate alternative to the only true electric vehicle success, Tesla.


But after a recent familiarization and ride along in the new Lucid Air with a massive 800-horsepower that’s crazy quick and super-luxurious high-end sedan that’s Mercedes’ elegant with tour de force advanced technology, it makes Tesla seem so yesterday.

With great fanfare Tesla recently announced it broke the 400-mile range barrier, a landmark milestone for electric cars. The Air powered by its 113kWh battery pack annihilated those results with a neutral testing party achieving 517-mile range on a single charge using simulated EPA testing. That’s the longest driving range of any electric vehicle on the market. Air is also the fastest recharging EV recouping 300 additional miles of range in 20 minutes using a 900-volt architecture compared to Porsche’s 800-volt and Tesla’s 400-volt setups.

Lucid Air also scores with a 9.9-second standing quarter mile time with the top trim Air Grand Touring Performance packing a stunning 1,111 horsepower. Air also has a drag coefficient of just 0.21, making it, according to Lucid Motors, the “world’s most aero-efficient luxury car.”

The Air will come in four trims: Air, Air Touring, Air Grand Touring and Air Dream Edition with pricing ranging from $87,400 for Air Pure to $179,900 for the top trim Air Grand Touring Performance

Powering the base Air sedan is a single electric motor that drives the rear wheels. All other Air vehicles use dual electric motors with all-wheel drive and a set of different horsepower ratings.

Lucid Air is a gorgeous luxury car through and through with a cossetting interior, opulent materials and state of the art technology out distancing all competitors in the luxury sedan class.

The ride is creamy smooth with ample room for five. There’s even optional Executive Rear Seating with a recline function.

While my ride along was brief, it was enough to reveal Lucid’s remarkable first effort and intentions to play a huge role in the future of luxury cars that has me believing they’re already best in class.

Lucid has 21 retail sales locations located in shopping malls. Lucid started customer deliveries during the first quarter of 2022 and with more that 30,000 customer reservations as of today, Lucid says they are on track to deliver 12,000 to 14,000 vehicles for the rest of 2022.

Vital Stats:
Base Price: $87,400
Price as Tested: $154,000
Engine: Single or Dual Electric Motors
Horsepower: Up to 1,111-HP
Fuel Economy: 130/132/131-MPGe City/Highway/Combined
Seating: 5

Fab Features:
Unprecedented EPA range up to 516 miles
3-year free Ultra-fast recharging
Opulent interior
2022 Motor Trend Car of the Year