Are we dreaming? Lucid Air's mega-range EV driven in LA
► S-Class space, Tesla pace, futuristic facethe Lucid Air
Between now and the boarding call for our plane home in two days' time, we need to get this pre-production car back to its home at Lucid HQ in Newark, Silicon Valley. But we don't plan on taking the direct route.What isn't? Let alone the concept-car looks and interior, there's the aforementioned huge range combined with equally expansive interior space.
It turns heads even in California; everyone wants to ask what it is. Amid the campers, trucks and ATVs we'll meet shortly on the coast, it looks like a jet-black alien spacecraft. The wheelbase is within a millimetre of the Tesla Model S, and overall length similar, but the Air is a narrower car. It's a touch longer than a Porsche Taycan but considerably roomier.
While Dream versions top $100k, the upcoming entry-level single-motor/473bhp Air Pure will dip under $70k with the US EV grant, and the Touring dual-motor version under $100k.Left-hand-drive European sales are set to begin before the end of 2022. Lucid has signalled its intent to build UK-ready versions but they're unlikely to come on stream before 2023.It's a sunlit cockpit, the windscreen an infinity pool of glass merging into the glass roof .
Necessary over-the-air improvements are coming, too; for example, at the moment it's not possible to mix and match a map on the top screen with music on the bottom. It's one potential weak spot in the luxury EV segment in which interfaces are all-important, but Lucid vows it will get slicker with frequent updates. Even if it's less intuitive to use, the split display set-up is more elegant than Tesla's stone-like oblong tablet dominating the dashboard.
And what speed. The Air feels hypercar-quick out of corners. With big brakes at each corner and oodles of front-axle grip, you've confidence on the way into them, too. This car wasn't designed as a straight-line dragster – it's the way it accelerates above 60mph, and never really lets up, that impresses. And all in near-serenity – other than some slightly intrusive gear whine.
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