Lucid keeps one-upping Tesla with its long-range EV
The Lucid Air makes its debut next week as a new luxury electric sedan with a record-breaking range. But before it's finally unveiled, Lucid keeps trickling out small details about its performance.
On Wednesday, the latest tidbit was about the dual-engine vehicle's speed ability and electric motors. In a quarter-mile test on a NorCal track, the Lucid Air's Dream edition made the distance in under 10 seconds — 9.9 seconds to be exact. The achievement was documented in the video above.
The Tesla Model S Performance model running on Ludicrous mode clocked in at 10.45 seconds for the same distance earlier this year.
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Lucid also shared more about the front and back electric drive units, which is where the two motors are housed. Each unit weighs 163 pounds and is compact enough, Lucid claims, to fit inside an airplane carry-on roller bag. For a dual-motor vehicle that's 326 pounds of motor parts. Tesla's front drive unit is just under 200 pounds with a 70-pound motor. Lucid didn't break down the weight of each component, but said each unit offers 650 horsepower.
Lucid says the unit is 45 percent lighter, 59 percent more powerful, and 2.5 times more compact than that of its "closest competitor."
The motor can spin up to 20,000 rpm. Tesla is just under that spin rate at 18,000 rpm.
The race time and drive unit details add to other recent developments shared in the past few weeks:
The Lucid Air has an estimated 517-mile range
It can add up to 300 miles worth of charge in 20 minutes with super-fast charging
Its extended-range battery pack storage capacity is 113-kWh
Its frunk (that's the front trunk) dimensions are bigger than Tesla's with 280 liter capacity
We're still waiting on the cost for Lucid Air's Dream edition and the price for a starting model.
Lucid's CEO said the Lucid Air isn't supposed to be a Tesla killer, but it just might unseat Tesla as the EV standard-bearer. We'll find out next week.
Topics Electric Vehicles
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
