Bloomberg Review of Lucid Air

[digiboxer]

What It’s Like to Drive 11 Hours in a $169,000 Lucid Air Electric Car

Forget “hypermiling.” This is how a normal drive goes.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[MPawelek]

Discussed in a post last week. She obviously knows nothing about EV’s or has any/much experience.

 

[joec]

Apple iPlay? How did that get past an editor?

I've never liked Bloomberg, anyway. But wow.

 

[Slam08]

Apple iPlay? How did that get past an editor?

I've never liked Bloomberg, anyway. But wow.

Editorial standards were a casualty of the pandemic.

Now everyone needs to know everything now.

And it’s up to the reader to decide what is real and fake.

 

[hmp10]

"Hills in general drained the Air’s battery at a very high rate; the 'regen' function that reclaims energy as I braked downhill did not match the energy expended as I climbed."

Uh, yeah. Because you were also covering ground while going up and down hills.

What a nitwit.

 

[daydreamer223]

Yes, clearly this person did not even try to understand how electric cars work, but they also saw some terrible fit and finish issues nonetheless which are still valid.

 

[joec]

My problem with almost all EV reviews is that they always focus on road tripping, as if most people do that every day.

The majority of car owners in America probably go on long distance road trips, what, maybe three or four times a year? Max?

Meanwhile, for the other 350+ days of the year, you literally never have to think about range. At all. You also never have to touch a gas pump, or pay ridiculous fuel prices. You plug in at home and forget it.

If you hate charging stations that much, rent a car for that odd road trip now and then. Will still be cheaper than paying for gas all year during your daily commute. Not to mention your time.

 

[mnewber1]

I try to remain impartial but the author of this article, Hannah Elliot, had been tweeting about Lucid's issues in order to gain engagement from Tesla fanboys. Going as far to say the model she was using was a production customer model, while Len in fact confirmed she had a pre-production Media model.

I find it hard to take a technology review from someone who calls Apple Car Play, "Apple iPlay".

 

[Neurio]

I can second that she had a preproduction model because my friend saw her while she was driving on the 101 through San Luis Obispo (see attached pic he took because it was the first Air he saw). He said the car had manufacturer plates. He also said she saw him take the pic, then slowed down to get behind him to take a pic of him (why?), then sped off. He saw her clearly and confirmed it was her based on her pic in the story.

 

[Slam08]

My problem with almost all EV reviews is that they always focus on road tripping, as if most people do that every day.

The majority of car owners in America probably go on long distance road trips, what, maybe three or four times a year? Max?

Meanwhile, for the other 350+ days of the year, you literally never have to think about range. At all. You also never have to touch a gas pump, or pay ridiculous fuel prices. You plug in at home and forget it.

Exactly!

I find that once people own an EV they don’t talk about range anxiety as much.

Range anxiety is real. But only when you take a trip. Not around town.

 

[LCIDdreams]

I can second that she had a preproduction model because my friend saw her while she was driving on the 101 through San Luis Obispo (see attached pic he took because it was the first Air he saw). He said the car had manufacturer plates. He also said she saw him take the pic, then slowed down to get behind him to take a pic of him (why?), then sped off. He saw her clearly and confirmed it was her based on her pic in the story.

Seemed like author doesn’t understand EVs in general and did her best to design her trip to ensure charging hassles would come up- less a review of the car and more general FUD towards EVs. Not sure about the preproduction thing though- presumably a production car that is set aside for press reviews (rather than sale) could still have manufacturer plates. If it is a preproduction car that had issues due to it being a preproduction car then why on earth would Lucid still be loaning it out for press reviews 6+ months after they started production? That would seem to be a very poor decision for a new manufacturer that is specifically trying to build a brand on quality.

 

[mnewber1]

Pretty disappointing that people who clearly have an agenda, or lack of technological knowledge have such a large platform to spread such ignorance.

It’s also frustrating that it seems like any new EV has a fight to get in the space both against ICE and against Tesla. Isn’t the point to get more EVs?

 

[LCIDdreams]

Traditional car manufacturers and oil companies have been a huge funder of automotive press for decades.

 

[HC_79]

Pretty disappointing that people who clearly have an agenda, or lack of technological knowledge have such a large platform to spread such ignorance.

It’s also frustrating that it seems like any new EV has a fight to get in the space both against ICE and against Tesla. Isn’t the point to get more EVs?

It’s the media in general towards EV’s. It’s like they have an agenda given to them from ICE manufacturers to try and brings them down. GM, Ford, Toyota, etc. seem to get a free pass on things like recalls, issues etc. it’s 50/50 whether they make it into the news. The moment Tesla has an issue it’s everywhere. Look at the recent article regarding the Apps criticizing Rivian and Lucid, I had years of issues with Audi’s poor attempt at an App yet the car just constantly got praised in reviews.

The media is just becoming more and more biased so you need to read many stories to figure out the real story. In this particular article, she lost me a iPlay….

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Yeah it was a hatchet job. It’s not so much due to any conspiracy promoted by anyone, but rather the fact that sensationalism and controversy, especially if it’s inaccurate, increase readership and clicks, so editors look the other way at sloppy reporting because there’s not many negative consequences for publishing poorly researched half truths.

 

[Slam08]

Yeah it was a hatchet job. It’s not so much due to any conspiracy promoted by anyone, but rather the fact that sensationalism and controversy, especially if it’s inaccurate, increase readership and clicks, so editors look the other way at sloppy reporting because there’s not many negative consequences for publishing poorly researched half truths.

Maybe that’s why they left “iPlay” in there. Lol.

 

[Tesla2.0]

Clearly hatchet job. She doesn’t care about EV or this company. I saw her review Ferrari Roma. With her slim tall height, she didn’t even mention any roominess of Air, but she praise Ferrari Roma’s space with much limited windshield visibility. She just doesn’t even want to do this review. She is probably just an EV hater in general. So I can see Tesla’s struggle against spinner like her in their early days.

 

[DaveyBoyGT]

Discussed in a post last week. She obviously knows nothing about EV’s or has any/much experience.

Thoroughly agree. What a garbage review.

 

[pam4_AGT]

"Hills in general drained the Air’s battery at a very high rate; the 'regen' function that reclaims energy as I braked downhill did not match the energy expended as I climbed."

Uh, yeah. Because you were also covering ground while going up and down hills.

I did not read that gem. I think we can officially call Hannah Elliott a moron and move on.

 

[digiboxer]

I did not read that gem. I think we can officially call Hannah Elliott a moron and move on.

Well it was poorly written by someone mis-assigned to the project.

But I don't buy the intentional "hit piece" angle--NO ONE in news media buys into the Green Agenda quite like Bloomberg--they carry it into everything they publish, no matter how tenuous the premise.

So if there was a bias going in, it was almost certainly favorable to the "planet-saving-start-up Lucid"...and hey---this is like the 4th Hi-Viz review where Lucid had every opportunity to lend the best possible car, and still sent a tech lemon---

If the best they can do is send a dog to Bloomberg---what are they going to send me??