One more shoe to drop . . . ?

[hmp10]

Alex Guberman, a frequent visitor to Lucid HQ, posted a brief video a couple of days ago of a drag race between a Lucid Air and a Tesla Model S Performance Raven. In a subsequent podcast by "InsideEVs", Dominick Yoney (who I think administers this forum) said they had more information about the video than could be revealed just yet.

I wonder if that is going to be the final bombshell Lucid will drop before the September 9 reveal. Since announcing the reveal on June 17, Lucid has put out a steady drumbeat of reports about new crowns Lucid is grabbing:

June 30 - lowest Cd of any production sedan

July 28 - most comprehensive ADAS sensor suite of any road vehicle

August 11 - longest range of any EV

August 19 - fastest charge rate of any EV

??? - quickest 0-60 time of any production vehicle?

 

[St Bernard]

Lucid is doing a good job of leaking out info, as you have indicated, interesting tidbits every week. However, I never understood the fascination with 0-60 times. Whether the car can go 0-60 in 2.4 or 2.7 does it really influence someone buying this Car? How many of us are going to try and go 0-60 as fast as we can each month? I realize it’s a great Marketing tool and gets lots of Press. Right now the key info Lucid needs to give out on 9/9 is:

1. When is the Car being delivered?
2. What is the base price of the Car( not the Dream Edition) and how much will a decently optioned Car cost?
3. How do you service the Car if you are not 50 miles from one of the Service Centers?
4. What is the real range( not the range of the $150k car) one can achieve?
5. How different will the Dream Edition be from a $115k edition?

I’m interested in the Lucid Air vs the Tesla S for the interior finish and what appears to be a much higher quality build. The current better range will probably go away in the near future when Tesla announces much higher( for Tesla)EPA NUMBERS. Musk is not going to allow Lucid to steal “His Thunder” for very long. He has too much to lose. Could you imagine what would happen if Lucid did introduce a $65,000 car with a 50-100 miles longer range?

 

[hmp10]

You're right about 0-60 times. It's mostly a bragging rights issue . . . much like the GTO/SS/SuperBee rivalries that kept me entertained as a pubescent teen in the 1960's. I do pay some attention to acceleration times, though, but not because I try to get to 60 in under 3 seconds very often. A car that has huge acceleration capability just has a lighter, nimbler feel in handling more normal speed adjustments in traffic.

As for service, Lucid Sales has told me that they're going to use a mobile service fleet along the lines of Tesla. At least until the Model 3 came along and overwhelmed their service infrastructure, Tesla mobile service worked very well. I had to have a few service visits for minor problems, and Tesla had local storage units stocked with the most frequently needed repair parts. The one time I had a major problem that made my car undriveable, Tesla had the car flat-bedded to a service center across the state and returned to my driveway, all covered by warranty. All in all, I've found this service approach no worse than getting repairs done through conventional dealers, and in some regards considerably better. For instance, either through mobile service or flat-bedding, I've never had to leave my house to get the car serviced.

I'm sure Musk will chase the Lucid range as quickly as he can. However, getting another 100+ miles of range is going to require a lot of fundamental work on the Model S drivetrain and battery pack. It'll be interesting to see how much of this is already in the works with the Plaid version or whether it's been more focused on speed and chassis enhancements than range.

 

[hmp10]

Alex Guberman just released a new "E for Electric" video in which he interviewed Peter Rawlinson about the Lucid's charge rate. In this video, Guberman said he witnessed the recent drag race from which he posted the brief clip that's been all over the internet. He said Rawlinson was driving the Lucid and that a Porsche Taycan was also in the race as well as the Tesla Model S. Guberman said he observed the actual times and that Lucid will post about the race "in the coming weeks".

I'm guessing it will be before September 9.

 

[BlindPass]

Lucid is doing a good job of leaking out info, as you have indicated, interesting tidbits every week. However, I never understood the fascination with 0-60 times. Whether the car can go 0-60 in 2.4 or 2.7 does it really influence someone buying this Car? How many of us are going to try and go 0-60 as fast as we can each month? I realize it’s a great Marketing tool and gets lots of Press. Right now the key info Lucid needs to give out on 9/9 is:

1. When is the Car being delivered?
2. What is the base price of the Car( not the Dream Edition) and how much will a decently optioned Car cost?
3. How do you service the Car if you are not 50 miles from one of the Service Centers?
4. What is the real range( not the range of the $150k car) one can achieve?
5. How different will the Dream Edition be from a $115k edition?

I’m interested in the Lucid Air vs the Tesla S for the interior finish and what appears to be a much higher quality build. The current better range will probably go away in the near future when Tesla announces much higher( for Tesla)EPA NUMBERS. Musk is not going to allow Lucid to steal “His Thunder” for very long. He has too much to lose. Could you imagine what would happen if Lucid did introduce a $65,000 car with a 50-100 miles longer range?

Yes, it influences my decision. It’s a metric of acceleration, which has long been a determinant. It’s not the only measure, but it’s the one with the most commutative value.
We go as fast as we can 0-60 as often as traffic allows, which is nearly every drive.

 

[hmp10]

A German website just posted a video about the Lucid Air, and it includes a clip of the Lucid going up against a Porsche Taycan Turbo S at the drag strip. The drag clip begins at about 3:20:

Although Lucid has not released anything about these tests, several auto podcasts say rumors are flying that the Lucid beat both the Tesla and the Porsche in these matchups. However, nobody is saying which version of the Lucid was used. They apparently have both two-motor and three-motor cars in beta testing.

On a different note, it's interesting to see the drivers of each car relative to the size of their passenger cabins. You can really get a sense of how cavernous the Lucid cabin is compared to the Porsche.

 

[BlindPass]

A lot of great shots of the Lucid Air in that video.

I really hope to drive one in the next year.