Lucid Motors. From a startup to a worthy competitor to Tesla
Some 10 years ago, electric vehicles were an alternative mode of transport and were not taken seriously by motorists. But with the advent of Tesla, we have changed our attitude towards battery-powered cars, which have formed a competitive market, attractive not only for startups, but also for large corporations.
Among Tesla’s competitors is Lucid Motors, an American electric vehicle manufacturer created with the support of Chinese investment company Tsinghua Holdings. The company’s first production electric car, the Lucid Air, was introduced in 2014, put into production in 2020, and started being sold only in 2021. The company’s CEO, Peter Rawlinson, considers the key task for 2021 to be the introduction of the Lucid Air production sedan. It is already known that it will be offered in several versions:
- Touring (87,500 dollars*, 628 hp, driving range of 653 km),
- Grand Touring (131,500 dollars*, 811 hp, driving range of 832 km),
- Dream Edition (161,500 dollars*, 1,095 hp, driving range of 809 km),
- Pure – entry-level version, will be added in 2022 (69,900 dollars*, 486 hp, driving range of 653 km).
*prices include US federal tax credit of 7,500 dollars
For information: Peter Rawlinson was Vice President of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla and was actually Chief Engineer of the Tesla Model S. A graduate of Imperial College London, prior to Tesla, he was Head of Vehicle Engineering at Corus Automotive, Chief Engineer at Lotus Cars and Chief Engineer at Jaguar Cars.
Even though Lucid Motors did not immediately get on its feet, even if it was on the verge of collapse, it was able to handle everything due to investments of 1 billion dollars from the Saudi Arabian National Welfare Fund. The company was able to complete its plant, designed for the production of 400,000 cars a year, began mass production of its electric car, the Lucid Air, equipped with two electric motors (one in front, one in the rear) with a total power (for the top-end modification) of 1,095 hp and a 113 kWh battery. The driving range depends on the modification, but one of them (811-horsepower Air Grand Touring) offers 832 km.
In 2021, the American startup came close to the first initial public offering (IPO) with an approximate valuation of 12 billion dollars. At the end of January 2021, Lucid AMP-1 (Advanced Manufacturing Plant) in Casa Grande (Arizona, USA) started launched a painting shop critical to the start of series production. And this year, Lucid Motors already intends to produce 30,000 cars.
The company’s CEO Peter Rawlinson considers the key task of 2021 to be the introduction of the Lucid Air production sedan
At the end of 2021, Lucid is going to introduce the Lucid Air sedan with three motors producing 1,200 hp, the experimental tri-motor prototype of which outperformed the Tesla Model S Plaid and Tesla Model 3 Performance (a version tuned by Unplugged Performance) at the Nürburgring test track (time 1:35.79). The new three-engined Lucid Air literally works wonders at the Nürburgring: ‘Our stopwatch recorded a conservative 1:33 in this lap and it’s very possible other laps were faster’, indicated the journalists. The Electrek magazine assures that the three-motor sedan version produces over 1,216 hp.
In 2023, the company will introduce the Lucid Gravity three-row SUV, which can be pre-ordered since 2021. The description of the electric SUV developed within the Project Gravity is as follows: ‘Forget everything you know about all the crossovers that came before. Lucid takes SUVs to the next level. Just as we have reimagined a luxury sedan, Project Gravity will change the concept of a luxury crossover’… The seven-seater vehicle is based on the LEAP (Lucid Electric Advanced Platform) electric platform with at least two electric motors, all-wheel drive, capacity of over 1,000 hp and driving range of more than 800 km.
Origins
The stories of such startups are always somewhat reminiscent of a fairy tale. Therefore, the beginning is appropriate: Once upon a time there were…
Sam Weng, a Bachelor and Master in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, Director of Systems Engineering at Xerox, Co-Founder and Vice President of several companies, Senior Director of Marketing and Alliances at Oracle,
and Bernard Tse, garduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, PhD in Electrical Engineering, co-founded and president of computer manufacturer, Wyse Technology, a member of the board of directors and Vice President of Tesla Motors, supervising the energy department, which was engaged in the creation of batteries for Tesla Roadster and other automakers.
In 2007, they created a startup, Atieva, which would eventually become Lucid Motors. At first, they did not intend to compete with Tesla, as they were engaged in the production of batteries and transmissions for electric cars and electric buses. The company supplied batteries to China. In 2014, the Chinese state-owned car manufacturer BAIC Group and LeEco invested about 100 million dollars in Atieva, receiving almost 50% of the shares for this. The investment allowed the company to start creating an electric car, which was the beginning for Lucid Motors. Remarkably, the car was originally called ‘Atieva Atvus’. It was presented as the Lucid Air only in December 2016.
The Lucid Air does not guarantee the success of the company. It will have to compete with Tesla, which has not only launched mass production, but also has a strong brand. There are also other competitors in the market, ranging from startups to large automakers. But it is already obvious that the upcoming competition has the potential to positively influence the further development of the electric vehicle market.
