Lucid Air to be presented on 9 September

Electric car startup Lucid Motors will present the series version of its electric sedan Air on 9 September online. They say they will reveal the final interior and exterior design plus details of specifications, prices and available configurations.

The presentation of Lucid Air was originally planned to take place at the New York Motor Show in April, but it fell victim to the virus. US media speculated that the COVID 19 pandemic and the associated restrictions on public life in the USA have also influenced work at Lucid Motors. As an indication, the late date of the online presentation is mentioned – if the car had already been ready on the planned date in April, the online premiere could have taken place earlier and not five months later, suggests InsideEVs.

“Although we are experiencing an unprecedented time in our history, the determination of this company’s employees in developing a game-changing electric vehicle burns ever more brightly,” said Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of Lucid Motors. “Our mission is to deliver sustainable luxury with class-leading range in the form of the Lucid Air, and we are closer than ever to turning that dream into reality.”

Lucid plans to complete the first construction phase of the production facility in Casa Grande in the US state of Arizona before the end of this year, so that the first vehicles will probably be delivered from early 2021. It is, by the way, the first plant to be built in the USA specifically for electric cars – both the Tesla plant in Fremont and the Rivian plant in Normal were built by other manufacturers for the production of burners and were only later taken over by the electric manufacturers. Lucid Motors says it has hired 160 new employees in the last 90 days alone. More than 700 new hires are planned by the end of this year.

However, Lucid did not specify precisely what the first phase of construction would involve. A photograph of the construction site has now been published and already shows two halls finished from the outside. According to reports, Lucid is already testing the first production equipment inside the buildings, probably mainly the painting line. In the memo, Peter Hochholdinger, Vice President of Manufacturing, confirms this not directly but points out the effort Lucid is putting into it. “We’re building a brand-new factory to produce the world’s first true luxury EV,” says the former Tesla production manager. “That requires an incredible amount of effort and planning, with our ‘just-in-time’ model continuing to serve us well as we enter this critical home stretch.”

The top version of the Lucid Air is supposed to have a range of more than 400 miles (644 kilometres), which the Tesla Model S Long Range Plus has now also achieved – so Lucid will not be able to rely on this marketing. In February, Rawlinson announced that the Air would have a 900-volt system and, thanks to some efficiency improvements in the powertrain, will be able to cover the 400 miles with a smaller battery than the 130 kWh initially mentioned. No new capacity was mentioned. This will probably not be available until 9 September.

Source: via Email, insideevs.com, techcrunch.com