Up until now, thos buying premium electric cars have faced a stark dilemma: Either choose the EV that represents the leading edge of performance, range, and efficiency—yes, that would be the Tesla—or choose the EV that’s a more holistic luxury car in terms of features, styling, refinement, and build quality.
The 2022 Lucid Air, with its EPA range rating of up to 520 miles, and its shockingly small, “miniaturized” motors, gearbox, and inverter, should signal a reckoning for Tesla—and it’s clearly rattled its crosstown rival. More than that, it’s the new leading edge for EV technology. The Air doesn’t mimic Tesla’s preeminence, but builds on it with a car that, from our first look, could be even more impressive. . . .
A comprehensive assessment of the car will have to come later. In the meantime, here are a few key observations for the EV-savvy to help distinguish Lucid’s flagship from the rest of the crowd—and from Tesla.
2022 Lucid Air
Mind-boggling thrust into triple-digits
I tested the Air in its debut $169,000 Dream Edition Performance form, with the full 1,111 hp, which enables a 0-60-mph time of as little as 2.5 seconds, and a quarter-mile time of 9.9 seconds. My drive didn’t include a launch from a standing start, but it did include one quick burst of, well, more than a few seconds. And separately, from a 10-mph rolling start, I floored the accelerator, arriving at about 80 mph in three-something seconds. From a brief sample, the Air’s propulsion system has a sharpness and eagerness at nearly triple-digit speeds that I’ve never before felt in an electric car—yes, the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S included, although I haven’t yet driven the Model S Plaid.
Tuned for comfort and fun
Based on this short introduction, the ride and handling are a most pleasant surprise. The feel is fluid yet tidy. Heading into a decreasing radius exit ramp, the front end loaded up predictably and on the exit I could feel just a bit of weight transfer to the back. If I would have had an open stretch of tarmac like a skidpad, I would have tested if the Air is as willing to send power to the rear as it teases. A car with a curb weight of 5,050 pounds isn’t going to be a rally racer or autocross champion.. However, given this small sample, it appears the Air will still manage to be fun.
The Air has no air suspension
Pausing to look at the layout for a moment: Lucid considered an air suspension, like what’s used by Tesla in the Model S, but decided against it, mostly for one simple word that kept coming up: predictability. Lucid explained a coil-and-air-spring setup has hysteresis, or lag, which started to lead to compromises in the damping that would affect ride and handling.
We like the isolating yet responsive configuration the team came up with instead. The Air has a five-link strut front suspension, with an integral-link setup in back, with solenoid-controlled active dampers at all four wheels. The five-link front arrangement was added late in the Air’s development and was designed to purge torque steer and make sure that understeer and weight transfer stay the same whether in regenerative braking or foundation (friction) braking. The Air has a mechanical variable steering rack that has a very confident, easygoing feel on center.
No need for launch mode—but maybe fast-charge preconditioning
Buyers won’t need any special workarounds or special conditioning to rip off 2.5-second 0-60 mph runs. They’ll just have to activate Sprint mode and have more than a half a charge. There are no limits on repeatability either.
Fast-charging can actually be more demanding on the battery, and owners may need to precondition the car, with interface details yet to be announced. The Air has the fastest DC fast-charging in the industry, at an actual 300-kw peak charging power. Don’t get this confused with other EVs that list compatibility with 350-kw fast-charge connectors; the Air makes darn close to the most of it. At a consumption of 4 miles per kwh, Lucid says that amounts to up to a 1,200-mile-per-hour peak charging speed. Or, in terms of actual charging stops, 300 miles added in 20 minutes. . . .
