Lucid Air 2022 Fast Reader Review: High Quality, High Hopes

In the face of electrification, traditional car manufacturers are somewhat ahead of the game. After all, they’ve figured out the “car” part for decades; all that remains is to heckle the electrical components. Lucid, on the other hand, is in the opposite situation: after years of developing EV batteries for FIA Formula E racing, now is the time to build a car around what she has learned. This car is the Lucid Air, and a very brief rotation shows a lot of promise.

Nut soup

Before I got behind the wheel, Lucid gave me a tour of its powertrain and general assembly facility, located roughly halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. Someday Lucid will consolidate almost all parts of the automotive manufacturing process into one campus, but with only one phase of construction completed, he is currently assembling powertrains in a rented building a few miles from the facility and relying on suppliers. for certain processes such as the stamping of parts. But what’s out there now is enough to start building the premium Air Dream Edition trim, and production vehicles literally started rolling off the lines days before I arrived.

No, there are no tents to see. This is a fully baked production plan from start to finish. I haven’t been given many details about the processes of its efficiently packaged batteries and electric motors, in part because they are laden with trade secrets that Lucid says will give it an early advantage over the competition. But after watching the stators wind up and the cylindrical battery cells charging into modules where the bus bars are molded into the housing, it’s clear that Lucid wants to have as much control as possible over every inch of the most important parts. air. For example, a battery with a capacity of 113 kilowatt hours can produce a range value as prodigious as that of Lucid.

The general assembly building is filled with know-how. Each team I met on the tour had decades of collective experience in manufacturing cars or factories for Ford, General Motors and other major automakers. The processes that turn the air from part pallets into entire cars aren’t much different from how everyone does. Sure, there are smart parts, like how vehicle bodies go through a side-hardening process to better deal with the inside of the shell, but for the most part Lucid isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel.

It’s fast, but is it enough?

I heard Lucid executives pat each other on the back at the end of the driving event, noting each other how many executives and early adopters were hit by the Air’s acceleration. The problem is, a lot of electric cars can smash their heads in the headrests without a problem, but that luster wears off quickly. Survival therefore depends on whether or not the car in question can offer its owners something beyond raw g-forces, something that other automakers do not have.

The Wow Factor is going to be one of those things for Lucid, and there’s a lot of visual oomph here. Slipping in the backseat – and banging my head on the low roof – I’m met so much glass. The windshield extends almost halfway up the roof, with another massive glass panel above the rear seats. The Air might have less legroom in the back than a Honda Accord, but all that sun pouring in makes it feel more expansive.

Aesthetics play a big role in Air. The interior is filled with interesting materials, including high-quality leather and fabrics, and the overall layout is clean and uncluttered. As with other new EVs, screens abound, with the dashboard displaying a 34-inch display that covers the elements of the standard gauge cluster in addition to a unique infotainment system that I didn’t have the time to use. time to play. A center console display covers vehicle functions, air conditioning, all the other usual stuff. Perhaps the strangest part of it all is that the electric steering column can only be moved through this screen, which seems unnecessarily complicated.

My 10 minute ride is in the Lucid Air Dream Edition lineup, which doesn’t have the 1,111 horsepower of the Performance variant. But 993 hp, that’s nothing to complain about. Still, there is plenty of wiggle room on the right pedal for soft starts in its default Smooth mode. Regenerative braking is also powerful enough to get me around comfortably with one pedal around town.

Lucid’s adaptive shocks don’t have the cushiony nature of an air-based setup, but the suspension does a commendable job of absorbing freeway expansion joints in Smooth and Swift modes, and it keeps the body in place. Air flat while agitating the clover off the ramp. Unfortunately my limited time with the Air was strictly structured so I will need another crack on the car to really assess the difference between the vehicle variables.

Yes, the Air is fast, but anything with 933 hp will be fast even if the curb weight eclipses 5,000 pounds. A single speed transmission means there is nothing but forward motion, so it feels closer to a Tesla Model S Where Mercedes-Benz EQS than a Porsche Taycan and its two-speed gearbox. The Air shoots with authority far beyond double digits, unless you’re a cop, in which case I drove the speed limit the entire time.

Up to the brass tacks

Acceleration alone can provide the Lucid Air with the first impressions that get bodies through the front door, but no automaker can survive on that alone. Fortunately, Lucid has more to offer than the same G-force experiences as its main competitors. If the tech turns out to be as nice as the initial impressions, the Air should provide a more unique, expressive and styled model compared to the When-They-They-Done-This-Design-Again and Suit. EQS melted egg business. But I’ll probably need more than 10 minutes to be sure.

Editor’s Note: Travel expenses related to this story were covered by the manufacturer, which is common in the auto industry. The judgments and opinions of Roadshow staff are our own and we do not accept paid editorial content.