It wasn’t too long ago when Tesla Model S broke the 400-mile range barrier and became the most efficient production EV. Then came Tesla’s party pooper, the Lucid Air, which claimed to beat the Model S’ range with ease. Many people expected it to beat the 402 miles of range by just a small margin, but Lucid Air achieved an EPA-estimated range of 517 miles, which is almost 30-percent more than its rival. There was a lot of speculation surrounding the size of the battery pack, but we now know that it was achieved on a 113 kWh pack.
Tesla Has A Lot Of Catching To Do
Describing the platform, Lucid said, “This achievement reflects a revolutionary and innovative approach to automotive layout and engineering packaging called the Lucid Space Concept, which capitalizes upon the miniaturization of Lucid’s in-house developed EV drivetrain and battery pack to optimize interior cabin space within Lucid Air’s relatively compact exterior footprint.”
A general notion is that bigger batteries will add more range. But, is the extra added weight and reduced interior space taken into consideration? Lucid’s CEO, Peter Rawlinson, said, “It’s relatively easy to achieve more range by adding progressively more batteries, but gaining ‘dumb range’ that way increases weight and cost, and reduces interior space. Lucid Air has achieved its remarkable range whilst also reducing battery size through its in-house technology, resulting in a breakthrough in overall vehicle-level efficiency.”
Final Thoughts
The Air is still some time away, so we’ll have to wait to see how Tesla takes on its latest rival. Do you think Lucid Air can dethrone the Model S, given that both the cars are brainchildren of the same person, Peter Rawlinson? Let us know in the comments section which vehicle you’d pick if you had to choose between the two based on the available information.