Yesterday Lucid Air unveiled the prototype of its new luxury electric sedan in Fremont, CA (the location of the Tesla factory). This start-up company, currently based in Palo Alto, CA has developed a 1000 HP, 300-mile range (claimed), EV with a proposed sticker price of $85,000. The VP of development, Derek Jenkins, says that the car will be "a new kind of luxury experience". (No comment from Tesla at this time.)
Lucid was founded in 2007 by former Tesla and Oracle executives as a battery company, formerly known as Atieva, and has about 300 employees. The company is backed by several multinational investors, including recent funding from the Chinese tech giant LeEco. The company has plans to construct a factory to build its cars in Casa Grande, Arizona. They expect to break ground next year, with production of the new car starting in 2018. Samsung SDI will be supplying their Lithium ion battery cells.
The initial, limited edition Air models will sell for $160,000. Subsequent models of the Air are expected to be begin at $65,000, with the "standard" model going for $85,000. The vehicle comes standard with a 100-kWh battery pack and is claimed to accelerate to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds.
This information was plucked from an article in my newspaper today written by Louis Hansen of the Bay Area News Group.
