Lucid has assembled the first units of its battery sedan, Air. The car shapes up to be a serious rival to the Tesla Model S, which has less range and much cheaper trim.
Within the next two years, the ambitious startup company plans to ramp up the production to 90,000 annual units. This may not seem like much on an industry-wide scale, but for a new player in the EV market, the number is highly impressive.
The $169,000 top spec called Dream will be the first to ship in October. It offers officially confirmed 836 km (520 miles) of driving range on a charge, a record figure. The longest-range Tesla can do 160 km (100 miles) less than that. Of course, it also costs nearly half of the Air Dream.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said his company finally freed its customers from range anxiety. The next goal would be to lower the pricing across the board. The $77,400 Air Pure will become the new entry-level spec when it ships late next year.
Last month, Lucid announced two other high-end modifications of the Air. The former is called Performance and packs 1,111 PS (1,096 hp / 817 kW) and needs 2.5 seconds for a sprint to 60 mph (97 km/h). The latter commands 933 PS (920 hp / 686 kW) and needs 0.2 s more than that. Both hit their speed ceiling around 270 km/h (167 mph).