Buying an all-electric vehicle isn’t for everyone. If you can’t charge it at home (preferably during off-peak hours) or at work, you’ll have to resort to fairly expensive DC fast chargers that may not be available or may not work properly. Since a new Lucid Air isn’t as affordable as a popular commuter device, your time (and safety!) is probably important to you. Queuing for electrons may not be something you want to do on a regular basis.
But a trip into the world of battery-powered vehicles can be worthwhile! This is especially true if the car is the Lucid Air Grand Touring.
With a starting price of $110,900, the 819-horsepower sedan is a real rival for the Mercedes-Benz EQS, BMW i7, Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S. While the model you’ll see in the photo gallery and Out of Spec Motoring video below is powerful and reasonably well equipped in this Grand Touring trim, it still has some fairly pricey options. You can’t avoid spending a little more if you want more bells and whistles on your next car.
For example, this particular model has the split panoramic glass roof for $4,000, the Stealth package (black-out) for $7,500 and the Santa Cruz Extended Leather interior for $5,500. All these extras turn it into a nearly $128,000 EVIf you pay for DreamDrive Pro, which adds the hardware needed for a possible semi-autonomous driving feature, your Air GT’s MSRP will be just over $130,000.
If you’re willing to take a bigger drop, you could buy three brand new rear-wheel drive Model 3 Long Range Highlands. This electric vehicle is eligible for the federal electric vehicle tax credit, meaning you’d end up saving around $25,000.
Photo: Out of Spec Motoring on YouTube
If you don’t care about the new car smell and would rather avoid the depreciation without GAP insurance, you could also consider buying two Taycan 4S and one base rear-drive Taycan, which will cost about the same as what Lucid is asking for a brand new Air GT.
But you’d still be downgrading. Yes, not even a used Porsche can be as good as this American-designed and built electric car.
Lots of tricks up our sleeve
Why? Well, first of all, it has a 118-kWh Battery with a superior 900+ V architecture, meaning the electric vehicle can make the most of DC fast chargers that can deliver energy at a rate of 350+ kW. Although it can deploy a herd of 819 horsepower (if the battery is at a suitable level of charge), the Air GT has some of the most efficient engines on the market. Combine that with 19-inch wheels with aerodynamic plastic covers and low-rolling resistance tires, and you should be able to enjoy a luxurious sedan with an EPA range of 512 miles (824 kilometers).
The electric vehicle doesn’t have air suspension, but it does have adjustable shock absorbers. Together with the soundproofing, they do a pretty good job. Keeping the noise out and isolating the occupants from the rigors of the road is no mean feat for this 2.3-ton, zero-emission machine with a spacious front and rear compartments and a palatial cabin.
But let’s take a look at what this expensive electric car can really do in practice. More specifically, we’re talking about a journey that began north of California City, Kern County, California, at the Honda Proving Center.
Photo: Out of Spec Motoring on YouTube
The driver chose to put the Air GT in “Smooth” driving mode, which is similar to BMW’s Comfort mode or Rivian’s All-Purpose mode. This mode prioritizes both comfort and efficiency, but avoids compromises like turning off the air conditioning and turning on only the ventilation to save electrons. The man also took advantage of the seats’ ventilation and massage functions.
He set the regenerative braking to high so the electric vehicle could add some electrons to the battery and reduce the thickness of the brake pads. The other option was standard, which is not as aggressive.
So that it proves itself
The trip started at around 10am with a charge level of 99 percent. The outside temperature was 30°C, which may sound trivial, but it is important to remember that EV batteries are affected by both very low and very high temperatures. The management system must keep the high-voltage energy storage device at an ideal operating temperature to protect the cell chemistry and ensure minimal degradation over the long term, while also preparing the battery for a good charge. This is not as easy as it seems.
After driving around 290 kilometers at speeds between 64 and 113 km/h, the electric vehicle’s on-board computer showed an efficiency of 6.4 kilometers per kWh. This is impressive considering that the outside temperature rose to 34.4 °C.
Photo: Out of Spec Motoring on YouTube
The driver then clocked up another 164 miles, at an average speed of about 55 mph (89 km/h), bringing the battery’s charge level up to 50 percent. Based on personal calculations, he could still have driven over 260 miles (418 km) with that amount of energy, which is impressive. That’s what some electric vehicles, like the Taycan 4S, manage on a full battery!
The driver took a well-deserved break and ate something, almost exactly when the electric vehicle was at 25 percent charge. He didn’t stop to charge the car. He had to stretch a little. This tells us one thing: electric vehicles with a range of less than 500 miles are nothing to sneeze at. It’s usually recommended to take a short break of 10 to 15 minutes every two hours when driving a car. This will ensure that you stay alert and your back doesn’t hurt.
Avoid seizure of DCFCs
So why not stop at a DC fast charger for a quick charge? This makes sense, especially with the Taycan 4S mentioned above, which can charge incredibly quickly thanks to its 800V battery.
However, if you’re the type of person who wants to drive as much as possible before stopping to refuel/charge the car and recharge, the Air GT is one of the best options. Of course, that’s if you don’t need to tow or haul anything heavy. Then you should look at the Chevy Silverado EV 4WT or RST. If your main occupation is hauling heavy loads from one place to another, a conventional vehicle is still more convenient than a battery-powered vehicle. That’s just the truth, not our opinion.
The man continued his journey with the Lucid Air for about 40 miles at an average speed of about 70 mph (113 km/h). As he used the built-in navigation to select a charging station, the preconditioning feature kicked in to prepare the battery for an ideal high-power charging session.
He arrived at the Electrify America location with a six percent state of charge after driving exactly 400 miles (644 km). The outside temperature dropped to 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24.4 degrees Celsius). The wind was also making itself felt. The initial estimate was that he would have had to wait about an hour and 40 minutes before he could drive off. The charging speed was limited to about 140 kW at less than 10 percent state of charge, which prompted him to move the car to another station.
Photo: Out of Spec Motoring on YouTube
The other 350 kW donor was functioning normally, meaning the Air GT started sucking the electrons at a rate of over 325 kW. After the 40 percent charge threshold was exceeded, the charging speed dropped to just over 200 kW.
The man charged the EV to 90 percent, which meant he spent about 50 minutes at the Electrify America station. Note that those 50 minutes include the first charge, which was a failure. Typically, you don’t need to (and shouldn’t) charge your EV’s battery above 80 percent on a road trip. It’s more time-efficient (and considerate) to stop and quickly charge the battery four times on a 1,000-mile trip, for example, than to wait until the cells are completely filled with electrons.
However, this test required a deeper charge.
The driver continued on his route, giving the electric vehicle a chance to let off steam by setting the speed limit to 80 mph (129 km/h) quite often.
After using about 80 percent of the battery, he stopped at an Electrify America station for a second charge. After a 45-minute wait, the high-voltage energy storage unit was at 95 percent, meaning he was ready to continue the final 250-mile leg of the road trip.
Photo: Out of Spec Motoring on YouTube
The trip was uneventful, but it is worth noting that the outside temperature dropped to 15.5 °C (60 °F).
Keep your distance
The 990-mile journey ended in Arvada, just north of Golden, Colorado. The onboard computer showed a total energy consumption of 263 kWh (3.8 miles/kWh or 16.3 kWh/100 km) for the trip. That’s not as good as the Pure, which uses just one kWh for five miles under ideal conditions.
Still, the result of this real-world experiment is impressive. The chosen route featured some altitude, wind and temperature variations. The Air GT performed well, proving that an expensive, built-from-scratch electric vehicle can be just as good as a premium luxury combustion engine equivalent. It only needed two long charging stops to cover such an impressive distance.
What this trip also proved is that the sedan also has very good software, great seats, and tons of amenities. It could be ideal for a family of four looking to explore North America without pumping emissions into the air. If the upcoming Gravity eSUV is just as good, this company certainly has a bright (and maybe even profitable) future ahead of it. My only hope is that dynamic features like those found on the Air GT will soon be found in more affordable EVs. Not everyone can spend six figures to enjoy arguably the best EV available today (if we discount the $250,000 Sapphire). The only downside is that it relies on fast-charging infrastructure that isn’t yet fully developed.
Ultimately, it’s up to you to give the Saudi-controlled company Lucid a chance. In my opinion, it deserves our support. It has the potential to become as big as Tesla or even bigger, especially since its ties with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) have already allowed it to partner with the legendary British brand Aston Martin.
