The Lucid Air received Motor Development journal’s Automotive of the Yr award for 2022, based mostly on its smooth styling and impressively superior expertise, which we skilled in our transient preview drive.
Lately, Design Information had the chance to spend just a few days driving an Air, and this expertise gives new context on the on a regular basis useability of this technical tour de pressure. Sadly, a lot of this extra publicity produced frustration moderately than exhilaration.
To recap, the Air Grand Touring that we drove is an
819-horsepower, $155,650 luxurious sedan boasting an EPA-estimated driving vary of 469 miles. Its 112-kilowatt-hour, 900-volt battery and silicon carbide inverter promise blazing-fast recharge instances of simply including 200 miles of vary in simply 12 minutes.
Nevertheless, we discovered that the vary estimate proved wildly optimistic throughout our freeway driving loop with the automobile consuming 215 miles of its forecast driving vary in simply 110 miles.
Compounding this downside, charging on the Electrify America 350-kilowatt charging station fell effectively wanting the anticipated charging price, which considerably elevated our charging time. The ambient temperature on the time was within the 40s, and the automobile bought heat sufficient whereas charging to activate noisy underhood followers. Nonetheless, the charging stage fell from a peak of about 123 kW at first to solely 73 kW. This cease added 62 kWh and a predicted 215 miles of vary to the battery pack in 32 minutes.
Whether or not this slower-than-expected charging velocity is Lucid’s fault or Electrify America’s fault, the actual fact is that Lucid drivers will rely on public charging networks like Electrify America moderately than a walled-garden community like Tesla’s which is constantly wonderful. This can due to this fact be a priority for individuals shopping for a Lucid, regardless of the place duty for the issue lies.
Compared to our earlier preview drive, Lucid has noticeably refined the software program controlling the steadiness between regenerative braking when lifting off the accelerator pedal and the extra aggressive deceleration of urgent the brake pedal.
The place the swap from one to the opposite was a bit of jerky earlier than, now the changeover is invisible, which makes the automobile extra enjoyable to drive briskly. And the one-pedal drive regeneration makes it doable to drive usually in common visitors with out having to even use the brake pedal until you’re minimize off by an ill-mannered driver.
That covers the EV expertise, however there’s way more to driving a automobile. Approaching the Air, the automobile robotically unlocks and presents its door handles. That is useful as a result of the automobile’s distant is a featureless black slab, inscrutable as 2001: A Area Odyssey’s monolith.
Open the door to slip behind the wheel and watch your head moving into the motive force’s seat. That low roofline that contributes to the racy sports activities automobile appears doesn’t go away a lot area for a six-footer to get into the automobile, and I knocked my hat off a few instances, although fortuitously by no means really whacked my head laborious on the doorjamb. However it is vitally shut.
There’s no energy button, so that you simply slide the column shifter into Drive or Reverse to go. Sadly, as a so-called monostable shifter that springs again to a middle place after a gear change is requested, the ensuing gear place will not be confirmed for drivers visually and by tactile really feel as it’s in polystable shifters that stay in a special place to point the gear chosen.
Underway, the Air is commendably clean, silent, and quick, as befits its price ticket. The minimalist inside escapes the drab plainness of Tesla’s cabins regardless of its lack of ornamentation. Nevertheless, it additionally lacks some practical controls that might be appreciated. Or, maybe the issue is the design of the interface on the central contact display screen.
However the seat heaters and steering wheel warmth are a few layers into the menu, which is a tedious chore to undergo each time you get into the automobile throughout chilly climate. It’s the similar for the seat coolers in sizzling climate. Radio and HVAC controls take too lengthy to seek out and use.
Normally, too many features are managed by digital buttons on the show that calls for an excessive amount of time and a focus from the motive force. That is confirmed by the automobile itself, which calls out “Hold your eyes on the highway” with regularity whereas driving the Air. The security monitor will not be the issue right here. The truth that you’ll be able to’t management the infotainment, HVAC, or navigation techniques with out taking your eyes off the highway for longer than is protected, and even the automobile is aware of it.
Lucid says that it has improved the startup time of the automobile, which is nice. However the automobile’s backup digicam and {surround} view digicam are nonetheless gradual to activate, generally turning on solely after the automobile is in Drive and transferring ahead down the road. A cool element I’ve not seen anyplace else is that parking distances are proven in inches on the surround-view digicam show, aiding with parking.
As sensible as the motive force monitor is, it was dazzled by my reflective polarized sun shades. Whereas driving towards the setting solar, with what was certainly a blinding glare mirrored off my glasses, the pc additionally often warned me to maintain my eyes on the highway whereas I used to be wanting straight forward. Later, driving away from the solar, there have been no extra of those false alarms.
One other software program concern is the automobile’s SiriusXM service. There isn’t a satellite tv for pc receiver within the automobile. As an alternative, it streams the service utilizing its wi-fi web connection. Sadly, the check automobile had a beta model of this software program, and it had beta software program conduct to point out for it, with the music ceaselessly going silent and the message “One thing went fallacious” on the show.
Whereas we will hope that the software program will enhance, what received’t change is that anybody driving the place wi-fi web service is unreliable is not going to have the SiriusXM service they might get from a satellite tv for pc sign. So bear in mind, not all SiriusXM techniques are created equal, and it’s simple to think about conditions the place Lucid’s resolution can be unsatisfactory for the motive force.
Come nighttime, the Air’s headlights solid a pleasant sample down the highway, and the automated excessive beams work effectively to establish oncoming visitors. Nevertheless, our check automobile’s driver’s aspect low beam projected a curious rectangular shadow onto the highway in regards to the measurement of the license plate on a automobile a half-dozen automobile lengths forward. Having this shadow transfer with the automobile was a bit of distracting. Hopefully, that is solely a quirk of this specific automobile’s lights.
2023 Lucid Air Grand Touring
Some excellent news: The Lucid’s Monroney window sticker exhibits that the automobile is constructed with 60 p.c U.S./Canadian components content material and that the motor and gearbox are American-sourced for meeting at Lucid’s Casa Grande, Ariz. plant.
The automobile is beautiful and cozy. It initiatives glamor. And in the proper circumstances, with a driver who has mastered the intricacies of maximizing vary and minimizing charging instances, some spectacular electrical driving feats are doable because of the Air’s spectacular expertise.
However our expertise this time round is that it is a very good automobile with apparent potential that isn’t delivering on that potential. Our expertise was like while you’ve been referred to as to the varsity principal’s workplace for some shortcoming in your conduct and knowledgeable that they’re not a lot mad as disenchanted.
Thankfully, simply as throughout these faculty days, Lucid has a lot promise we now have little doubt of its capability to quickly expunge this mark on its everlasting document.
