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Electric car owners can easily overcome their “range anxiety” with the announced all electric sedan, Lucid Air, and its range of over 830km on a single charge, writes Naman Arora.
Range anxiety, a fear by some customers that an electric may not be able to handle all the mileage they want before running out of juice is often considered a barrier to widespread adoption of electric cars.
The Lucid Air’s 832km range was verified independently by FEV North America in Michigan, US.
The Lucid Air, whose majority shareholder is the Saudi Arabia sovereign investment fund, was initially announced in 2016. Its CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson previously led the development of industry sweetheart Tesla’s award-winning Model S.
In a statement, Peter called it a “landmark in the history of electric vehicles”, and said: “I believe that our 900-volt architecture, our race proven battery packs, miniaturised motors and power electronics, integrated transmission systems, aerodynamics, chassis and thermal systems, software, and overall system efficiency has now reached a stage where it collectively sets a new standard and delivers a host of firsts.”
Lucid Motors and Tesla are currently the only surviving non-traditional automakers in the luxury all-electric car industry. The Air borrows many design elements from the Model S and the Model 3, hoping to outmatch Elon Musk’s baby with enhanced luxury interiors and its improved battery technology.
After the prototype was initially unveiled, the company nearly ran out of money trying to bring the car to production, a fate it might have shared with many electric start-ups, if it did not get a massive USD1 billion lifeline from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIFSA).
PIFSA has been investing part of its massive USD382 billion in a number of next-generation automotive companies, currently owning a five per cent stake in Tesla and a 5pc share in Uber.
Lucid was founded in 2007, under the name Atieva, which was focused on developing electric car battery technology. Atieva, now a division within the company, supplies Formula E with electric battery packs, giving the company a unique advantage in the development of battery efficiency
