This 1,000-HP Luxury Sedan Runs on Batteries

The Lucid Air is basically Alexa on wheels

December 15, 2016 9:00 am

A luxury e-sedan with 1,000 ponies that can do 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds? Sounds fake, right?

That’s what we thought, until we realized the company touting those specs — Lucid Motors — is the same firm that built an electric van that outran a Dodge Viper, BMW i8 and Tesla Model S.

Lucid Motors’ (formerly called Atieva) newest creation isn’t quite as powerful as the 114 MPH “Edna” van, but based on the looks of the Lucid Air’s luxe interior, we’re willing to overlook it.

With an open cabin that optimizes “every last millimeter” of space, the Air features executive seats with 55 degrees of recline, a 29-speaker sound system and employs active noise cancellation tech.

Powered by either a 100 kWh or 130 kWh battery pack that’s made for repeated fast-charging, the Air has a range of up to 400 miles, and is hard-wired with a comprehensive sensor suite as well as autonomous-ready software that can be periodically upgraded with new features.

App-friendly and outfitted with a microphones to capture voice instructions, the Air is basically Alexa on wheels — albeit a substantially more expensive ($100,000) version.

Lucid is taking $25,500 deposits for 255 “Launch” models that should be out by 2018 but, if you received a Clark Griswold-style Christmas bonus, you can put down $2,500 to reserve a standard Air.

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