Lucid SUV revealed

Only weeks before the eagerly-anticipated Lucid Air debuts, a follow-up SUV model due from the same company in 2023 has been photographed undisguised.

Caught with an Air on a coastal road near Pescadero in northern California, the SUV was only recently revealed by Lucid Motors founder, CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson as being in the planning phase.

“I can confirm that we’re doing an SUV off the Air platform,” Rawlinson told greencarreports.com.au.

“And I’m going to put that into production in early ’23.”

During that interview Rawlinson said a driving protype of the Model X fighter was already in existence. The photographs appear to prove that! He said the SUV would be as “awesome as the Air.”

After years of development and some delays, the Air will make its debut as a production vehicle on September 9, with deliveries scheduled to start from a new plant in Arizona in early 2021. The SUV will be built on the same production line.

Rawlinson said the plant’s paintshop was future-proofed for pick-ups, providing a sizable hint a Tesla Cybertruck rival could be on the among a number of models Lucid has under consideration in its product plan.

Going up against Tesla is pretty much Lucid’s bread and butter. It has touted over and again the Air’s superiority over the Model S based on various different criteria.

Most recently it has claimed the Lucid Air is the “fastest-charging electric vehicle in history”.

That follows on from its mind-boggling 832km range verified by independent engineers based on the tough EPA test cycle.

This time round, Lucid is saying the Air – which makes its production debut on September 9 – can charge at a rate up to 482km (300 miles) in 20 minutes.

In theory, in ideal conditions, the peak climbs even further to 32km (20 miles) in a minute!

That should hand the Lucid Air the edge over direct rivals such as the Porsche Taycan and the Tesla Model S, although charging claims are subject to outside factors that can influence results.

Apart from a record-busting range and charging, Lucid is also claiming benchmark aerodynamics for the Air and outstanding straight-line. It will also come with a sophisticated suite of driver assists systems.

Lucid says the Air achieves its astonishing rate of battery charging because of an ultra-high 900V-plus electrical architecture, custom lithium-ion battery cells from LG Chem, a “highly sophisticated” battery and thermal management system and exceptional powertrain efficiency.

An onboard charging unit Lucid modestly calls the “Wunderbox” makes the Air compatible with public charging stations up to 350kW in DC fast-charging capacity.

Lucid says it designed the Air to the Combined Charging System (CCS) standards — so it’s compatible with any open DC fast-charging station. Whenever needed, it automatically boosts voltage to charge at the quickest possible rate at any location.

The Lucid Air will also have 19.2kWh onboard AC charging with bidirectional capability.