Lucid Motors Beats Tesla by Range, Goes 520 Miles on Charge, EPA


Lucid Motors, a start-up automaker, has ousted the dominant electric car manufacturer Tesla, as the manufacturer of the electric vehicle that can go the farthest on a single charge.

Lucid’s premium Air Dream Edition Series can drive 520 miles on a fully charged batteryIt beat the Tesla Model S Long Range by more than 100 miles, previously the car that could go the farthest on a single charge, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday.

How far electric cars can travel before being plugged in – a measurement known as range – is important because Infrastructure for charging vehicles is in its infancy, and charging a battery can take hours, depending on the vehicle and charger.

President Biden and other world leaders want people to switch to electric vehicles to combat climate change. But that’s unlikely to happen until the auto industry allays fears that drivers will be stranded with no plugs or have to wait hours for their cars to refuel.

Until faster charging stations are found, automakers are trying to find electric cars that can travel longer distances on a fully charged battery. Tesla, which produces about two-thirds of the electric vehicles sold in the United States, has long won this competition and has produced several cars that can travel more than 300 miles without recharging. Many automakers have struggled to reach this threshold or go far beyond.

Lucid and CEO Peter Rawlinson, a former Tesla engineer, have said for months that their cars will go further than Teslas because they are more aerodynamic and use smaller, more efficient engines and other components. The EPA has given official confirmation of these claims.

“Importantly, this milestone was achieved with Lucid’s world-leading in-house EV technology, not just by installing an oversized battery pack,” Mr Rawlinson said in a statement.

Tesla is expected to face much more competition soon, including Lucid and Rivian, another start-up that is expected to start delivering electric pickup trucks to customers this month. Traditional automakers like General Motors and Volkswagen are also stepping up their efforts. Ford Motor plans to sell an electric version of the F-150 pickup truck, the most popular vehicle in the United States, next spring.

But Lucid’s cars will occupy a luxury place in the market. The Air Dream Edition starts at $169,000 ahead of federal and state incentives, but the company says it will eventually offer more affordable versions of the Air, including one that will sell for around $77,000. The company is also working on a sports utility vehicle.



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