I’m not in the market for an EV, but I do glance at cruising ranges when reading about one in the buff books. Around town, most seem reasonable, but I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t want to be restricted (or stranded) by a range-limited vehicle if I have a six-hour road trip. Some are better than others, with my expectation of 350 miles being somewhat too aspirational for most new EVs. However, Lucid is bucking that trend, setting a Guinness World Record that would make any ICE-powered vehicle envious.
The Lucid Air is a car I see somewhat often in metropolitan Phoenix. I suspect the factory in nearby Casa Grande has something to do with it. Looking at the Lucid Motors website, I note several trim levels for the Air:
- Pure ($69,900)
- Touring ($78,900)
- Grand Touring ($110,900)
- Sapphire ($249,000)
Obviously, there’s more to trim levels with Lucid than a fancier interior and wheels. The “estimated range” for the respective four trim levels are 420, 406, 512, and 427 miles all impressive considering our recent Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited AWD test car is rated by the EPA has having a 269-mile all-electric range (though the RWD version has a much more reasonable 318 miles). Considering the only EV I’ve desired—the Volkswagen ID. Buzz—can only offer a best of 234 (which seems unacceptable for a new model), the Lucid Air Grand Touring is especially impressive.
This is the same model that holds the record at Car and Driver for the longest-driving EV (at 410 miles), though now it seems it’s official, as it has set a new Guinness World Record for the longest drive on a single charge by any electric vehicle. Would you believe 749 miles?
So, how does a car that’s rated at 512 miles achieve over 200 more?
According to Car and Driver, there are several things to consider: the starting point of St. Moritz, Switzerland is 6000 feet above sea level, while the destination of Munich, Germany is 1700 feet above sea level. Though the drive between the two cities is around 220 miles, the long, scenic, and gradual downhill route can be around 750 miles. The gravity worked in conjunction with the regenerative braking system to generate the exponential improvement.
This reminds me of the old, coast-to-coast Mobil Economy Run, which was especially popular with manufacturers after World War II. Though the event was designed to show real-world fuel efficiency, companies began to find every which way to eke out fuel savings in the interest of bragging rights in marketing, even though the average driver would never achieve such results. If you thought hypermiling was a recent phenomenon, think again.
Lucid likes to brag that “with up to 512 miles of estimated range at your disposal, ‘range anxiety’ is not in your vocabulary.” While looking for a charging station and dealing with the length of time to fully charge a vehicle are other detriments to EVs, the Lucid Air appears to have removed one hurdle.
