Shortly before Pescadero, where America ends and the Pacific begins, there is finally an end to restraint. “Holy Fuck!”, that’s all I can say. Full of rapture. The car just won’t stop accelerating. The road in front of me is getting narrower and narrower, the sea on the right a blue stain, the coming curve a promise.
A look at the speedometer. No highway patrol, please. Just under 70 km/h, a brief twitch of my right foot, suddenly a good 200. In what? five seconds?
My life flashes by like Highway 1 in my car window. My driving life. 35 years, 25 of them professionally. Hundreds of models, very fast, very beautiful, many electric, some fascinating.
Pure driving luck: Hauke Schrieber has the drive of his life behind the wheel of the Lucid Air Dream Edition Performance.
And now this: Lucid Air Dream Edition Performance. Five words for a hallelujah. The ride of my life. It leads from Lucid Motors’ headquarters in Newark, California, through Silicon Valley, along the Pacific Coast Highway and along the winding, hilly Route 9 back through the forest. 263 kilometers of pure driving pleasure – in almost every car.
The 118 kWh battery is good for 721 kilometers
If I had the 19-inch wheels on it instead of the 21-inch wheels – it would be 753 kilometers. And in the “Air” version with slightly less power, the range is even 832 kilometers. “The Mercedes EQXX study only exists because of us,” Lucid boss Peter Rawlinson tells me before I get in.
Not perfect yet: the bold decorative seam of the cockpit is reflected in the window, the wind noise is quite loud.
Lucid is financed primarily by the Saudi Arabian state fund. The Saudis just ordered 100,000 Air. This one is enough for me today.
The fun starts at $169,000
I sit in front of a slightly curved 34-inch instrument under a huge glass roof and drive the bridge over San Francisco Bay. I hear loud wind noise on the A-pillar and think: $169,000?
Economical electric super athlete: At 200 km/h, the consumption of the Lucid Air Dream Edition Performance increases to just 30 kWh.
Acceleration is powerful and effortless
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Short break for car and editor. When “refueling”, the Lucid Air could now recharge 300 miles in 20 minutes.
It can be charged with over 300 kW
Break at Pescadero. I charge it briefly for a photo, but the battery is still almost full. The charging power of the Air is enormous: ideally over 300 kW. The 924-volt electrical system ensures that the Air could cover a distance of 480 kilometers in 20 minutes. Bidirectional charging also works. So it’s no wonder that Eric Bach christened the onboard charger “Wunderbox”.
In Pescadero I meet a man named David Beswick in a café. He can’t believe he’s seeing a Lucid in the wild. A few hundred have been sold so far; the Lucid plant in Arizona is also suffering from the chip shortage, pandemic, war.
“I’ve already ordered it, it will replace my Volvo,” says big, strong David, who still has endless space in the Air. Audi A6 dimensions, but A8-L space, that’s how they measure it at Lucid. In addition, the driver assistance system “Dream Drive Pro” with lidar, radar, camera, a total of 32 systems.
Lucid Motors will start in Germany in 2022
Also in Germany. Lucid Motors will join us later this year. The first showroom has just opened in Munich. The ride of my life, it’s getting a sequel.
