Lucid teases sooner, tri-motor Air EV

US electrical automobile (EV) startup Lucid Motors has teased a brand new variant of its Tesla Model S-rivalling Air luxurious sedan that’s anticipated to have three electrical motors.

This new Lucid Air variant is ready to be revealed at The Quail on August 19 as a part of the Monterey Automotive Week in California.

A high-performance, tri-motor model of the Lucid Air has been within the works for years, and as soon as it launches will convey the struggle to the tri-motor Tesla Mannequin S Plaid.

Previous overseas reports have urged the tri-motor Air’s powertrain will debut a brand new rear axle that includes twin electrical motors making upwards of 1000kW of energy mixed.

Mixed with the prevailing front-mounted electrical motor, the tri-motor Air may produce upwards of 1200kW. That might see it pull previous the Tesla Mannequin S Plaid on the drag strip.

Tesla claims a 0-100km/h dash time of two.1 seconds for the Plaid, albeit with rollout subtracted.

Lucid has now uploaded a sequence of teasers for this upcoming Air variant with not very refined messaging that centres across the quantity three.

The newest teaser is a brief looping video that reveals three cylindrical objects that look like a part of an electrical motor orbiting one another.

The video is captioned “Three is a magic quantity”, and builds on a earlier picture exhibiting workers at Lucid’s Arizona manufacturing unit holding up three fingers.

At the moment, the Lucid Air line-up consists of the single-motor rear-wheel drive Pure and dual-motor all-wheel drive Touring, Grand Touring and Grand Touring Efficiency.

The Grand Touring Efficiency has a complete system output of 783kW, with a claimed 0-60mph (0-96km/h) time of two.6 seconds and an electrical vary of 718km in keeping with EPA testing.

The Grand Touring produces 611kW and presents as much as 830km of EPA vary relying on the wheels specified, whereas nonetheless doing the 0-60mph sprint in 3.0 seconds.

The Touring has 462kW and the Pure 358kW, with each providing a claimed vary of 653km.

Buyer deliveries of the Touring and Pure are set to start within the second half of this yr, with Lucid having launched the Air late final yr with the Dream Version.

This launch version supplied between 696kW and 828kW of energy, relying on the specification.

Batteries vary from 88kWh to 112kWh, and Grand Touring fashions help DC quick charging at as much as 300kW. All fashions function a 900V electrical structure.

Lucid not too long ago introduced it’s opening reservations for the Air in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Monaco, the Netherland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

Probably the most tantalising facet of this announcement is the confirmation of right-hand drive production, with Autocar beforehand reporting manufacturing may begin this yr, forward of deliveries to the UK in 2023.

It’s unclear at this stage whether or not this locks in an Australian launch, however the Mercedes-AMG EQS has already launched domestically and the BMW i7 is ready to reach within the fourth quarter of this yr.

Lucid solely sells the Air sedan for now, however has revealed a three-row electrical SUV known as the Gravity.

A model of this SUV can be proven off on the Pebble Seaside Concours d’Magnificence on August 21 forward of buyer deliveries in 2024.

The Lucid Gravity will reportedly provide a variation of the high-performance Air’s tri-motor electrical powertrain.

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