The Lucid Air. Have you ever heard of this vehicle?

@fun4us2b 1000HP = 750kW (rounded up from 1HP = 746W).

I don't know this car's motor specifications but if it works at 500V as I think fairly typical for EVs, that takes a current of (750 000 / 500) = 1500 Amperes at full power, ignoring losses which would likely be quite heavy!

All right, let's say two motors in parallel: 750A per motor and control-circuit; still 1500A from the battery pack, at full chat. The latter level normally associated with steel-making furnaces and the like.

Is this correct? I wonder what is the battery capacity? And battery life? I can't imagine a power consumption on that scale, but if it is right, I can't imagine it will get you very far, especially on continental distances.

@ArishMell peak hp, so doesn't do it for long....746,000 watts! I dont get the the whole thing either, like electric heat must burn through battery capacity.

@fun4us2b Advertising puffery rather genuine figures, I fear.

I understand EV batteries are not intended to be either run totally flat or charged to their nominal maximum, either, but that latter problem might disappear.

@thisguy20 It and its "Gravity" stable-mate have only just been developed... but let's examine the maker's web-site.

Outwardly it is a 5-seat saloon car not especially distinguishable from any other battery-electric saloon car of similar size and type.

Inside though....


[u]No gauges?[/u] [i]Oh yes it has![/i] Digital and pictorial - the web-site photographs show a sprawl much greater than I expected, of electronic displays and touch-controls, even for the heating /air-conditioning. You won't see these in motion from outside unless following it in your own car; and they will be off so invisible when the car is stationary and locked.

[i]No keys or door handles[/i].... Some aspects of some all-electric cars are meant to be controlled via your portable 'phone! Maybe this is. At the very least it will have a radio fob, but if with no mechanical lock I think that a mistake because if the fob is lost or broken, or its battery is flat, you cannot open the driver's door and drive it. Presumably the door opens electrically. Ridiculous over-engineering, but attracting the gadget-conscious types who must have everything the latest and as electronically indirect as possible.

[u]No spare tyre.[/u] That is very common now, almost normal even, with both EV and i.c. cars. The fitted, so-called "run-flat tyres", or supplied emergency tyre-filler spray, allow you to reach a tyre dealer, at reduced speed. In both cases the tyre is irreparable and can only be replaced. However, electric cars have to have much heavier-duty tyres than their petrol or diesel equivalents to cope with the vehicles being much heavier than them; and so might be less easily punctured.

Those on this thing will be stronger still to cope with its performance claims that make me question if the range claims are really true, and if so, only by skilled driving obeying the speed limits!


[u]No Chrome trim[/u]. As is normal now. Extra build cost, not necessary; and once water penetrates the plating, the steel soon corrodes and the plating flakes off.

[u]No bumpers.[/u] The front panel might be of plastic, but anyway made to deform to absorb some of the shock of a collision. The days of ostentatious bumpers and lamp trims covered with half an acre of chrome, and designed so whatever they hit comes off the worse even if a human being, are long gone!

Modern cars have to have structural areas that will crumple, considerably reducing the forces transmitted to the occupants. Let's face it, the driver and passengers are each considerably more valuable than even the most expensive car, far harder to repair and in extremis, cannot be rebuilt or replaced.


No bench seat? The photos are not very informative but the rear-view mirror image in one suggests three, perhaps individual, rear seats. The car still seats five people, possibly more comfortably and safely than on a bench-seat, even with everyone wearing their seat-belts. Given the claimed performance the "Air" and "Gravity" might need more sophisticated belts, depending where it is sold, hence different seat types.

[u]No radio? [/u]Oh yes it has, of some sort. See my note above, about displays. The waffle promises [q]The truly immersive listening experience along with enhanced in-car active audio safety features. [/q]. Give them another $2900 and its standard "Surreal sound" becomes "Surreal sound Pro" - whatever all that hyperbole means! Perhaps they don't know what "surreal" actually means......

[i]Soft-tops[/i] are still luxury options, generally, but a glass roof appears to be an option on this car, and that is probably retractable.

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So I think your review missed a few points!

@NothingLikeYou of course I do

@BloviatingBuffoon my Polestar is the best car I have ever "owned," as to the fun of driving it. I do wish it was made in the US. They are building a plant in the US but, I think it will initially only make the new SUV, and I like driving a sedan.

@ArishMell No. I browsed some electric cars recently, but I had no reason to road test them. I'm not in the market for one. I am not thrilled with the technology.

@ArishMell If you are a car enthusiast, once you actually drive an EV you will fall in love. The instant power to the drive wheels is amazing. My Polestar has 2 electric engines directly driving each set of wheels. If you kick down on the accelerator, you can feel the real power. It isn't something needed too often, but, certainly makes entrance onto a highway less intimidating. The dashboard took exactly 20 mins to conform to my liking and I was used to it immediately.

The technology can be a bit overwhelming, i do feel still, as if I am driving a computer on wheels, but the conveniences afforded are wonderful. Even my wife loves getting into it and saying, okay Google take me to...., and the car then brings up the route.

I did have one catastrophic failure. One over the air update stalled in the process and the car had to be flat bedded to the dealer to reinstall the new software. Updates since have gone flawlessly. You get used to no key, my car has a fob, with alternate control by my cell phone. My wife's Audi Q5 also uses a fob, no key. That took some getting used to, as did no starter button to either turn the carbon or off. That still bugs me at times, i walk away and make sure the mirrors fold on to show the car is off and locked.

The greatest joy, driving past gas stations. The down side of that, i have to remember to clean my windshield if dead bugs.

@samueltyler2 To me, a car is a tool to move me and anything I wish or need to carry, from A to B!

I appreciate many motorists also see their cars as some sort of hobby, and I was very interested in custom building at one time although never had the money, means or skill to do any more than a few mods to a motorbike.

As you indicate though the more you build into a car the more there is to go wrong, and less likely it is anyone can repair it at the roadside. There must come a point where the manufacturers are not making the vehicles any better or more useful, just more complicated to impress buyers; and having to use a radio fob or a phone to open the doors does not necessarily make it any more secure. I would regard using a phone to do so, as frankly absurd.

The criminals already have the means to evade such precautions by emulating the fobs, although they do need eavesdrop to do that so it might not as serious a problem as sometimes thought.

My car uses a radio fob for the doors but no further, and on a key. so if the radio fails I can still use the car. I don't think it would unlock the tailgate though.


I know a couple who bought an electric car about four years ago. I'm sure the vehicles have improved since but they tell me they daren't use the heater in cold weather, while the journeys he sometimes needs make require an intermediate re-charge each way, where his previous, petrol car would take him their and half-way back on one tank-full.

Someone on another forum recounted how the electrically heated seats in his car, something costly like a BMW, had stopped working. The dealer advised him that it was because he now needed a "subscription" to use the feature! The writer's response to this blatant scam, was simple, point-blank refusal. After all, he did not [i]need[/i] heated seats; still less "need" pay an annual fee for what needs only an on/off switch.

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"Driving past gas stations" is all very well, but only if you don't need find a charger anywhere; with the risk of it being out of order or at least already occupied so lengthening your journey even more.

I'm not sure how you connect that with cleaning the windscreen though!

Now there's an odd point. For quite some while now people have pointed to the far fewer dead insects accumulating on car windscreens as a sign of seriously reduced insect populations. A friend suggested that is probably at least partly true but also this: cars now are so aerodynamic that the slipstream lifts the tiny animals clear before the car can hit them.