By the tip of 2024, Lucid Motors expects to start delivering its second providing, an all-electric SUV referred to as the Gravity. I used to be not too long ago invited to take a look at a pre-production copy at a small personal Lucid occasion on the Basic Automotive Membership in Manhattan.  

Whereas I used to be anticipating to seize some distinctive content material on the automobile, I wasn’t anticipating Lucid’s CEO and CTO, Peter Rawlinson, to point out up unexpectedly and invite me to hop into the automobile for a 20-minute one-on-one dialog in regards to the Gravity, the state of issues at Lucid, the corporate’s funds and successful the vary race via effectivity, however that is precisely what occurred. 

Rawlinson is a wonderful CEO to interview, for my part. That is as a result of, as is the case with the CEOs of the opposite U.S.-based EV startups, Tesla and Rivian (led by Elon Musk and RJ Scaringe, respectively), Rawlinson may be very a lot concerned within the engineering of his firm’s automobiles and understands each side of them.

Earlier than working at Lucid, Rawlinson held the title of Chief Engineer at Lotus, Principal Engineer at Jaguar, was the Chief Engineer of the Mannequin S, and held the place of VP of Automobile Engineering at Tesla throughout his tenure there. He is aware of his stuff.

Rawlinson was additionally featured in a number of of Lucid’s movies within the Tech Speak sequence which are deep dives into Lucid’s tech and clarify the engineering in easy phrases so anybody can comply with. I extremely suggest checking them out as they’re simply as satisfying to look at as they’re informative.  

Lucid Gravity effectivity comparability

Throughout our chat, Rawlinson revealed how the corporate selected a squircle-shaped steering wheel for Gravity. To be trustworthy, I did not know squircle (sq. with rounded edges) was a legit phrase till now, however evidently, it’s.

The CEO even provided his ideas on a steering yoke and stated he would not thoughts it for straight-line freeway driving, however not for driving round city or in emergencies. He additionally added that they made 25 totally different iterations of the squircle wheel earlier than deciding on the one which’s going into manufacturing. 

Rawlinson additionally defined how the motors used within the Gravity are barely extra environment friendly than these at present used within the Air, and the battery chemistry is barely totally different which produced an enchancment. The Gravity is claimed to supply 440 miles of vary on a battery pack estimated to be 92 kWh to 112 kWh, half the scale of some behemoths on the market. The main focus is on effectivity, not stuffing in additional battery cells; “vary via accountability,” Rawlinson stated. 

It is also clear that Lucid is concerned a bit by reporting that focuses on the corporate’s present losses as a substitute of explaining how startups usually lose cash for a decade as a result of they’re in fixed enlargement mode as they construct factories and put money into future merchandise, and Rawlinson took a while to verify he obtained his level throughout about that truth.

He additionally spoke about Lucid’s next-generation platform. It’ll launch mid-decade, and permit the corporate to go down-market and provide extra inexpensive automobiles.

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There are nonetheless a number of unknowns with the Gravity. Lucid, and Rawlinson right here, said that the Gravity can have a beginning worth that is just below $80,000 and can qualify for not less than some portion of the federal tax credit score, however what’s going to that model seem like?

It is uncertain it is going to have the most important battery pack choice and the 440+ mile vary Lucid has been touting, however we haven’t any info on battery pack choices or trim ranges but.