I had the opportunity to drive the Lucid Air Touring for a little over a week over the holidays, and I can confidently say that the California-designed and built electric sedan passes the Canadian winter test with flying colors.
I am impressed. Let's dive into it.
I had never had the chance to drive a Lucid before. Our very own Scooter doll is our biggest reporter on the Lucid beat, and he's a huge Air fan, to say the least. His biggest complaint has been the software, which has been improving since a long time, so I'm happy to capture it in the full version of the car.
Since they were introduced in Quebec, they tried to get me into the car, but we couldn't do it. Finally, they told me that they did it for me on December 23rd.
Even though it was the holidays, I couldn't pass up the opportunity and chose the red Air Touring for my holiday trip.
I have been following the company for a long time. From their evolution as Atieva, an electronics and energy storage company, to Lucid, a full electric car maker. Driving someone felt like a long way off.
Lucid Air Touring
Now, I say it passes the Canadian winter test, and if you're from the region, you might say: “What winter?” Winters get pretty mild here, but I've had the car for a little over a week, and the timing was perfect for a real winter test.
A few hours after picking up the car in Montreal, I had to drive it back home to Shawinigan in the middle of a beautiful snowstorm. Two hours in the snow and the left lane on 40 East was plowed.
Normally, a new car I don't know and a snowstorm equals caution, and I was obviously wary, but the impressive driving dynamics of the Lucid Air quickly gave me incredible confidence.
At 5,200 lbs, it's a heavy car, but it's an incredibly well-balanced 5,200 lbs.
The Air Touring is only the third most powerful version of Lucid's flagship sedan, but I never felt like I needed more power, and that makes sense, considering it pushes out 620 hp and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in seconds. -3.4.
I could easily pass cars, even on snow, and I always felt in complete control of the car. It's a fun, comfortable drive.
Speaking of luxury, the Lucid Air is a true luxury sedan with all the luxury features you would expect and more. The level of customization also compliments the seats. You can prepare them for hours to perfection.
The backseat is also amazing. Lucid did a great job of developing the interior. The back seat feels like a limousine:
It's a great car for drivers, passengers, but trunk space is where some people criticize the Lucid Air.
I understand why, but I would argue that trunk space is not the real issue. The trunk opening is one. Very small and concise:
However, in terms of volume, it is more than decent. You just need to be able to take things in. Due to Lucid's very compact motors, there are deep hidden compartments at the bottom of the stem and frunk.
It leaves plenty of room for luggage, but again, it needs to fit and open first.
On our trip, it was just my girlfriend, our cat, and myself, but I could see this car easily fitting four people and luggage for a week.
That's a good thing because this is a great touring car, thanks to its incredible efficiency.
The Lucid Air Touring is rated for an EPA range of 406 miles (653 km), but like any other EV or gas-powered vehicle, your mileage may vary, and cold weather affects mileage negatively.
As I said, our winters are getting milder, but I had a good test of Canadian winter conditions on Christmas day. We drove from Shawinigan to Quebec City, drove around town, parked for hours in the cold without charging, then drove back to Shawinigan on one charge.
In total, it was just over 400 km (250 miles) and I got home in 27 km:
That might not seem too impressive for a 400-mile car, but the driving temperature ranged from -18 to 8°C (-1 to 18°F). If you have EV drives in those temperatures, you know this is amazing.
Most impressive is that I didn't have to compromise my drive thanks to the incredible range and efficiency.
When I drive long distances with an electric car in the cold, I usually reduce my speed to extend the distance, but this time, I got a good idea of success on the way to Quebec City, so I went in confident on the way back that I could pass without stopping to charge.
It allowed me to drive on the highway at a normal speed of 119 km/h on cruise control and do it without breaking a sweat.
Electrek's Take
That's a game-changer. There is no consensus. In Electrekwe'd like to emphasize that range isn't everything with EVs. Non-EV drivers often think you need more than 400 miles to have a viable EV. That's not good unless you drive 400 miles or more on a regular basis, which is not how most people drive.
A 200 mile EV with fast charging is a good solution for most people since you wake up with a full charge every day and a few times a year when you drive long distances, you can stop 20-40 times faster. -charging per minute, enabling you to drive 300-400 miles in one day easily.
However, things change very coldly. Once you start hitting temperatures below -15°C (5°F), the range starts to suffer, and that's when the long range becomes very useful.
Honestly, I've been driving EVs in the Canadian cold for about ten years, and it wasn't a big problem for me. If you adapt your driving, you'll be fine, and over the course of that decade, I've also seen distance prediction and efficiency improve, which helps with this problem.
But now, if you have the money, you have another solution: Lucid Air. It's a really good car, with no compromises, as long as you have the money starting with the Lucid Air Touring at $78,900 USD ($109,300. CAD).
If you do, it can be difficult to find a discount compared to other cars with similar prices. As mentioned before, the software has been a problem with previous versions of Air.
I only ever had access to the latest version of the Lucid software and despite some issues, I found it to be more than decent, especially compared to older car manufacturers.
It has Apple Carplay included for those who like it, but the native navigation worked fine for me, and it has a native Spotify app. Personally, I don't need more than that. It's not perfect though. On two occasions, I had trouble connecting my phone to the car and had to disconnect and reconnect it several times to get it to work.
There is also plenty of room for UI customization. I'd like to see something like the passenger's media controls under the center display or to the right of the upper display.
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