Can Lucid (LCID) make 1 million EVs a yr? CEO Peter Rawlinson mentioned that is his imaginative and prescient, and Lucid has bold plans to attain it. After launching its first electrical SUV, the Gravity, Lucid will enter the mass market with its midsize platform beginning at round $50,000. Rawlinson mentioned that is “lastly once we compete straight with Tesla,” however the EV maker has even greater plans to drive progress.
After delivering the primary Gravity fashions in December, Lucid’s CEO claims the electrical SUV is “destined to be a landmark product” with an EPA-estimated vary of 450 miles.
Through the BloombergNEF Summit in San Francisco final week, Rawlinson defined how the corporate plans to turn into a powerhouse within the EV house.
Though the Gravity is an impressive-looking automobile, loaded with tech and a real 7-seater (not a 5-seater, plus two youngsters within the again, as Rawlinson mentioned a lot of its rivals provide), it’s what you’ll be able to’t see that makes the electrical SUV so distinctive.
The Gravity achieves as much as 450 miles of driving vary with a 123 kWh battery. Rawlinson mentioned the truth that it will possibly obtain such a protracted driving vary with so few batteries is a testomony to Lucid’s know-how, which he claims is the “most superior know-how on the earth.”
Lucid was the primary to launch an EV with 520 miles vary. On the Summit, Rawlinson claimed that “no person at this time is inside 100 miles of vary of the place we had been three years in the past,” referring to its luxurious Air sedan.
Lucid delivered over 10,200 autos final yr, up 70% from the 6,001 in 2023 and roughly 3,500 in 2022. Rawlinson mentioned the corporate is seeing “exponential gross sales progress,” however he expects to see issues choose up over the following few years.
Lucid is launching new EVs and tech to spice up progress
Following the Gravity, Lucid will launch its midsize platform. The platform will underpin a sedan and crossover, beginning at round $50,000. Based on Rawlinson, that is when Lucid will “compete straight with Tesla” as direct rivals to the best-selling Mannequin Y and Mannequin 3.
Nevertheless, as Rawlinson defined, “Lucid doesn’t exist to be a distinct segment luxurious producer.” Lucid is within the luxurious house “in the meanwhile” as a result of it must be for monetary assist.
It’s the corporate’s tech that might be Lucid’s trademark. With a few of the most superior tech in the marketplace, it can “cascade down,” lowering the price to mass produce EVs.
“We would like Lucid to be enormous,” Rawlinson mentioned. By the early 2030s, he envisions Lucid producing a million automobiles yearly.
Lucid plans to attain it by way of progressive steps. After launching the Air, Lucid’s first electrical SUV is now hitting the market. In late 2026, Lucid is scheduled to start manufacturing of its midsize platform.
Rawlinson believes Lucid could have a major benefit by then. For the reason that battery is by far the largest value to make an EV, with a few of the most effective know-how, Lucid will be capable to provide a aggressive vary at a lower cost level.
Not solely that, however Lucid can be creating a brand new reasonably priced “Atlas” drive unit. Rawlinson claimed the brand new drive unit might be “an absolute breakthrough” for Lucid and the planet to convey down EV prices.
The corporate is already licensing its know-how to different automakers, which could possibly be an excellent greater enterprise for Lucid than promoting autos.
Final yr, Lucid secured a tech partnership with Aston Martin to provide its proprietary powertrain tech for the British automaker’s upcoming electrical automobiles.
Rawlinson mentioned Lucid is in talks with a number of others about comparable licensing partnerships. Based on Lucid’s CEO, EV adoption will proceed to climb over the following few years, and a few OEMs might be left behind. “The practice is leaving the station,” he mentioned, and that’s why Lucid is open to strategic alliances by way of licensing its know-how.
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