[dZired]

California-based Lucid Motors has unveiled an electric sedan named Air. The company claims that the Lucid Air will not just be a rival to the Tesla Models S, but will also be a competitor of conventionally- powered luxury sedans like the BMW 7-Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The firm is planning to start production of the car from 2018 at a dedicated manufacturing facility in Arizona.

Lucid Motors was founded in 2007. The founding team consists of Peter Rawlinson, who is a former Tesla employee, and Derek Jenkins, who previously worked with mass-market automakers like Mazda and Volkswagen. However, the company doesn't have any stand-alone experience of building a car from the ground-up. Lucid Motors initially used to develop battery technology for other manufacturers. The company started working on an aluminium-based electric car prototype in 2014, which went on to become the Lucid Air electric sedan that was unveiled recently.

The company claims that the Lucid Air will be powered by a 100 kWh battery pack. The Air is said to be capable of accelerating from 0-100 km/h in just over 2.5 seconds. Samsung SDI, the Korean electronic giant's battery-focussed arm, will be supplying the battery packs for the Lucid Air. The two companies claim that the car will be tuned to deliver a range of 400 miles (around 644 km) in a single charge. The founder had earlier commented that he expects the Lucid Air to develop around 1,000 BHP and have some autonomous functions as well.

But with no substantial automotive development experience under the company's belt, the above claims do appear a bit too tall to be true.

Source: FirstPost