Lucid Motors New Electric Sedan Giving Tesla A Run For Its Money

To start off, Lucid Motors says its electric sedan can hit a quarter-mile in just under 10 seconds, smashing Tesla’s record. That in itself is a massive feat, almost enveloping into an ego battle between Tesla and Lucid, the electric vehicle world is one to watch.

Lucid Motors has been making a lot of staggering claims in the build-up to the September 9th unveiling of its first all-electric sedan, the Lucid Air. Recently, the Newark, California-based company is not only laying its cards on the table, but taking direct aim at Tesla by claiming to have built one of the quickest production cars ever made.

The key question being, how fast? It is known that the Lucid Air can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and will have a top speed of 200 mph. But thanks to Lucid’s 1,080 horsepower, dual-motor configuration, the company now claims the Air can run a quarter-mile in 9.9 seconds “on a consistent, repeatable basis.” This is a major turning point for the automotive world because it shows that high power, consistency, reliability and comfort are all marks that can be ticked off together without one edging out the other.

“To date, it is the only electric sedan able to achieve a quarter-mile time under 10 seconds,” the company said. To be precise it’s literally 9.9 seconds.

But in the world of high-performance vehicles, that second can be translated to an hour. To put that in perspective, the Dodge Challenger Hell cat, one of the quickest cars on the drag strip, can make the quarter-mile in 9.65 seconds. That’s only with the help of a 6.2-liter V8 engine.

Thinking about it, the Lucid Air can manage a smidge slower than some of the fastest (and most expensive) hypercars in the world, like the Ferrari LaFerrari (9.8 second quarter-mile; $1.4 million price tag), Porsche 918 Spyder (9.8 second quarter-mile; $845,000), and Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (9.7 second quarter-mile; $2.4 million).

The Lucid Air is expected to cost somewhere between $60,000 and $100,000, depending on the trim level, which would make it quite the bargain if you’re shopping for performance.

How does this compare to the Tesla Model S P100D, which has already earned the reputation as the quickest EV on the market with an impressive 0–60 mph sprint in 2.9 seconds? We will just have to find out after the Lucid’s release date.

Speaking of records, Tesla achieved a new record with its Model S performance, sprinting a quarter-mile in 10.4 seconds thanks to the new “cheetah stance” update. That is mind-bogglingly fast, but still not as quick as the Lucid Air.

There is an avid obsession among electric car manufacturers with horsepower and how many seconds it takes to run to 60 mph or a quarter-mile. With fully electric engines in the picture, its a harmless obsession that creates an unbreakable bond between man and machine.