Lucid Motors has been putting its luxury electric car through its paces. Although the Lucid Air isn’t expected to start shipping until the end of 2018 at the earliest, the company released a new video on Thursday of a prototype model test run in a Minnesota snowscape.
With temperatures as low as minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit, the Lucid Air team wanted to see if their test simulations worked in the real world. Braking systems were a key area of focus: the varying types of ice and snow put the anti-lock braking system through its paces. An all-wheel drive, powered by two electric motors, can adapt to varying surface conditions depending on the situation. The suspension is designed to make enough tire contact as needed, while 1,000 horsepower allows for high performance even in treacherous conditions like this test track.
The company is putting its efforts into developing a car that feels luxurious, with blog posts detailing individual aspects of the car’s design. The interior has been designed to cancel out external noise, with engineers studying the car’s materials to see where the most vibrations were generated. The in-car sound system is used to analyze the noise and produce an opposite sound wave, similar to how noise-cancelling headphones work, that acts against the sounds coming through. The sound system also features 12 microphones for voice-activated car commands.
In many ways, the effort is definitely needed: the car is expected to be priced at around $100,000, a steep figure for any new entrant into the electric vehicle sector. It’s a similar price to the Roadster, Tesla’s first vehicle that launched back in 2008, but where that car launched at a time when electric cars were rare, Lucid will be launching in a somewhat more crowded marketplace.
Watch the footage of the Lucid Air in action below here:
