Elegant, efficient and luxurious pretty much sums up the Lucid Air Pure base model EV sedan, which gets the price down while still keeping it special.
It’s a stunning EV that even in its base trim drives the final nail in the coffin of range anxiety.
After spending a week with the Lucid Air Pure, among my first thoughts: this is exactly the kind of car Cadillac or Lincoln should be building.
Doing well over 300 miles on the interstate, even at more than 75 miles per hour, doesn’t faze the base-model; which has Lucid’s smallest battery pack.
Lucid Air Efficiency
Despite its luxury and size, which we’ll get to in a moment, the EPA says the Air Pure still manages to squeeze more out of its 88 kWh battery than a Mini Cooper SE EV or even a Tesla Model 3. According to the EPA, the Lucid takes about 25 kWh to travel 100 miles while the Mini needs 31 and the Tesla needs 26.
During more than 400 miles of primarily interstate driving EV Rider saw an average of 3.7 miles per kWh with the Lucid’s guessometer showing 382 miles of range with a full charge.
The efficiency numbers look even more impressive when comparing the Lucid to models buyers are most likely to cross shop, such as the Audi E-Tron GT, Tesla Model S or Mercedes EQS-Class Sedan.
Roomy Interior
Up front the driver and passenger will find comfortable 12-way power-adjustable seats along with an elegantly designed dashboard with a 34-inch, touch-sensitive instrument cluster display made up of three screens that are blended together. On the right side of the upper display is another vertical display below it, which Lucid calls a Pilot Panel.
The panel retracts when not in use to reveal storage that adds to what’s available in the center console, door pockets and glovebox. Speaking of the center console, you’ll find two smartphone holders, one of which includes wireless charging. Opening the console reveals the cupholders, additional storage and charging/data ports.
The base Pure cuts some luxury corners but it’s nothing that checking a few option boxes won’t fix for those that want stuff like blistering-fast sub-second 0-60 times, more tech or perhaps a glass roof.
The base model’s stereo is probably the car’s weakest link. Cranking the bass or treble makes hardly any difference. Audiophiles will want to spring for the available Surreal Sound Pro.
The base model has a nice implementation of HD Radio, Satellite Radio and Apple Car Play with installed apps like Spotify and iHeartRadio.
There’s no Android Auto currently available but that’s easily fixed by plugging an aftermarket converter box into the data port, which also adds full Android.
The Air’s rear seat has plenty of legroom at 37.8 inches along with a fold down center armrest with storage and cup holders. Rear seat passengers will also find individual air conditioning controls and power ports for smartphones or other electronics.
This is a true 5-passenger sedan with a good-sized trunk and funk up front. One neighbor said the Air’s rear passenger area reminded him of the space available in a Lincoln Town Car.
When it’s time to hit the road travelers will find a decent-sized trunk and a secondary trunk in front.
Despite having a skateboard battery design the Air manages to keep its profile sleek and low to the ground, while still maintaining headroom.
Our Pure cornered like it’s on rails. I’ve driven modern BMWs, Mercedes and Cadillacs. Trust me when I say Lucid nailed the handling dynamics. The Arizona-made sedan somehow manages to perfectly blend the cornering of a BMW with the smoothness of a Cadillac.
The Air is vault-quiet with no rattles and the materials feel like they will hold-up well over time.
Acceleration from our rear-drive model was crisp with a factory-rated 4.5 second 0-60 mph. If you want to beat exotics at the drag strip you’ll want to spring for the all-wheel-drive Sapphire trim, which knocks the 0-60 time all the way down to 1.89 seconds with a mind-numbing 1,234-horsepower from its three motors. But ready for some Sapphire sticker shock which we’ll go over in just a bit.
Charging Speed
Lucid says the Pure base trim will add 200 miles of range in 17 minutes under ideal charging conditions to its 88 kWh battery while the Grand Touring trim reduces that time to 12 minutes.
During our week with the Lucid Air Pure, EV Rider saw a peak charging speed of 178 kW. The higher trim models have a peak-rated speed of 300 kW.
The Pure has an estimated range of 410 miles while the Grand Touring edition with its bigger 118 kWh battery is rated at 515 miles per charge. The Air comes with CCS DC fast charging. Lucid says NACS adapters will be made available to customers in 2025, giving them access to Tesla’s Supercharger network.
The Air gets just about everything right but in terms of the little stuff that could be improved: the dash lets you display your range or battery percentage, but not both. The center stack is gorgeous but the navigation can’t be set to display while at the same time choosing a different display above it.
While the Lucid relies heavily on touchscreens it does still include physical controls for things like radio volume, air conditioning and a stalk-mount gear selector.
The base trim skips a front-camera and 360-view, instead it shows the driver front distances in feet and inches (imperial or metric can be chosen in the settings). The base model doesn’t include self-steering on interstates but otherwise includes most of what you would expect, such as adaptive cruise control.
The Pure has three driving modes, Smooth, Swift and Sprint, along with up to five customized driver profiles that can be set for things like seat and steering wheel positions.
The Pure’s base price at the time of this video’s production was $69,900, with the only option being the car’s Fathom Blue Metallic color, which was $800.
You can bump the price all the way up to a quarter million dollars if you decide on the insanely fast Sapphire edition. While the Lucid’s pricing is competitive for the Air Pure, the Sapphire edition is more than double the cost of a Model S Plaid, which started at $87,990 at the time of this story’s posting. The Paid has a rated 0-60 mph time of 1.99 seconds.
On the other hand, if you want to join the under 2 seconds club, the price isn’t out of line when you consider cars like the Bugatti Chiron ($5.3 million) or Rimac Nevera ($2.2 million, estimated)
Automotive pricing frequently changes so the cost of any of these vehicles may have changed by the time you read this.
The Air is one of the most-efficient EVs that money can buy and has the looks to match or beat the best full-size sedan designs out there.
For the full road test and additional details, watch the video at the top of this post.