New Lucid Air 2023 review

Our first UK drive in the Lucid Air reveals a luxury electric car of rare ability and quality

Verdict

Apart from the obvious handicap of being left-hand drive, the Lucid Air works brilliantly on UK roads. It’s comfortable, fun (what wouldn’t be with this level of performance), spacious and luxurious. We’re sure the Air would sell in relatively big numbers in right-hand drive in the UK and it would probably sell a few in left-hand drive before then, too.

Plans for right-hand drive Lucids may be a little way off (although Lucid boss Peter Rawlinson did raise an eyebrow when I suggested selling left-hand drive Lucids in the UK) but Auto Express took the opportunity of Rawlinson’s recent visit to the UK with a Lucid Air to ask if we could take it for a spin. “Of course,” enthused Rawlinson. “You’ll love it.”

We’d managed to drive the Air before – in California as part of World Car Awards judging (the Air went on to win the World Luxury Car Award) – but driving on some of London’s lumpiest roads would be an even stiffer test.

It’s a test that the Air passed with flying colours. Ride comfort and EVs do not always go hand in hand, but during our hour-long drive around London’s West End and a little further out west, the Air proved to be more comfortable than most – certainly better than a Tesla Model S and a Kia EV6, and on a par with a Porsche Taycan for ride quality.

You can certainly feel the weight in the car, but searching out drain covers, potholes and other imperfections revealed a nicely damped feel to the ride that didn’t quite replicate limousine levels of comfort but wasn’t far off.

Performance is predictably spectacular, too – even if zero to 40mph was all we managed. Even in Smooth mode (Swift and Sprint are also available, the latter with a warning that it should only be used by ‘skilled drivers’ and is the only setting that uses maximum power) the acceleration will put a broad grin on your face. It’s ideal for darting in and out of city traffic, with instant reactions (amplified as you move through the modes) and power that keeps on coming.

Power is something all Lucids have by the bucket load – the Air we’re testing is a Netherlands-registered, European-spec Performance edition with dual motors (one on the front axle, one on the back) and a total power output of 1,097bhp with 1,390Nm of torque. If we were able to get to 62mph, it would take just 2.7 seconds from a standstill.

Lucid is all about efficiency, according to Rawlinson, and that not only applies to performance, but eeking every bit of energy from the battery with super-efficient motors that will enable the car to go further for every kWh of power.

The Performance model we’re in packs a 118kWh battery and will go 471 miles on a full charge; a (very) slightly less powerful Range model claims a maximum distance of 520 miles.

Efficiency also applies to charging and – thanks to Lucid’s 924-volt architecture, it can add 300 miles of range in just 20 minutes if the charger is powerful enough.

Charging’s not something we’re worrying about as we head out on the Western Avenue, prodding the throttle as we change lanes and skip past a taxi. At the relatively slow speeds of our test, refinement seems good with little road and wind noise to worry about and a more natural sound of electric motors doing their stuff when you accelerate than some of the fake tunes rival cars employ.

On slightly twistier roads and roundabouts, the steering has a nice weight to it in the Smooth setting and weights up more – still without much feel – as you move up to Sprint. Body control is good with the car staying resolutely flat through corners, thanks in no small part to the weight of the batteries.

The car does a good job of disguising its five-metre length and is easy to place on narrow city streets, even when sitting on the left. Excellent visibility all round with decently-sized mirrors help, as do the myriad cameras that also make parking easy.

The Air does feel like a Tesla with the benefit of hindsight and that rings true when Rawlinson explains how the Lucid was designed from the inside out, unlike the Tesla which he was also responsible for.

So there is acres of space with the cabin pushed forward, the windscreen flowing right over the driver’s head, giving a fantastic view of London’s skyline for anyone on board for our trip, and plenty of rear space. The boot, through a relatively narrow opening, offers a surprising 626 litres of space, while the frunk – with its pop-up false floor – is similarly surprising with an extra 283 litres of room.

Lucid also seems to have learnt a lesson from Tesla when it comes to quality, one of the biggest bugbears with its American rival. Where the Model S can feel a little cheap and brittle, the Air feels more premium and substantial with a good selection of high-quality materials used throughout the cabin – it’s pretty luxurious inside.

There’s also a more conventional approach to the implementation of tech, too. A 34-inch-wide panel sits in front of the driver, with a portrait touchscreen sitting under a row of delightful metallic buttons in the middle of the dash.

The menu system seems pretty intuitive, too, although our brief drive didn’t allow us to play with all the options and settings that are on offer – and everything you’d expect from driver assistance to luxurious massages is included.

Rawlinson is keen to point out that Lucid isn’t just a maker of hugely expensive electric cars – the cheapest version of the Air, the Air Pure with rear-wheel drive, is on sale in the US at $87,400 (£69,000). However, our top-spec Lucid Air Dream Edition Performance model costs a whopping €218,000 (£188,100), although lesser models now start at approximately half that in Europe.

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