Lucid Drops The Gravity At The Los Angeles Auto Present

Lucid Motors made a splash with the Air and has fleshed out its line with extra inexpensive choices since its introduction. The excessive worth factors have set Lucid aside as a producer of extraordinarily high-end autos, which interprets to decrease manufacturing volumes, a la Ferrari and Lamborghini, usually bolstered by juicier revenue margins that come together with these worth tags.

For established automakers, that’s a viable enterprise mannequin, however it has proved to be difficult for Lucid as a startup because it strives to construct the factories to provide the autos, the complicated world provide chains to maintain them equipped with the fitting elements, and the groups of workers to help them alongside the way in which. The Air has loved reasonable success, however in accordance with Lucid’s newest Q3 2023 investor replace, demand continues to lag behind Lucid’s manufacturing capability at its AMP-1 manufacturing facility in Casa Grande, Arizona. Simply the identical, Lucid continues to chug together with its plans to ramp up AMP-2, the place it is going to construct the extremely anticipated Lucid Gravity luxurious SUV.

The Lucid Gravity launched on the Los Angeles Auto present on November sixteenth to the general public, and CleanTechnica was in a position to spend a while with Lucid’s key executives and see the automotive forward of the present. The Gravity represents Lucid’s imaginative and prescient for the final word full-sized SUV and comes wrapped within the most interesting inside appointments one might think about. It’s bought every part from therapeutic massage seats to a selection between vegan leather-based or cow. You will get it with heated and ventilated seats, and therapeutic massage seats that can assist you keep relaxed as you gaze on the large 34″ wraparound show up entrance.

Design

Lucid prides itself on the look of its autos and repeatedly leverages design to optimize each the efficiency and the aerodynamics of the automobile. For giant autos just like the Gravity, balancing usable inside with the hefty exterior dimensions that usually include 7-seater autos was a major problem. On the skin, the Gravity contains a low sloping windshield that gives sweeping views from the within for the motive force and passenger.

A modern aero bumper cowl and Lucid’s signature lightbar make it clear it is part of the household. it from the facet, the Gravity appears to be like like a compact SUV hiding its true dimension beneath the modern strains of its design. Once we noticed the Gravity, Lucid had the suspension, which will be raised or lowered barely relying on the setting, set to the medium peak.

Transferring to the rear of the automobile, the Gravity begins to look slightly bit extra like a minivan, with a pointy wing up prime of the outsized tailgate reducing the airflow because it passes over the automobile. At a contact of a button, the big tailgate swoops open to disclose a voluminous trunk with a sub-trunk space under the floorline the place the rear seats can fold for further cargo area. It’s no shock, and truly a bit thrilling to see an SUV builder integrating among the extra utilitarian options of minivans into SUVs to ship as a lot functionality as attainable.

Up entrance, Lucid took a distinct strategy to the frunk, reducing the lid opening down into the bumper space to supply a decrease entry peak into the frunk space. This makes it simpler to load cargo into the locking hidden compartment and makes the frunk an inviting place to sit down. Lucid was clearly enthusiastic about it and constructed a brand new seat attachment that folds out of the frunk space and supplies a padded seating space. They even constructed a pair of cupholders for drinks into the frunk liner. It’s a cute loveseat-style addition that I might think about utilizing to look at the sundown or to drink a cup of espresso on an particularly crisp morning at first of a street journey.

No Compromise

The Lucid Gravity lives on the intersection of three worlds. First, Lucid’s hardcore engineering delivers maybe essentially the most highly effective and environment friendly powertrain on this planet. We skilled this firsthand within the Lucid Sapphire, and the Gravity will likely be constructed with the identical tech underneath the hood. Uncooked energy and torque look nice on paper, however what actually makes them shine is how Lucid was in a position to digitally tune the driving expertise with its software program adjustable suspension. This adjustments the way in which the automotive feels and handles in significant methods, adjusting each the suspension traits and the quantity of energy it lays down in every driving mode.

Second, the software-defined consumer expertise within the Lucid Gravity permits the motive force to configure the automobile to their precise tastes. They’ve actually gone deep with the software program and appear to have accomplished a magical job of permitting for a formidable quantity of customization of the expertise of the within of the automobile with the software program. It lets drivers actually customise the feel and appear of the automobile to provide it the fitting character they need to spend time with when driving and charging. Some individuals need to chill when in site visitors, whereas others get pumped up and need to rip out and in of the lanes. The Gravity meets you the place you’re and tailors the in-car digital expertise to get you the place you need to be each bodily and emotionally.

And at last, the Lucid Gravity is a luxurious automobile at its core, delivering the head of indulgence and luxury for the motive force, passenger, and as much as 5 passengers. This contains issues like heated and ventilated therapeutic massage seats, the best of supplies, and a refined design that will really feel at house in any high-end house workplace. For these trying to be pushed round within the Gravity, sturdy tables flip down from the entrance seats, making it simple to work, play, or simply seize a snack when you’re heading to your vacation spot.

Efficiency & Engineering

We’ll have to attend to spend a while behind the wheel, however we anticipate the Lucid Gravity to ship the identical class-leading efficiency from its one-, two-, or three-motor configurations as we see within the Lucid Air vary. We anticipate the total vary of powertrain choices to make their solution to the Gravity, starting from the rear-wheel drive Pure expertise as much as the mind-numbing efficiency of the Sapphire.

The Gravity is a bigger automobile than the Air, so the group started working optimizing its aerodynamics to assist it to glide via the air with as little resistance as attainable. They achieved a marvel, reaching a coefficient of drag of 0.23x. Being a 7-seater SUV, there are specific bodily limitations that simply can’t be overcome, however Lucid has accomplished a masterful job of optimizing the frontal space and aerodynamics of the Gravity to maximise its means to swim via the air.

The Lucid Gravity will trip on a entrance and rear adjustable air suspension system. This makes it simple to tune the suspension on the fly to optimize the passenger expertise throughout the automobile, in addition to the efficiency of the Gravity. It doesn’t matter whether or not you’re operating down the 405 in Los Angeles or heading out on a mud path amongst the Joshua bushes of the Southern California desert. It’s prepared.

On the vary entrance, the Gravity may have the identical battery pack choices because the Air, although the configuration of the person modules contained in the pack will likely be a bit totally different. Lucid opted to place a couple of of the modules underneath the 2 entrance seats within the Gravity as an alternative of underneath the rear seats like they did within the Air.

Inside

With luxurious seating for 7 inside, the Gravity is on the big facet, and is even a bit longer than the Air. To compensate for this, Lucid will likely be providing the Gravity with an non-obligatory rear steering bundle that can permit it to have the identical agility as a smaller automotive. Its bigger entrance cross-section and heavier weight interprets to a barely decrease vary than the Air with the identical battery pack and motor configuration.

Up entrance, Lucid redesigned the inside format of the Gravity to optimize the area for the upper seating place of an SUV. They trimmed down the interference from the steering wheel by transferring from a extra conventional steering wheel design to a squircle — or squared-off circle — design. Lucid’s steering wheel is sort of a rectangle, which places the majority of the wheel under the middle hub. This interprets to a lot better visibility of the large middle show that wraps across the driver which, in accordance with Derek Jenkins, Senior Vice President of Design and Model at Lucid, was certainly one of their focal factors with the inside of the Gravity.

They shrunk the vertical profile of the steering wheel to maximise visibility of the big 34″ curved display screen that sits above it on the sprint. This permits the motive force to regulate their vertical seating place to see over the wheel to the underside of the display screen. From there Lucid stuffed in what would usually be empty sprint area within the driver’s line of sight with the remainder of the display screen. The result’s a line of sight out entrance of the automobile that feels very full, with the display screen operating vertically from the highest of the steering wheel to the underside of the windshield. It’s a stupendous display screen and it will likely be fascinating to see if Lucid can put the additional show actual property to make use of in a useful method.

A smaller landscape-oriented show lives simply above the middle console and serves as the house for all the shared controls of the automobile. It lets the motive force and the passenger work together with widespread objects just like the HVAC, the music, quantity controls, seat controls, and many others. Framing up the central show is a small contact blade comprised of a middle quantity wheel and some buttons on both facet that make it simple for the motive force and passenger to shortly regulate the local weather controls and different widespread objects.

Total

Lucid is pushing boldly into the SUV area with the Gravity and has delivered what appears to be like to be a particularly useful luxurious SUV. Most luxurious SUVs lately are 5-seater builds, and that’s doubly true for the extremely premium section the place house owners purchase the automotive with plans to have a driver up entrance taking them from place to put. On this configuration, the third row of seats can simply be folded down out of sight and out of thoughts.

The world is in want of extra 7-seater totally electrical choices, and it’s nice to see the Gravity filling on this hole. With its gross sales of the Air already dipping, the corporate is likely to be pinning its future viability on the success of the Gravity itself. Whether or not or not there’s enough demand for an extremely premium 7-seater SUV just like the Gravity stays to be seen, however it looks like a stretch at worth tags that can vary from the low $80k vary for a rear-wheel drive construct as much as north of $250k for a completely loaded Lucid Gravity Sapphire.