Lucid Air dethrones the Tesla Model S as the new EV 1000 King of the Ring

From the September 2022 issue Car and driver.

To gauge the current state of interstate electric vehicle travel, we followed the same route as last year’s EV 1000 of 11 cars. Only this time there will be one driver, one car, one mission: the pilot Lucid’s Air Grand Touring to see if it can deliver Tesla Model S crowns the EV 1000. The checkpoints remain the same: Cincinnati and Athens, Ohio; Morgantown, West Virginia; Erie, Pennsylvania; and C/D headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Car and driver

Spoiler alert: Lucid won. Not by a small margin, but by a whopping 33 minutes for a total time of 15 hours and 41 minutes (including 95 minutes on a charge, which is a minute less than last year’s winner Tesla). But the victory was not without drama.

While Tesla’s vast Supercharger network is largely reliable, Electrify America’s fledgling fast-charging infrastructure is still experiencing issues. In Cincinnati, several chargers failed. Fortunately, there was one 350kW socket available. If only it worked as advertised instead of taking 40 minutes to add 46 percent.

David BeardCar and driver

Athens, Ohio is prime real estate for fast charging, but we haven’t found any new stations along the route. Our next high voltage connection will be approximately 377 miles away. The rolling Appalachian terrain threatened to eat every last electron, but the Lucid made it through the stretch with 6 percent battery capacity. The chargers failed again, the 350kW unit failed to deliver as promised, and patrons left. “I’ll take what I can get. They’ll make it,” said one customer. Yes, but when?

After 36 minutes and with a 75 percent charge, the time trial began. The Lucid would need a quick surge east of Toledo for the final push, and again the 350kW charger failed to deliver.

Lucid could have taken less time if the charges were faster, and he might have needed as little as two stops. Electrify America recently raised $450 million to expand its network, but that money would be better spent keeping the current equipment working.