A lot ink has been spilled as of late about Mercedes’ electrical car tailspin. As you have doubtless heard, Benz loyalists simply cannot dig up a lot loyalty for the vaguely jellybean-shaped EQ fashions, so the German model’s do-over plan will contain extra EVs which are primarily absolutely electrical variations of the E-Class and S-Class fashions that everybody is aware of and loves.
If Mercedes wished to make a real S-Class of electrical autos, it ought to’ve simply made this as an alternative: the Lucid Air Grand Touring. If the S-Class is meant to be the perfect automotive on the earth on the time it is produced, then Lucid has the Mercedes EQS handily overwhelmed.
And if you are going to do some long-distance grand touring of your personal, you will not discover a higher automotive than this in 2024.
(Full Disclosure: Lucid loaned us an Air Grand Touring for every week with a completely charged battery.)
2024 Lucid Air Grand Touring
As-Examined Worth $125,550.00
Battery 118 kWh
Drive Sort All-Wheel-Drive
EV Vary 480 miles (EPA estimated)
Output 819 hp, 885 lb-ft of torque
Effectivity 3.0 miles per kWh (Noticed)
What Is It?
Lucid likes to play up its relentless strategy to effectivity as its major promoting level. For the California-based startup, meaning superior aerodynamics, new building strategies, lighter and smaller in-house electrical motors and scores of different strategies to maximise vary.
However point out “electrical car effectivity” or “battery-to-wheel miles per kilowatt-hour” to the common individual and their eyes will glaze over. What individuals must know is that the Air is a spread monster. When geared up with 19-inch wheels, the Air Grand Touring is the longest-ranges EV at the moment on the market in America, with an EPA-estimated 519 miles of vary. For the time being, nothing else actually comes near that.
Granted, my tester had the 20-inch wheels, so it “solely” had an EPA-estimated 485 miles of vary. Which nonetheless places it effectively above each different EV on that record I simply linked to.
Like I mentioned: monster.
When it comes to specs, the automotive I piloted had a 118.0-kWh battery pack (up in dimension barely for 2024) powering two electrical motors, making it all-wheel-drive. It wants the AWD traction as a result of it places down 819 horsepower and 885 pound-feet of torque. That is quite a bit even in these power-crazed occasions, thought it would not maintain a candle to the 1,234 hp you get within the range-topping Lucid Air Sapphire. But it surely was half the worth of of the Sapphire; this Air Grand Tourer tester got here in at $125,550.
However as everyone knows, specs solely inform a few of the story. To check these daring vary claims, I took the Air Grand Touring from Brooklyn to Boston with contributing editor Tom Moloughney and again in the identical day. (By the way, the journey was for an InsideEVs reader meetup that was hosted at Lucid’s Boston Seaport retailer—an occasion that I ought to word was carried out with out the involvement of Lucid as an automaker.)
Should you’ve by no means carried out that drive, know that it is quite a bit. It was about 460 miles in whole. That the Air Grand Touring may do it in any respect, not to mention so effectively, speaks volumes about how good the automotive is.
What’s Good About The Lucid Air Grand Touring?
For starters, it seems to be implausible. It is not simply the scale, worth or sedan physique type; it does what the Mercedes EQS tried to do, design-wise, simply… appropriately. It is decrease, sleeker, extra placing and fewer dumpy than the Benz. It bought consideration on the street, too; after we stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts for a fast break, the child working the counter requested us all about it, then advised us “It seems to be prefer it’s from the longer term.” I feel that is nearly as good a praise as any EV can get.
It is a delight inside, too, and never one thing that appears like an effort from some half-baked startup. The fabric high quality is totally excellent, as are the seats, that are off-the-charts good. My “you will not discover a higher road-tripper” declare is not nearly vary. It is about consolation, too. And the Air Grand Touring affords that in spades.
The identical goes for energy. You’ll be able to instantly inform that the Air is optimized to uncork all 800-plus horses and all that torque solely below sure situations and speeds; in any other case, the wheels would in all probability simply spin. However at freeway tempo, or when the drive mode is about to Dash, it is absurdly potent. Extra importantly, it delivers on these effectivity claims. Our drive to Boston occurred round or north of 80 mph a lot of the time, and I nonetheless managed over 3.0 miles per kWh. Given how the bottom Pure mannequin does a world-beating 5 miles per kWh, I am positive I may’ve carried out higher in higher climate, on roads I knew and with extra consistency.
Lastly, it is an ace at charging. I left New York with somewhat over 400 miles of vary after some errands round city, picked up Tom close to Fort Lee, NJ, after which arrived in Boston with a still-excellent 190 miles of vary. After the occasion, we headed again and stopped at an Electrify America 350 kW station with 60 miles left—a couple of 12% cost.
The EA charger jumped to 322 kW instantly earlier than leveling off into the 270 kW vary. Nonetheless, that meant the Air Grand Touring added 30 miles of vary in simply two minutes, and was at 250 miles whole after simply 13 minutes.
We referred to as it there as a result of we had sufficient juice to get again to New York, however consider it this fashion: a Lucid Air Grand Touring will go from nearly empty to extra vary than many EVs have whole within the time it takes to make use of the toilet and purchase a bottle of water. Unbelievable.
What’s Not So Good About The Lucid Air Grand Touring?
It is a first-rate freeway cruiser, however that is additionally clearly the place it is most at dwelling. In tight metropolis streets like New York, the Air—any Air, actually—reveals its bulk. It is a huge sedan and it by no means feels absolutely freed from its 5,000-pound curb weight. It additionally feels under-braked. The pedal is tender and by no means conjures up the arrogance that an 800-hp automotive ought to have. Be even handed if you happen to use Dash Mode.
It is also clear that when Lucid talks about tech, it is primarily speaking about battery and motor tech, not the opposite stuff. Its software program suite is simply positive. It is actually good-looking, with enticing graphics throughout its three-screen dashboard. However the menu layouts make it onerous to search out what you need typically.
Likewise, I couldn’t have been much less impressed with the Amazon Alexa-based voice integration system. Ask it for one thing, like navigation to a sure handle and, it will not provide you with a visible record of selections. That’s if it correctly understands you in any respect. Choices from Kia, Hyundai, Volvo, Normal Motors and others at a fraction of the worth do that vastly higher. I additionally had some difficulties logging in to my Amazon account within the automotive, making it onerous to get working in any respect.
And Lucid leaves quite a bit to be desired on the automated driving help system entrance. My tester had the $2,000 DreamDrive Premium choice, which amounted to little greater than 3D encompass view monitoring with fundamental capabilities like hands-on radar cruise management, lane departure warnings, auto parking and cross-traffic alerts. That choice now appears to be included on the 2025 Air Grand Touring.
However for a further $2,500, it’s also possible to have DreamDrive Professional, which incorporates LIDAR-backed {hardware} for hands-free driving—at any time when Lucid will get round to including it sooner or later.
If we will draw the EQS comparability, then Mercedes has Lucid smoked on the tech entrance: It has higher utility, higher software program and higher automated driving help, nonetheless restricted it could be for now. However for each different metric that counts, the factors go to Lucid.
Lucid Air Grand Touring: The Verdict
I did 460 miles of driving in in the future on this factor. Sure, I used to be exhausted by the top of it. However my again did not harm. My knees did not harm. My neck did not harm. And at no level did I concern we might run out of vary. Then, lastly, I missed it once I needed to give it again.
I might say all of these are the hallmarks of a really nice luxurious automotive: when carried out proper, it is one of the simplest ways to journey, and what you want you had been doing when it’s a must to get round another approach.
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Why draw comparisons to the S-Class and EQS? As a result of the Air Grand Touring appears like the identical thought, simply with vastly higher execution. Superior vary, higher seems to be, extra fascinating, and clearly constructed by an organization that wishes to make EVs and is not simply being dragged kicking and screaming into it by international emissions rules. It is the automotive the EQS ought to have been.
Should you do have $125,000 to spend on an electrical sedan, and you do not select this one, you need to in all probability rethink some issues.
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