The company hopes to sell these future vehicles for around $50,000 in the United States.
Lucid believes 250 miles of range will be enough for EVs due to advancements in charging technology.
The automaker also wants to supply other companies with components destined for an affordable EV.
While Lucid Motors entered the market firmly in the premium segment with the Air sedan and the upcoming Gravity SUV, the company wants to target a larger audience with its future models.
Indeed, the automaker’s CEO says that Lucid will aim to compete directly with the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y with two new models that will be priced around $48,000 to $50,000 in the United States.
Few details are known about these models for the moment, which isn’t surprising considering the launch will have to wait until at least the second half of 2025 when the Gravity luxury SUV is scheduled to arrive on the market.
As is now the case with most manufacturers, Lucid is working to improve the efficiency of its powertrains instead of trying to cram larger batteries in order to obtain a targeted range.
Combined with the company’s claim that 250 miles (402 kilometres) of range will be enough for most drivers in the coming years due to improvements in charging technologies, this will allow the use of smaller batteries and thus lower production costs.
The goal for the company is to achieve an efficiency figure of 6 miles per kWh which would make it possible to reach 150 miles (241 kilometres) of range with a battery as small as 25 kWh.
Since such a battery would only cost around $4,000, it could make a usable $25,000 electric vehicle an actual possibility.
While Lucid believes affordable EVs are crucial to the development of the industry as a whole, the CEO doesn’t think this market should be a priority for his company.
Instead, Lucid wants to partner with other companies that could use its technology in their own affordable EVs.
This would not be the first time Lucid works with another automaker, since the company recently announced a technology-sharing agreement with Aston Martin.
Additionally, the company says it could contract an external engineering company in order to produce right-hand drive versions of the Air and the Gravity since its production capacity is maxed out by the demand for left-hand drive vehicles.
At the moment, the priority for the small automaker is to get the 1,200-horsepower Sapphire version of the Air sedan out of the doors by the end of the year.
Source: CarBuzz
