It was a brief section of city road that had been blocked off but contained curves and an intersection turn. It also autonomously turned into the Lucid parking lot. On my test ride it hiccuped and the driver (one of the software engineers) had to take the steering when it began briefly drifting out the lane. He claimed it was the first time it had done that in an hour or two of test rides given to people at the event.
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Lucid (Atieva) reveal is December 14th. I'll be there, let you know afterwards.
- Thread starter gene
- Start date
Garlan Garner
Banned
I saw the trunk and the frunk. I'd say the trunk is 1/3 the size of Model S measured front to back. Like the Model S there is extra storage under the panel that looks like the trunk floor. The frunk is as Gene described, a little smaller than the frunk in the RWD Model S as we old-timers have the microwave space, but a but larger than the dual motor frunks in the newer Ds. What does this all mean? Well, I get stuff from Home Depot in my Model S all the time - no pampering, if you're a cattledog you're a working breed. In the Lucid, couldn't see anything big happening, just the small stuff.
Tam
Well-Known Member
I found the answer:
They are just like non-moveable touch sensors as in Model X's.
Riding inside the Lucid Air luxury EV
I like the way the floor level of the trunk is even with the lower opening of the trunk.
But that looks like a very small trunk for such a big car. And that trunk opening makes the Model 3 opening look huge.
Compared to the Model S the Lucid trunk seems very small.
I think the small trunk is a result of the reclining seats. The regular bench seats should have a bigger one.
I was told that the production version of the door handles might physically push in and then drop down out of the way so it leaves a hand opening for pulling open the door. I don't think they are fully sure how it will end up yet just like there are Tesla Model 3 prototypes with different door handles right now.
xmetal
Member
I find this a very interesting car. In the version shown here it is definitely aimed as a "rich adults" luxury car, not a car to be used by families or anyone that needs to carry things around. I'd like to see the bench seat version which I imagine would be more akin to the Model S and more likely to be usable by everyday people with disposable income. I know I'd not want my kids riding around in that luxury back seat, mainly because I'd be jealous as hell. 
While EV is still a niche, and it's great that there are more players coming, I do hope that we see the market trend away from the super luxury soon. These cars are lovely and yes, starting at the top is the same strategy that Tesla employed, but at some point we need more cars at the $40k price so that normal people with jobs and kids can get into the world of EV without worrying about the limitations of the 90mi range cars.
While EV is still a niche, and it's great that there are more players coming, I do hope that we see the market trend away from the super luxury soon. These cars are lovely and yes, starting at the top is the same strategy that Tesla employed, but at some point we need more cars at the $40k price so that normal people with jobs and kids can get into the world of EV without worrying about the limitations of the 90mi range cars.
Zaphod
Galaxy President (former)
Looks like they are copying Model 3 with the funky trunk opening. That lower trim on the trunk opening seems to be very similar to what Tesla uses as well.
green1
Active Member
Very interesting.
Keep in mind people that this is an Alpha version, and many changes are likely to the finished version. Just look at what happened to both the S and X between their reveals and final production.
The hope is that the Air will get even better.
As for my impressions of the Air so far:
- They have interior luxury to rival the true luxury cars. Tesla can't even dream of being in this class
- The front is "ok", That front 1/4 view from above I love, but other angles are less flattering. That said, the Tesla nose has never been overly impressive either.
- The rear is "meh" which is unfortunate, I love the rear lighting, but the body styling back there doesn't really work for me. This one is one of Tesla's strongest design points, and one that I expected to be better given the man designing this (I love his work on Mazda)
- The displays... too early to tell. We have to remember that once you move to screens from analogue stuff, the displays become only as good as the software that drives them. I hope that Lucid gets this right but there's just not enough information yet to have any idea if they have or not.
- Frunk: much better than the current Tesla one, I wonder if you can close the hood without worrying about the dreaded crease?
- Trunk: I understand why they went trunk instead of lift-back (they explain that the liftback on the S was too much of a compromise) However I love having a huge storage area back there, so this is worrisome. I hope that they make up for it with a bench seat option that folds down, it's the only way to make that practical.(the only rendering of a bench seat doesn't look promising, but I feel like it has never physically been made yet, so it may work better than it appears)
- Co-Pilot: no idea how well it works, but they actually have enough sensors to do it (unlike Tesla who are flat out lying about what AP2.0 can do, just like they lied about what AP1.0 would do) I actually like the driver facing camera for L2 driving, it allows them to see if the driver is paying attention, without doing absolutely moronic things like asking the driver to tug on the wheel at pre-set intervals. Once higher levels of autonomy come about, that camera will become useless, but for now it's a good thing.
- Range and charging: Remains to be seen, I like the 130kwh battery, Tesla's "100kwh should be enough for anyone" is just like the old joke about "640k of RAM should be enough for anyone". That said, a long range electric car without a charging network is a problem (but one they still have time to solve). I also dislike the charge port placement. Driving forward in to stalls is not as safe as backing in, and additionally I'm more likely to be near the back quarter panel of the car anyway than I am to be in front of the hood while walking to the driver's door. Tesla's charge port location is much better. (though considering the industry standard seems to be front charging, this may be good long term for access to more charging networks)
-Price: Will people PLEASE quit stating what this car will cost when nobody knows yet. Worse yet, many people are quoting numbers that contradict what Lucid has stated themselves. Let's just wait and see on this one. As for those who claim that by the time this comes out all Teslas will have 100kwh batteries and cost the same as today. Quit dreaming. Tesla has been steadily increasing the price with every upgrade. You can't price the same kWh today as a year ago for the same price, let alone more.
Overall, good solid showing, and a solid Tesla competitor. Good to see someone else enter the game. I know it's not a done deal yet, and that execution is not guaranteed, but the indications so far are positive.
On a selfish note, I'm glad to see that they're including Canada in the pre-orders, There's always a worry that a company like this will ignore Canada as "too much hassle for not enough market"
Keep in mind people that this is an Alpha version, and many changes are likely to the finished version. Just look at what happened to both the S and X between their reveals and final production.
The hope is that the Air will get even better.
As for my impressions of the Air so far:
- They have interior luxury to rival the true luxury cars. Tesla can't even dream of being in this class
- The front is "ok", That front 1/4 view from above I love, but other angles are less flattering. That said, the Tesla nose has never been overly impressive either.
- The rear is "meh" which is unfortunate, I love the rear lighting, but the body styling back there doesn't really work for me. This one is one of Tesla's strongest design points, and one that I expected to be better given the man designing this (I love his work on Mazda)
- The displays... too early to tell. We have to remember that once you move to screens from analogue stuff, the displays become only as good as the software that drives them. I hope that Lucid gets this right but there's just not enough information yet to have any idea if they have or not.
- Frunk: much better than the current Tesla one, I wonder if you can close the hood without worrying about the dreaded crease?
- Trunk: I understand why they went trunk instead of lift-back (they explain that the liftback on the S was too much of a compromise) However I love having a huge storage area back there, so this is worrisome. I hope that they make up for it with a bench seat option that folds down, it's the only way to make that practical.(the only rendering of a bench seat doesn't look promising, but I feel like it has never physically been made yet, so it may work better than it appears)
- Co-Pilot: no idea how well it works, but they actually have enough sensors to do it (unlike Tesla who are flat out lying about what AP2.0 can do, just like they lied about what AP1.0 would do) I actually like the driver facing camera for L2 driving, it allows them to see if the driver is paying attention, without doing absolutely moronic things like asking the driver to tug on the wheel at pre-set intervals. Once higher levels of autonomy come about, that camera will become useless, but for now it's a good thing.
- Range and charging: Remains to be seen, I like the 130kwh battery, Tesla's "100kwh should be enough for anyone" is just like the old joke about "640k of RAM should be enough for anyone". That said, a long range electric car without a charging network is a problem (but one they still have time to solve). I also dislike the charge port placement. Driving forward in to stalls is not as safe as backing in, and additionally I'm more likely to be near the back quarter panel of the car anyway than I am to be in front of the hood while walking to the driver's door. Tesla's charge port location is much better. (though considering the industry standard seems to be front charging, this may be good long term for access to more charging networks)
-Price: Will people PLEASE quit stating what this car will cost when nobody knows yet. Worse yet, many people are quoting numbers that contradict what Lucid has stated themselves. Let's just wait and see on this one. As for those who claim that by the time this comes out all Teslas will have 100kwh batteries and cost the same as today. Quit dreaming. Tesla has been steadily increasing the price with every upgrade. You can't price the same kWh today as a year ago for the same price, let alone more.
Overall, good solid showing, and a solid Tesla competitor. Good to see someone else enter the game. I know it's not a done deal yet, and that execution is not guaranteed, but the indications so far are positive.
On a selfish note, I'm glad to see that they're including Canada in the pre-orders, There's always a worry that a company like this will ignore Canada as "too much hassle for not enough market"
They had a full production-quality car prototype with rear bench seating at the event. I sat in it. But, it was so normal looking that I forgot to take a picture. I was told it has a larger trunk than the reclining dual rear seat model, as you might expect, but they weren't giving out specific cubic feet numbers. I forgot to ask if the rear seats would fold down but I don't see why they couldn't.
Very nice. Wouldn't buy their stock but I do hope they get some product on the ground.
Interesting that Rawlinson made a comment about the small design team, one of his publicly expressed concerns when working for Tesla was managing the complexity of novel design with the large number of engineers on the MS project.
Interesting that Rawlinson made a comment about the small design team, one of his publicly expressed concerns when working for Tesla was managing the complexity of novel design with the large number of engineers on the MS project.
Xminus6
Member
I thought some of the battery pack was in the space behind the rear seats.
You may be right. I sort of remember seeing an illustration suggesting that as well, now that you mention it.
green1
Active Member
The image I saw of battery placement does not show that, but it wouldn't surprise me (though for simplicity sake between the 2 rear seat versions it might be best not to bother?) That's what stopped the back seat in my old Mercedes from folding down, they put the diesel tank between the back seat and the trunk.
Xminus6
Member
In the reviews I read about the car there was specific language about the battery placement of the Lucid Air being different than the strictly skateboard style battery pack of the Tesla and how they were stacking the batteries taller using the space behind the rear seats.
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