Lucid: The Battery Start-up That Built a Long-Range Electric Saloon

Lucid at a glance

Origins: Atieva and the battery business

Atieva was founded in 2007 by Bernard Tse, a former Tesla vice-president, together with Sam Weng and Sheaupyng Lin. Its first business was battery packs and drive systems for other companies. From 2011 it built battery packs for electric buses in China with the cell maker Lishen, and in 2014 the Beijing Automotive group BAIC bought a 25% stake.

The key hire was Peter Rawlinson, a Welsh engineer born in 1957 who had studied at Imperial College London and worked as principal engineer at Jaguar and chief engineer at Lotus. At Tesla, from February 2009 to January 2012, he was chief vehicle engineer of the Model S. According to the Lucid article he joined Atieva as chief technology officer in 2013; his own Wikipedia entry says he helped launch Lucid in 2016. In October 2016 the company renamed itself Lucid Motors and announced its plan for a long-range, high-performance electric car.

Battery work continued alongside. From the 2018–2019 season to 2021–2022 Lucid supplied the battery packs for every second-generation Formula E race car.

The Lucid Air

A prototype of the Air was shown in December 2016, and in 2017 a modified test car reached 378 km/h on a track in Ohio with the speed limiter removed. On 17 September 2018 Lucid announced talks with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the state fund set up in 1971, for US$1 billion. The investment was completed in April 2019. Rawlinson became chief executive in April 2019, Tse having led the company since 2007.

The Casa Grande plant in Arizona, a US$700 million project of 2019, was the first new purpose-built electric car factory in the United States. Construction began in December 2019, and the first phase was finished on 1 December 2020. The production Air was revealed in September 2020. Production began on 28 September 2021 and deliveries on 30 October 2021. The EPA rated the Air Dream Edition at up to 520 miles (840 km), the longest EPA-rated range of any electric car. Its battery pack works at about 900 volts.

The range now runs from the Air Pure with 321 kW (430 hp) through the Touring with 462 kW (620 hp) to the Grand Touring with 611 kW (819 hp). Batteries range from 88 to 118 kWh. The Air was Motor Trend Car of the Year for 2022 and World Luxury Car of the Year in April 2023. In July 2025 an Air Grand Touring set a Guinness World Record by covering 1,205 km on a single charge. The Lucid Air has its own article with versions and specifications.

Listing, Saudi Arabia and slow growth

In February 2021 Lucid announced a merger with the listed company Churchill Capital Corp IV, valued at US$11.75 billion. Its shares started trading on the Nasdaq on 26 July 2021. PIF held about 60% at the listing. In February 2022 Lucid announced a second plant in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia, for up to 150,000 vehicles a year. In April 2022 the Saudi government said it would buy at least 50,000 and up to 100,000 Lucid cars over ten years.

Production grew slowly: 7,180 vehicles in 2022, 8,428 in 2023 and 9,029 in 2024. In 2024 Lucid had revenue of US$808 million and a net loss of US$3.06 billion, and PIF added US$1.5 billion in August 2024.

Sapphire, Gravity and partners

The Air Sapphire, the high-performance version, has three motors and 920 kW (1,234 hp) and accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 1.89 seconds. In June 2023 Lucid signed a US$450 million agreement to supply powertrain and battery technology to Aston Martin, receiving a 3.7% stake in the British company as part of the deal.

The second model, the Gravity SUV, was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2023. It seats up to seven in three rows and has 358 kW to 617 kW (480–828 hp), with up to 450 miles (720 km) of range. The first production Gravity was completed in Casa Grande on 5 December 2024, and Saudi-market cars are finally assembled in King Abdullah Economic City. In July 2025 Lucid, Uber and Nuro agreed to put at least 20,000 Gravity SUVs with Nuro's self-driving technology on Uber's platform from 2026.

Lucid today

Peter Rawlinson stepped down as chief executive in February 2025. Marc Winterhoff led the company as interim chief executive, and Silvio Napoli was named permanent CEO on 14 April 2026. Production for 2025 was expected to be about 18,000 vehicles. At its investor day on 12 March 2026 Lucid announced three midsize models, among them the Cosmos and the Earth, and showed a two-seat robotaxi concept called Lunar. All models are in the Lucid catalogue; for comparison see the history of Tesla, where Rawlinson and Tse both worked, and the Rivian catalogue. Rivals are compared in the best electric cars. Its place among long-range models can be seen in the longest-range electric cars.

Lucid timeline

Landmark Lucid models

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