Lucid Slashes Air Prices, Long Range EV Now as Much as $8,000 Cheaper – CNET

di Antonello CicciùICT

Lucid Motors builds some of the longest-ranging, most-efficient luxury electric cars you can buy today, but its Air sedan is also one of the most expensive options for going all-electric. On Thursday, the California-based automaker announced price cuts across most Air trim levels, aimed at making its EV more affordable to buy and less expensive to own.

The entry point Lucid Air Pure RWD now starts at $71,475 (including its $1,575 destination and documentation charges), netting interested buyers an estimated 410 miles of range and 430 horsepower for $7,500 less than the prior pricing.

Lucid Air Touring at Lucid Motors' California HQ

Antuan Goodwin/CNET

The luxurious and long-ranging Lucid Air electric sedan is the most efficient electric car you can buy today, bolstered by the new Pure and Touring trim levels introduced earlier this year. Slightly lighter than the range-topping Grand Touring model thanks to their smaller battery pack and more modest interior trim, the 425-mile Touring and 410-mile Pure cruise for 4.17 miles per kWh, reaching an EPA-estimated 140 mpge (miles per gallon gasoline equivalent).

At midpack, the 411-mile, 620-horsepower Air Touring now costs $79,475, a discount that saves buyers $8,000 and closes the gap with the 405-mile Tesla Model S Dual Motor, its closest and most dangerous competitor at a destination inclusive $76,380. Next up, the 819-horsepower, 500-mile Air Grand Touring now costs $1,000 less at $111,475.

The new lower prices for the main three Air sedan trim levels still aren’t low enough to let you limbo under the cap for the federal EV tax credit, but they’re welcome nonetheless.

There’s been no change to the top-spec Air Sapphire’s $250,575 price tag, but with 1,234 electric all-wheel-driven horsepower fueling a 0-60 sprint in just 1.89 seconds, I’d say it commands enough supercar performance to justify its supercar price. 

Person plugs in a Lucid Air sedan at a Lucid home charging station

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Person plugs in a Lucid Air sedan at a Lucid home charging station

Lucid is also encouraging plugging in at home, with discounts on its Level 2 charging hardware.

Lucid Motors

Lucid is also offering new owners a $1,000 allowance toward the purchase of a Lucid charging accessory, such as the Lucid Connected Home Charging Station ($1,200), to get them started charging at home, which is generally speaking the most cost-effective and convenient place to charge any electric car. I’ve said before that incentivizing home charging is one of the best ways to unburden current public EV charging capacity, so I’m happy to see Lucid taking this step.

Finally, the automaker is offering two years (or 24,000 miles) of free scheduled maintenance with each purchase, not a difficult promise to make given that EVs typically require less maintenance than comparable combustion cars.