Lucid has dropped the official specs for its peak efficiency Air Sapphire they usually invited CleanTechnica out to an unique drive occasion within the foothills overlooking Los Angeles, California. We sat down with Lucid’s Senior Vice President of Design and Model, Derek Jenkins, and Lucid’s Director of Car Dynamics, David Lickfold, to speak in regards to the DNA of the Air Sapphire.

Proper out of the gate, the Lucid Air Sapphire utterly redefines the idea of a luxurious efficiency sedan. The Mercedes S-Class has set the bar on this class for many years and has been the go-to automobile for consumers on the lookout for luxurious whereas being pushed round within the rear seat and efficiency while you need it from the large combustion engines underneath the hood. Lucid has now stepped into the driving force’s seat.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

The Lucid Air Sapphire takes this idea and explodes it right into a thousand tiny items. The efficiency supplied on the Lucid Air Sapphire with its 1,234 horsepower and 1,430 foot-pounds of torque push it firmly previous supercar territory, straight into the rarified air of the hypercar elite. Its competing with 2-seat, purpose-built Italian stallions and it’s doing in order a four-door sedan that you may comfortably haul a household round in to soccer video games. On the identical time, it will possibly additionally deal with faculty pickups, picnics, and weekend hikes within the mountains with the household.

Refined Efficiency

Sapphire pushes every part Lucid is doing to the acute. It’s the halo model inside Lucid and reveals the world what its expertise can do when all limits are eliminated. It’s what you may think would come out the opposite finish if Lucid despatched a couple of dozen engineers into the desert with among the highest efficiency motors, batteries, energy electronics, and software program with an infinite price range. They’ve come again down from the mountain and it’s stunning.

Lucid’s Senior Vice President of Design and Model Derek Jenkins took us across the automobile, highlighting the outside enhancements made to optimize the Sapphire. The general exterior bundle of the Air Sapphire is identical as the opposite flavors of the Air, with refined refinements that ship elevated aerodynamic efficiency. It boasts an unique ultra-dark Sapphire blue paint that pops wildly within the daylight. Muted carbon fiber mirror caps and playful California bear logos intensify the brand new coloration, serving as refined indicators of its Sapphire standing.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

Up entrance, Jenkins talked about how Lucid added a pronounced new chin spoiler to offer a little bit of further downforce on the automobile. The better the downforce on the automobile, the extra energy Lucid’s engineers can push via the tires with out breaking traction. Out again, a extra pronounced carbon fiber spoiler helps maintain the rear of the automobile planted. Lucid even tuned the underbody shielding with new aero channels to optimize airflow across the automobile.

Downforce at all times comes with the expense of aerodynamic effectivity, however on this case, Lucid knew it wanted to provide the tires as a lot of a combating probability as attainable to take care of traction when the 1,234 horsepower and 1,430 foot-pounds of torque had been summoned. The brand new staggered wheel set on the Air Sapphire was enabled by a set of refined fender flares that guarantee the additional rubber would nonetheless be in compliance.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

These new open rims present how Lucid is continually balancing efficiency and luxurious and on this case opted for a much less aerodynamically environment friendly rim in favor of upper efficiency within the type of brake cooling. For the Sapphire particularly, Lucid added new ducting and put an extra give attention to including airflow being delivered to the outsized calipers and rotors to make sure they by no means warmth up over the course of a single circuit on the monitor or perhaps a lengthy day on the monitor in one of many three customizable monitor modes out there.

Transformer

With the Air Sapphire, Lucid has constructed what feels rather more like a transformer, leveraging the ability of insane software-driven engineering to morph the automobile from an opulent cruiser to a monitor slayer, relying on what you’re on the lookout for. The totally different driving experiences are packed up right into a collection of 4 totally different driving modes that utterly change the character of the automobile to match your temper.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

For the experience residence from work, the Clean driving mode supplies the sensation of a luxurious saloon. It smooths off the acceleration curve, delivering a muted 750 horsepower which is paired with a extra damped suspension that delivers predictable dealing with appropriate for on a regular basis driving. That’s to not say that it’s boring or dry. Even in its most vanilla mode, the Air Sapphire nonetheless packs extra energy than most autos on the street. And it’s greater than desirous to summon that energy as wanted.

In Clean driving mode, the automobile has utilized its immense intelligence and logic to the powertrain and suspension to make your life as straightforward and as comfy as attainable. The driving traits and luxury suspension in Clean mode really feel like an extended wheelbase S-Class Mercedes. It’s comfy and predictable and does every part you want it to do.

Along with the usual driving modes, the Lucid Air Sapphire additionally boasts a monitor mode. Inside monitor mode, three customizable modes let you maximize efficiency relying on what you’re doing for the day. This consists of optimizing efficiency for a single sizzling lap, for a fast hit of the Air Sapphire’s 1.89 second 0-60 mph functionality on a drag strip, or for a full day on the monitor in Endurance mode. Whereas not each purchaser might be monitoring the automobile, it’s cool that Lucid unlocks the potential for these trying to discover the complete functionality of their automobile in a safer setting.

Sapphire

A mild contact of the finger on the middle management pad of the automobile transforms the automobile quietly and invisibly into Sapphire mode. The immense energy, torque vectoring, elite suspension tuning, and millisecond-level calculations unlock an absolute beast of a automobile that’s equally comfy shredding tires on the monitor, ripping via the mountains on the weekend or blasting zero to no matter your coronary heart can deal with on a drag strip.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

It sheds the facade of a household automobile, morphing right into a 2-seat curve slayer. Time warps as software program morphs the driving traits of the automobile, leveraging energetic torque vectoring bolstered by an equally succesful processor that optimizes traction and energy each millisecond. Ripping round Southern California’s well-known foothills simply off Mulholland Drive, we slammed the pedal to the ground round a 90 diploma left-hand flip. In a automobile with 1,234 horsepower. It’s about probably the most counterintuitive factor possible.

The Air Sapphire opened up its gullet as the brand new dual-motor rear axle fired up its proverbial electrical afterburners with prompt torque slamming into the automobile like Thor’s hammer. The automobile concurrently tried to separate me from my consciousness and strip my palms from the steering wheel because it blasted via the nook.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

The Air Sapphire is tuned to maximise each single piece of the automobile to the boundaries of the aptitude of its battery system and the traction out there from its customized tires. The Air Sapphire sports activities a set of customized staggered Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires that boast rubber optimized for day by day driving on the middle, with a grippier compound on the corners. Because the tires heat up, the grippier compound softens, enabling much more traction with out sacrificing consolation.

All 4 tires had been known as into motion, tuning and adapting in realtime to the immense forces being utilized by the motors. Traction was by no means in query. The tires didn’t object, as energy was seamlessly, silently utilized to whichever nook may deal with even an oz extra. The Sapphire’s tri-motor bundle allows not solely entrance to again torque vectoring management, but additionally optimization aspect to aspect on the rear axle with the dual-motor stack.

Lucid’s rear-axle, dual-motor stack. Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

It’s extra seemingly that the Air Sapphire will enable you discover your individual limits than its personal. 1,234 horsepower and 1,430 ft-lb of immediately out there torque ensures that is the case. It weakens psychological schools and blurs eyesight as your thoughts struggles to maintain up with what the automobile is definitely doing. This was my day by day driver only a minute in the past. What within the absolute hell simply occurred?

Energy & Management

The insane half is that the automobile will do that identical dance via curves on a monitor and it has the braking energy to truly management the beast when the following curve comes into view. A pair of six piston calipers retains the rear axle in examine with a set of 390 mm carbon ceramic discs. These can be spectacular on nearly every other automobile, however while you look to the entrance of the Lucid Air Sapphire, they simply look cute.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

For the entrance wheels, Lucid slapped a set of 450 mm carbon ceramic rotors with a staggering 10 piston caliper that clamps down with brake pads that appear like they’re constructed for some type of industrial semi truck. They’re completely large they usually actually grew to become the star of the present after we let one in all Lucid’s consultants get behind the wheel to indicate us what the automobile may do on a fast rip via the mountains.

Beneath his professional management, the complete may of the Lucid’s energy in Sapphire mode was summoned at what appeared like probably the most awkward of occasions. Hitting the apex of a flip, he slammed the pedal to the ground pulling a lot g-force that consciousness was in danger. The Lucid Air Sapphire’s speedy cycle programming ensured all 4 tires maintained traction with the bottom and all of that energy was utilized, even via tight corners.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

Forward of the following flip, the Sapphire’s brakes had been cranked to the max, and once more, the automobile merely wouldn’t lose traction. They scrubbed our velocity, clutching onto the large rotors with the fortunately outsized calipers.

So What

However so what, proper? I don’t suppose anyone would put a $250,000, 1,234-horsepower electrical automobile on the high of their checklist for world altering concepts. Electrical autos are a key weapon in curbing emissions within the battle in opposition to local weather change. Simply the identical, the Air Sapphire is necessary extra so than it appears on the floor.

The Lucid Air Sapphire screams out to the world that electrical autos can ship the posh that Mercedes S-Class consumers are on the lookout for. It may be a Maybach if you need it to and has the prolonged wheelbase with further foot room within the rear seats that anyone being pushed round by a chauffeur would need.

It’s not going to hit any gross sales quantity data, however as a substitute, it tells the rich elite of the world that the bar has been reset. Gasoline autos not dominate the day. Electrical autos can do every part they used to do and do it higher. You need luxurious? Certain. Efficiency? You may’t deal with the efficiency.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

The Air Sapphire pushes the envelope. Its capacity to alter the driving traits and energy output of the automobile with a contact of a button actually transforms the automobile’s driving traits from a big luxurious boat to a sprightly, monitor tuned sports activities automobile. Certain, there are nonetheless a handful of autos that may compete with it on the earth, however the truth that a quite massive four-door household sedan can truly compete on the Nurburgring or Buttonwillow on any given weekend is staggering to consider.

The Lucid staff rolled out the ability of the Air Sapphire in a method that’s refined and but it tells a narrative. It’s refined and polished, however it would nonetheless make you squeal if the place to look and what buttons to poke.

It makes you marvel why anybody would purchase a Lamborghini, Ferrari, or Bugatti when an equal quantity of efficiency may be had in a extra reasonably priced, versatile automobile. Certain, you may want the braggardly appears to be like that include a Lamborghini or the audacious colours you will get a Ferrarri wrapped in, however for somebody on the lookout for pure efficiency, the Lucid Air Sapphire makes a robust case.

Halo

The Lucid Air Sapphire will pull consumers into the Lucid ecosystem and never only for the peak-performance, high-price-tag Sapphire. It demonstrates Lucid’s capabilities to construct autos at any efficiency stage and to do unimaginable issues with them that almost all different electrical vehicles aren’t doing and no different inside combustion engine autos can do.

Wanting past Lucid’s admittedly low manufacturing in gross sales volumes, the Lucid Air Sapphire reveals the world that electrical autos aren’t simply an evolution of the car. They symbolize a wholly new paradigm of efficiency that may solely be had when the most effective electrical motor engineers are introduced collectively underneath one roof with world-class battery methods, and most significantly, the software program that performs conductor, preserving everybody enjoying off the identical sheet of music.

Picture credit score: Kyle Discipline, CleanTechnica

It’s a wholly new playground for the world’s greatest engineers to leverage, not simply {hardware} however software program to carry their goals to actuality. {Hardware} to unlock new prospects in automotive efficiency. And software program to unlock new capabilities to actually rework the automobile you’re driving out of your Monday-through-Friday commuter throughout the week to an absolute hell-raising demon of a monitor automobile on the weekends. And who is aware of, possibly you received’t get in as a lot bother out of your vital different while you exit and drop 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 {dollars} on a automobile as a result of this one can truly take the place of three of the vehicles in your storage as a substitute of merely being one other boring addition to the steady.

Lucid’s mastery of electrical powertrains is understood throughout the trade, and even from its opponents. Aston Martin’s not too long ago signed a contract to make use of Lucid’s high-performance powertrains in its next-generation electrical supercar. The truth is, Lucid representatives instructed us that the tri-motor powertrain within the Lucid Air Sapphire we drove is similar to what we’ll seemingly see within the inevitable Aston Martin electrical automobile sporting the Lucid powertrain.

Head over to the digital residence of the Lucid Air Sapphire for extra data or to order one for your self. Manufacturing of the Lucid Air Sapphire begins in September of this 12 months, with deliveries anticipated shortly thereafter.

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