Peter Rawlinson is a man with a vision and he wants to share it with you. In fact, he is inviting you to look around one of the six Lucid Motors showrooms (sorry, ‘studios’) if you’ve got a few spare minutes and happen to be in California or Florida.
It’s the US where this ex-pat and his mega hi-tec company does its business, with a brand new Arizona factory. He is developing cars that might not only save the industry but also the planet. Despite not resembling a Bond Villain (unlike some EV makers we could name) Mr Rawlinson has huge global ambitions and here at Need To Know Motors we really like his style.
And Rawlinson has a pedigree second to none: hailing from South Wales, his Mech Eng degree at Imperial College London took him to jobs at Jaguar and Lotus and then, of course, onto a nascent Tesla. After moving to Atieva making batteries for Formula E cars he began working on electric cars.
Now employing around 2,000 people, Lucid Motors’ policy is to chip away at the barriers preventing mass EV take-up bit by bit. Its first model, The Lucid Air, which will start rolling off the production line later this year, is said to have addressed the range anxiety issue by delivering over 500 miles between recharges. And a 0-60 of 2.5 seconds. Suck on that, petrolheads.
Rumours abound that Lucid is being wooed by manufacturers such as Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and even Apple, though Rawlinson remains schtum on any deal. What can be confirmed is that a recent US stock deal has given Lucid an awful lot of money to plough into developing a wide range of EVs, starting with high end but with a firm aim on the mass market with a truly affordable car.
As Mr Rawlinson told The Guardian recently that “All mankind will benefit from the technology we bring in this high-end product,” Rawlinson said, “because it will cascade down to more affordable cars that we’re going to make in the future.”
Mr Rawlinson, we love your cars and we salute you, sir.