A friend who has owned a Tesla X and still owns a Tesla S recently added a Lucid Air Touring to his fleet. Here’s what he likes more about the Lucid:
- substantially quieter at all speeds
- smoother ride over the potholes of Maskachusetts (“better suspension”); can be put into “swift mode” for maximum cornering capability
- interior design (“like a Mercedes while the Tesla is like a Volkswagen”)
- more comfortable seats
- back seat is much roomier and more comfortable; a 3-person environment rather than what is realistically a 2-person seat in the Tesal
- better build quality
Here’s where the Tesla is better, in his opinion:
- one-touch dog mode backed up by cabin overheat protection (2018) (Lucid lets you monkey with the app to manage climate control remotely, but do you want to bet your dog’s life on your thumb ability? Why can’t Lucid and the other EV dwarves catch up to where Tesla was five years ago in this pure software department?)
- accuracy of the range forecast (Lucid forecast 200 miles remaining on a freezing New England day whereas 120 miles was the true number)
- charging network (Electrify America is a joke compared to the Superchargers, a network that has become substantially better over the past few years)
- cruise control has a better user interface (although rich, he did not pay up for “full self-driving”)
Equal:
- crazy fast acceleration [not sure how this is useful in the Boston area!]
- range
In the great tradition of Silicon Valley Bank, Lucid fraudulently depicts executive recliner chairs
Related:
Tesla has started rolling out magic dock.
Ability for their cars to access the Supercharger Network will likely save some CCS car manufacturers from bankruptcy.
“Superchargers, a network that has become substantially better over the past few years” Not noticeable. On a multi-day drive across the country , North to South and South to North more or less along the coast, so no fly-over country driving, Teslas are seen only around large cities, going slow on the highway until they go extinct at around 50 – 70 away miles from a large city. Was passed by one fast – driving Tesla on the highway, in 30 miles I passed it parked on the shoulder
I have a Model S and have considered a Lucid. Two other considerations:
– Ubiquity. Where I live there are tons of Teslas, not so many Lucids. They are still cool because they are rare.
– Appearance. Objectively, the Model S is a prettier car from every angle.
I’ve been considering Tesla for quite a while. Unfortunately, the car has many defects, admittedly subjective. In the reverse order (most annoying last):
1. Unreasonable lease conditions.
2. Inability to fix stuff on your own. At some point, I naively thought that the simplicity of the electrical drivetrain may let anybody with rudimentary knowledge of how to handle electrical toys fix things as simply as with a dishwasher or a drier. No such luck.
3. Hard to transport manure, mulch or plants from Home Depot.
Since my current lease expires soon, I revisited electrical car offerings, but the situation is as grim as ever (to me). Hence, the usual fallback to an X3 or X5. Perhaps, Q5.
Guess the range on a Tesla drops to 120 in Boston winter. Got to keep that in mind for the triumphant return from Fl*rida exile.
Aside from the fraudulent seat picture, the interior looks much, much better than a Tesla (on Lucid’s website). It looks like an upscale car, not some kind of rolling Orgazmatron from a Woody Allen movie. It would make a big difference in my purchase decision if I had to drive it a lot.