Lucid Air outlasts Tesla with 520-mile electric range

The 2022 Lucid Air tops all electric vehicles with an EPA-rated 520-mile range, the EPA confirmed on Thursday. That’s at least 100 miles more than the next longest range electric vehicle, the Tesla Model S Long Range that has an EPA-rated 405-mile range. 

The 2022 Lucid Air has the most range of any electric vehicle ever, and its 113-kwh battery pack might be the most efficient ever. Lucid says its flagship sedan can recover 20 miles of range per minute of DC fast-charging at a peak rate of 300 kw, and that it can charge up to 300 miles of EPA range in just 20 minutes, quicker than any Tesla model or the Porsche Taycan or any other EV on the market. 

It was less than a decade ago that most analysts pegged 200 miles as the electric vehicle range that would get shoppers over range anxiety—the fear they’d run out of juice before arriving at their destination—and foster the mass adoption of electric vehicles. That’s the stated mission of Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk, and the new range toppers reflect the progress made by innovation and decreasing per-kwh battery costs. The first mass-produced electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf launched for 2011, had a 73-mile range. 

The 2021 Nissan Leaf tops out at 226 miles, and most other new EVs have a range in the mid-200s, on average. Yet the Leaf has something that neither the Lucid Air or Tesla Model S can come close to: a starting price of about $20,000, if you consider the available $7,500 federal EV tax credit. 

2020 Tesla Model 3

2020 Tesla Model 3

The 520-mile range Lucid Air costs $169,000 for the top Dream Edition Range with 19-inch wheels; on 21-inch wheels the range drops to 481 miles. On sale at the end of the year, the Dream Edition’s motors make 933 hp. The more affordable Lucid Air at launch is the 800-hp Grand Touring with a 516-mile range for $139,000. More affordable versions of Lucid’s first car are due next year, with a 480-hp base model that will cost $77,400, but range hasn’t been disclosed. 

The 2021 Tesla Model S Long Range starts at about $90,000. Tesla’s most affordable vehicle, the Model 3 compact sedan with a single-motor rear-wheel-drive setup, costs about $36,000 and has a 262-mile range. A Model 3 Long Range costs $46,000 and has a 353-mile range.