Tesla rival Lucid Motors unveils ‘world’s most advanced’ electric car

A Californian start-up plans to release its first electric vehicle next year and it’s claiming staggering figures for performance and range.

The Lucid Air electric car is a sharp-looking machine.

A Californian start-up plans to usurp Tesla and show the world’s biggest car companies how to build a better electric car.

Lucid Motors says its upcoming Air sedan is “the world’s most advanced electric vehicle”, bringing performance, luxury and driver aids rivals can’t match.

As with the Tesla Model S, the Lucid Air combines a large battery with powerful front and rear-mounted electric motors.

Lucid Motors plans a range of electric cars, starting with the Air sedan.

But the new car’s 113kWh battery is bigger than any electric car currently in production. And its electric motors offer about 800kW of power, enough to dispatch the 0-100km/h dash in about 2.5 seconds, or nail a sub-10-second quarter mile.

That’s supercar-beating speed.

The big battery promises more than 800 kilometres of range, along with the ability to take on 480 kilometres of charge in just 20 minutes.

Inside the Lucid Air electric car.

On the inside, the Lucid Air has a clean cabin aesthetic underpinned by an enormous 34-inch digital dashboard and panoramic glass roof.

Lucid promises to beat Tesla in the safety stakes with “the most comprehensive sensor suite on the market”, underpinned by Lidar tech deemed too expensive by most brands.

The result isn’t cheap.

The first batch of cars are priced from $US169,000 ($232,400) plus on-road costs.

The Lucid Air could come to Australia.

That’s about $US17,000 less than Porsche’s range-topping, 560kW Taycan Turbo S electric car, a model that sells for about $366,000 drive-away in Australia.

The Air was originally set to be built in left-hand-drive, but Lucid has expressed an interest in expanding to right-hand-drive markets in the future.