For 2024, Lucid reworked the Air lineup and added a single-motor Pure with rear-wheel drive.
Between riding Indian motorcycles around the Bay Area and a day with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N at Laguna Seca earlier this month, I swung by the Lucid Motors headquarters in Newark, California to take the latest variant of the Air EV out for a test drive. As part of a revamped lineup for model year 2024, the newest Air—dubbed the Pure RWD—starts at just $69,900 and aims to serve as Lucid’s volume seller until the full-size Gravity SUV and two forthcoming mid-size models eventually hit the market.
Even at that lowest starting price point, which purposefully undercuts the Tesla Model S, the Air Pure RWD still delivers 430 horsepower from a single motor while achieving an EPA-estimated 419 miles of range when equipped with 19-inch wheels. That’s despite coming with a smaller 88-kilowatt-hour battery pack, the least capacity available in an Air thus far, which makes the Pure RWD the most efficient of any EV on the market, able to achieve up to 4.74 miles per kWh thanks to an industry-leading combination of aerodynamics, advanced hardware, and optimized software.
But efficiency isn’t the only name of the Air Pure RWD’s game: I discovered almost immediately that this spacious and luxurious sedan can still put every ounce of that power down impressively, when I stomped on the accelerator pedal in Sprint mode and launched forward as noticeable hints of traction and stability control interventions worked hard to keep the rear tires planted.
Tuning the Air's chassis for rear-drive only required significant effort from the same team that ... [+]
Exploring Rear-Wheel-Drive Performance
Independent testing has proven the Air Pure RWD is capable of a sprint to 60 miles per hour in as little as 4.2 seconds, a figure that only a few years ago would have been reserved strictly for six-figure supercars. Even in Sprint mode, though, the Pure RWD lacks a certain level of gut-punching jerk—the scientific term for rate of change of acceleration—that makes higher-spec Airs more intense to drive at the limit. That’s despite tipping the scale at just 4,536 pounds, while every other Air weighs over 5,000 pounds due to the additional weight of two or three electric motors combined with larger battery packs.
Hoping to engage in a bit of sideways shenanigans in the new rear-wheel-drive Air, I quickly flipped through the large central touchscreen searching for the familiar menu screens that previously turned down traction control and ESC programming. I doubled back, unable to find what I knew existed on previous Airs. No luck, so I figured that in the RWD, Lucid made discretion the better part of valor and removed the option.
Back at company HQ later, I learned that harnessing the Pure RWD’s prodigious power safely, with only two driven wheels, presented Lucid with something of a challenge. Director of Chassis and Vehicle Dynamics David Lickfold walked me through the process of working over the Air’s suspension and steering to cope with the changes to power delivery and driving dynamics that the loss of all-wheel drive presented.
“A load of the learning we got on Sapphire went into rear-wheel drive,” Lickfold said. “All the in-house traction control stuff, a lot of our learnings about roll-center distribution and general tuning carried over from Sapphire to rear-wheel drive.”
The Pure RWD sits at the lowest price point for an Air EV.
How Lucid Tuned the 2024 Air Pure RWD
I asked how the regenerative braking remained so smooth and progressive, given that only the rear axles can do so—and how many other rear-wheel-drive EVs struggle in this regard.
“We had to be really careful about both the absolute amount of regen that we allow,” Lickfold replied. “And also the tuning in terms of ramp rates, filters, and regen traction control, which is a new development for rear-wheel drive.”
The same team that worked on developing the Pure RWD was also responsible for the top-spec tri-motor Air Sapphire, the second-quickest accelerating production vehicle of all time. Similarly, the Sapphire required plenty of additional effort to make 1,234 horsepower both daily drivable and demonstratively quick (in a straight line or while canyon carving). And happily, Lickfold assured me that a forthcoming over-the-air (OTA) update will reinstate the Pure RWD’s ability to turn down traction and stability control intervention, in similar fashion to the Sapphire’s programming that allows for tail-happy slides similar to a drift mode.
“As a team, we are obsessed with driving in all forms, whether it’s off-roading or canyon roads,” Lickfold said, adding cheekily, “Or, thoroughly responsible driving on closed circuits with large body-slip angles.”
Meanwhile, for the rest of my few hours with the Pure RWD, I enjoyed the outstanding level of luxury that the Air delivers with aplomb. In the Smooth drive mode, the suspension absorbs every bump in the road, while steering feel softens up and “throttle” response prioritizes maximum range. A few dozen highway miles testing the constantly updated DreamDrive lane-keep assist system also showed progress, as I noticed less ping-ponging off lines in the road or unnecessary braking than ever before.
Purposefully Undercuts the Tesla Model S
Clearly, Lucid continues to refine the Air lineup’s overall abilities as a multi-purpose, truly livable EV. But then I drove the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N on the track at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca the next day, as well as on the winding roads of Monterey and Carmel, only to learn that I now have a new favorite EV on the market. Looking back at the Air Pure RWD in comparison, tighter steering or, at least, the ability to handpick specific drive settings to dial in my preferred dynamics might help bridge the gap.
But it’s crucial to remember that even at Lucid’s most attainable price point, for now, the Air Pure RWD still inhabits a much more luxurious presence, inside and out, than the Ioniq 5 N. A stately exterior, sumptuous interior, and of course nearly double the range all help to reinforce that impression—critically, now with a starting price tag below Tesla’s flagship sedan. And in that regard, I believe the Air still represents the future of EV development, now in a much more realistic and attainable realm to help Lucid continue bolstering sales and recognition.
