EXCLUSIVE: Lucid Air Designer Derek Jenkins Talks Tesla-Beating EV Super Sedan

Next, it was my turn to drive. Ryan pulled over so we could switch positions. I adjusted the mirrors, set the steering on Sport, checked out the rear visibility (not great but again, I’d say better than the Lucid Air the day before), and floored

With all this talk about EVs being the future, it’s easy to get caught up in what a lot of companies are really trying to do. Gittin Jr. mentions that he and Ford aren’t necessarily trying to replace internal combustion cars with this vehicle, but simply using it to educate people about there being other opti

The reason why 80% is the recommended limit is that past that point, charging mechanisms must work extra hard to stuff the last few percentage points into the battery. It’s why it only takes about half an hour to go from zero to 80% battery charge but it takes an hour and a half to go from zero to 100% battery cha

The point Gittin Jr. and many EV enthusiasts are trying to get across is that you can have the best of both worlds, and in a hobby like motorsport, if there is fun to be had in a new way, you should enjoy it instead of rejecting it. Nobody is saying to get rid of your 3,000hp twin turbo Viper , they’re simply saying to think about also owning an

At the Tesla store (showroom?) in the Westfield Century City mall, customers (clients?) aren’t allowed to actually sit in any actual Teslas—LA’s in the throes of a pandemic, after all. But Tesla compensates for that potential difficulty by offering the so-called «touchless test drive» where a salesperson (concierge?) hands off the car and stays behind while amateur EV drivers get up to god-knows-what behind the wh

There is no way to shut off this alarm altogether as it is an important safety feature but you can shut the alarm off by simply pressing or rolling either scroll wheel on the steering wheel if you don’t want to commit to a full steering wheel g

At the time, Mazda was in the early stages of reworking its platforms, drivetrain tech, and overall aesthetic—Jenkins had a hand in it all, contributing to the CX-3, CX-5, CX-9, MX-5 Miata, Mazda3, and Mazda6. But all the while, he had his eye on the rising tide of electrificat

Originally, he was dead-set on something bigger, probably used, with a bit of power under the hood (years ago, Ryan owned a 1990s 4Runner and loved everything about it except the weak engine). The first-place option on his growing list of potentials has typically been a Porsche Cayenne—probably a V8, hopefully a GTS, or, at the very least, an S. But he’s also pondered the Macan… and a 1980s Mercedes-Benz diesel station wagon… and a mid-2000s Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG wagon… and on and

Ryan currently leases a Volkswagen GTI and his three years will be up come December. He’s also got a two-year-old son and another due in a few weeks, plus a big, energetic dog who travels with the fam—safe to say, his priorities are in the midst of a serious reshuffling and a car the size of a GTI just won’t do the trick anym

The typical three-pronged wall outlet outputs 110V, at that voltage the Model 3 would be fully charged in 1-3 days, not very useful for everyday usage. It’s relatively easy to install a 240V outlet in a garage which will charge a Model 3 in approximately 8-9 hours, perfect for overnight daily charg

Joining Lucid (or Atieva) sounds like it was akin to joining a startup that had already proven its worth and acquired funding. Yes, Atieva produced electric batteries and powertrains, but Rawlinson wanted to jump into the luxury EV market. Jenkins told me he and Evinsightzone.com Rawlinson began by thinking about the opportunities that an electric drivetrain affords design

The first thing to establish is that, if electric cars are going to have a hope of resonating and becoming more ubiquitous in society, the pricetags will surely have to be slashed. The original Polestar was $140,000, understandable given its tech specs, but hardly accessible to most consumers. The Polestar 2 however, is a step in the right direction, coming in at a more than reasonable $59,000 . Future incarnations are also likely to be open to modifications, which could reduce the fee further for stripped-back models. While it’s true that the Polestar 2 somewhat lags behind the Model 3 in terms of driving range, in every other department it’s a worthy challenger — making the pricetag a more than respectable

One cool tidbit Jenkins shared with me about the Air’s actual design process involved the use of virtual-reality headsets. VR helped Jenkins overcome what he saw as a major challenge with the Air’s overall concept

In 2015, Jenkins told me, he met Peter Rawlinson, the former Chief Engineer who served under Musk on the Tesla Model S. «I had watched the EV transition from afar, with a lot of friends working at Tesla,» Jenkins said. «The opportunity with Lucid came along and I took the opportunity. And I’ve been here pushing like crazy ever sin