{"id":20524,"date":"2017-05-02T15:48:34","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T19:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=20524"},"modified":"2017-05-05T15:51:05","modified_gmt":"2017-05-05T19:51:05","slug":"tesla-rival-lucid-rises-on-home-turf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/tesla-rival-lucid-rises-on-home-turf","title":{"rendered":"Tesla rival Lucid rises on home turf"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/19f169adcc76b089f4e379919cab2e8fe12b9edd\/c=845-455-1732-1122&amp;r=x404&amp;c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293208601505677-LUCIDMOTORS-AIR-PCH-07-.jpg\" alt=\"Lucid_Air_front\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><p><em>New York \u2014 <\/em>Peter Rawlinson says the Tesla Model S is Electric Vehicle 1.0, and the Lucid Air is EV 2.0. People are listening because he\u2019s been the chief engineer for both.<\/p>\n<p>Following his breakthrough success with Tesla founder Elon Musk on the Model S sedan in 2011, Rawlinson moved on to his second Silicon Valley electric-car startup. At Lucid Motors, the chief technology officer is honing the lessons learned at Tesla to build the Air.<\/p>\n<p>A prototype of the striking battery-powered sedan with a full-glass moon roof stretching the length of the cockpit \u2014 hence the name Air \u2014 premiered in April at the New York Auto Show. California-based Lucid is ramping up a $240 million fundraising campaign as a first phase toward a 2019 production goal in Arizona. The company aims for a sticker price starting at $60,000, similar to the Model S.<\/p>\n<p>In a field of would-be Tesla fighters that include General Motors Co.\u2019s Chevrolet Bolt, Porsche\u2019s Mission E, BMW\u2019s i lineup and troubled prospects like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/business\/autos\/foreign\/2017\/01\/04\/faraday-future-unveils-ff-new-species-car\/96142950\/\">Faraday Future<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/2017\/03\/12\/detroit-electric-gets-chinese-joint-venture\/\">Detroit Electric<\/a>, Lucid has emerged as the badge-du-jour largely on the shoulders of Rawlinson\u2019s resume and the talented team of ex-Tesla engineers he has brought with him.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-P7ch8DsKrXA\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/e66bcf5397c3b8191da4f6d9f136b7912f19cc6e\/c=579-106-1768-1000&amp;r=x408&amp;c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293209668878203-LUCIDMOTORS-AIR-SANFRANCISCO-PHOTO-05-.jpg\" alt=\"The Lucid Air electric sedan would go head to head\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293209668878203-LUCIDMOTORS-AIR-SANFRANCISCO-PHOTO-05-.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/b84b4197b8931ac2336513f9ef91e59c4806e376\/r=500x250\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293209668878203-LUCIDMOTORS-AIR-SANFRANCISCO-PHOTO-05-.jpg\" \/>The Lucid Air electric sedan would go head to head with Tesla\u2019s Model S. It promises to have similar tech features and a comparable price starting at $60,000 ($52,500 after a tax break).\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Lucid Motors)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\u00a0Yet, as Lucid attempts to woo capital and put its vision into production, it faces the same question that has vexed competitors: Can electric-car startups be profitable or is Tesla\u2019s success built on the Cult of Elon Musk?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Based in Menlo Park not far from Tesla\u2019s headquarters, Lucid is determined to prove that electric vehicles are the future. Investors have doubts and question whether Tesla\u2019s sky-high market valuation is specific to mercurial CEO Musk. The visionary entrepreneur with a Midas touch created the online payment system PayPal and SpaceX, the private commercial space company that recently launched the world\u2019s first reusable rocket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElon Musk <em>is <\/em>Tesla,\u201d said Jeff Schuster, vice president of forecasting at LMC Automotive, an auto industry analysis firm. \u201cNo one else has his kind of following. The luxury electric vehicle space exists because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rawlinson, whose resume includes stints as boss engineering at Jaguar and Lotus, said the electric-vehicle revolution is bigger than one personality. So when Lucid came knocking in 2013, he brought his engineering brain trust to Lucid Motors to create a better Model S.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-P7ch8DtPdek\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/040ccc511e7b40ce404ac3d20864cced0eef2c0e\/c=103-0-783-510&amp;r=x408&amp;c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/01\/DetroitNews\/B99524081Z.1_20170501204402_000_GLC1F9TQ9.1-0.jpg\" alt=\"peter_rawlinson\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2017\/05\/01\/DetroitNews\/B99524081Z.1_20170501204402_000_GLC1F9TQ9.1-0.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/5496abf82fd7bbcff1f358995cbe1d850773963e\/r=500x287\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/01\/DetroitNews\/B99524081Z.1_20170501204402_000_GLC1F9TQ9.1-0.jpg\" \/>Peter Rawlinson, chief technology officer of Lucid.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: lucidmotors.com)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\u00a0The Air would go head to head against the Model S sedan. It promises to have similar gee-whiz tech features such as a touch-screen tablet infotainment display and \u201cover-the-air\u201d software upgrades.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rawlinson &amp; Co. have created a car that is smaller than the midsize Model S or the Mercedes E-Class, but with the same interior space as a long-wheelbase Mercedes S-Class. With a top trim offering a 130 kilowatt hours or kWh of battery, Lucid said the Air can go 400 miles on a charge. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tesla.com\/models\/design\">Tesla gets 335 miles <\/a>on a 100-kWh battery.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-P7ch8DsNWYU\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\u00a0The 1,000-horsepower version of the Air that showed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7k03MH7ztUs\">New York is said to have hit 217 miles per hour in testing<\/a>. Lucid said Air pricing will be similar to the Model S \u2014 starting at $60,000 ($52,500 after a federal tax break) to upward of $100,000.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhat differentiates us (from other EV startups) is that we are the team that did it before. We were largely responsible for the Model S,\u201d Rawlinson said in an interview with The Detroit News in New York. \u201cI brought all the key engineering people who were with me at Tesla.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anton Wahlman, a Silicon Valley-based auto analyst with the investment site <a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/article\/4059817-teslas-u-s-sales-plunge\">Seeking Alpha<\/a>, follows the electric-vehicle market closely. \u201cI love the car,\u201d he said about the Air. \u201cIt looks great, and Lucid has a first-rate team. It\u2019s the Model S 2.0. Updated interior and a much more plush backseat. But is there market enough for it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wahlman pointed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/chuckjones\/2017\/04\/03\/teslas-first-quarter-sales-point-to-flattish-demand-for-model-s-and-xs\/#3e3895616af9\">first-quarter sales results indicating<\/a> that Model S and Model X sport utility vehicle sales are flattening out. Indeed, <a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/article\/4059817-teslas-u-s-sales-plunge\">Tesla sales in the United States were down 30 percent<\/a> from the 2016 third quarter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nagging questions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Founded as battery-maker Atieva in 2007 with funding from Chinese electronics billionaire Jia Yueting, Lucid was spun off as a carmaker last October as its Air sedan was readied for public introduction. Atieva has continued as a battery-maker supplying power packs to Formula E racing in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>LMC Automotive\u2019s Schuster said EV startups are risky, but Lucid is among those that could make it: \u201cWhat they\u2019ve shown in prototype form is encouraging, that they can go after the Model S.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Lucid raises money for production, questions continue to dog the company. One concern is that Lucid has been without a chief executive since 2015 (chief technology officer Rawlinson is the senior executive).<\/p>\n<p>Then there is Rawlinson\u2019s insistence that the proof that electric startups can be profitable is that Tesla is making money. This even though Tesla says it has yet to turn a profit \u2014 <u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/autos\/la-fi-hy-tesla-earnings-4q-2016-story.html\">it lost $773 million on $7 billion in revenue in 2016<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a widely believed myth in the industry today that electric cars are somehow unprofitable. That is simply untrue,\u201d Rawlinson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is potentially a larger profit margin on electric cars than its gasoline counterpart. Tesla is making money on its cars right now \u2014 and it very well suits Elon Musk. If you were pre-eminent in that business, wouldn\u2019t it be the smartest play to convince all would-be competitors that it is unwise to enter and compete against you?\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-P7ch8Ds91Qg\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/85cf5801ec29685172786c8aa542b796c1595655\/c=207-0-3310-2333&amp;r=x408&amp;c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293241525938827-020a12-d204e894d98a4668948b1e4b47e6ed48-mv2-d-3733-2333-s-2.jpg\" alt=\"The Lucid Air electric sedan would go head to head\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293241525938827-020a12-d204e894d98a4668948b1e4b47e6ed48-mv2-d-3733-2333-s-2.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/ca14bdcf1cb7f186261407b748cd83386e8f7910\/r=500x312\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293241525938827-020a12-d204e894d98a4668948b1e4b47e6ed48-mv2-d-3733-2333-s-2.jpg\" \/>The Lucid Air electric sedan would go head to head with Tesla\u2019s Model S. It promises to have similar tech features and a comparable price.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Lucid Motors)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Auto investment analyst Wahlman disputes the claim based on Tesla\u2019s publicly released figures. \u201cTesla is not profitable; they are losing money hand over fist,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s in Lucid\u2019s interest right now to make the argument that Tesla is making money because their money-raising depends on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rawlinson said Lucid has attracted investments from the Rockefeller family\u2019s Venrock venture capital arm and Japan\u2019s Mitsui Group conglomerate. One trend is particularly bright for EVs, he said: falling battery costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is battery prices are going to fall dramatically,\u201d Rawlinson said. \u201cYou don\u2019t need a \u2018Gigafactory\u2019 \u2014 the last thing we need is the financial burden of a \u2018Gigafactory,\u2019 \u201d referring to Tesla\u2019s Nevada lithium ion battery plant. \u201cWe can rely on the supply base to carry that investment weight. The world is going to swing electric in the next decade as the price for batteries falls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rawlinson said his team has worked with supplier Samsung on a new type of cell chemistry to improve battery degradation from fast charging.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-P7ch8DteXoE\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/cc12877a125468340f1e793a1bb4d2ac14e13812\/c=315-0-3418-2333&amp;r=x408&amp;c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293218700359882-020a12-1820d7d8703f4244a7595d76ab229f5e-mv2-d-3733-2333-s-2.jpg\" alt=\"The Lucid Air electric sedan would go head to head\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293218700359882-020a12-1820d7d8703f4244a7595d76ab229f5e-mv2-d-3733-2333-s-2.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/ca14bdcf1cb7f186261407b748cd83386e8f7910\/r=500x312\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293218700359882-020a12-1820d7d8703f4244a7595d76ab229f5e-mv2-d-3733-2333-s-2.jpg\" \/>The Lucid Air electric sedan would go head to head with Tesla\u2019s Model S. It promises to have similar tech features and a comparable price.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Lucid Motors)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Breaking the rules<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Investment analysts like Wahlman are encouraged that Lucid is focused on just being a carmaker without the added infrastructure of a battery factory and charging stations that Tesla has taken on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are not going to integrate as vertically as Tesla,\u201d he said. \u201cThat will help them, but you have more established automakers like VW and BMW that are even less vertically integrated. And battery costs are going to come down for them as well \u2014 so that doesn\u2019t give Lucid or Tesla an advantage. Samsung will sell any automaker the same (battery) from GM to VW to Hyundai.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Startups, however, are in vogue. Barring a serious economic downturn, Wahlman and Schuster predict Lucid will reach its $240 million capital goal. \u201cLike Tesla, they are the anti-car company. That has given them some cachet,\u201d said Schuster, who added that Tesla and Lucid are specialty brands that will be swallowed up by larger automakers.<\/p>\n<p>For now, Rawlinson said he is focused on producing a vehicle like no one has seen before.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-P7ch8DtqnNM\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/ff3d83a29f25094dc18c4e3fdcf743ff1681a7a9\/c=227-94-2560-1848&amp;r=x408&amp;c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293255554820608-020a12-c1661576311d48cbb2e98acc04be6af0-mv2-d-3240-1907-s-2-1-.jpg\" alt=\"The Lucid Air electric sedan would go head to head\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293255554820608-020a12-c1661576311d48cbb2e98acc04be6af0-mv2-d-3240-1907-s-2-1-.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/fb40b04a51ba9253ac32fe53d9643b705a1d5f61\/r=500x294\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/02\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636293255554820608-020a12-c1661576311d48cbb2e98acc04be6af0-mv2-d-3240-1907-s-2-1-.jpg\" \/>The Lucid Air electric sedan would go head to head with Tesla\u2019s Model S.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Lucid Motors)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\u00a0\u201cIf The Model S hadn\u2019t been an outstanding car, Tesla wouldn\u2019t be the company it is today,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom that platform, all those possibilities can grow. We must not screw up Lucid Air.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>To that end, Rawlinson lured one of the industry\u2019s acclaimed designers, Derek Jenkins, to pen the Air. An ex-Mazda designer, Jenkins\u2019 achievements include the widely admired MX-5 Miata sports car and CX-9 SUV.<\/p>\n<p>Like Rawlinson, Jenkins found Lucid a liberation from the gas-engine box.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe transition from the gas engine to electric car is the closing of one book and the opening of another,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/business\/autos\/2017\/04\/13\/payne-new-york-auto-show-best\/100448412\/\">Jenkins said in New York<\/a>. \u201cI can break rules that I couldn\u2019t have done anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York \u2014 Peter Rawlinson says the Tesla Model S is Electric Vehicle 1.0, and the Lucid Air is EV 2.0. People are listening because he\u2019s been the chief engineer for both. Following his breakthrough success with Tesla founder Elon Musk on the Model S sedan in 2011, Rawlinson moved on to his second Silicon [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20524"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20525,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20524\/revisions\/20525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}