Lucid Motors’s 1,000-HP Lucid Air Electric Car Hits 235 MPH

High-Speed Test 2: Electric Boogaloo.

byWill Sabel Courtney|
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When Lucid Motors showed up at the New York International Auto Show this past April, the upstart American electric carmaker arrived with its metaphorical head held high: A prototype version of its 1,000-horsepower Lucid Air had just hit a software-limited top speed of 217 miles per hour at an Ohio test track. At the time, Lucid Motors CTO Peter Rawlinson told The Drive, "There's a whole lot more performance to come." 

Turns out he wasn't blowing smoke. On a recent return to the TRC Ohio test facility, the Lucid Air high-speed test vehicle blasted all the way up to 235 miles per hour, the carmaker announced Monday

Removing the speed governor was only one part of Lucid's tweaks to the prototype in advance of the second run. Based on data collected from the previous high-speed trials, the carmaker's engineers adjusted the software controlling the self-leveling air suspension, swapped on new, more streamlined wheels, and updated the front electric motor for improved cooling. 

Considering the long list of safety tweaks made to the Lucid Air high-speed tester in order to prep it for high-speed running—including a roll cage and a just-in-case parachute—it seems unlikely that the production versions of the Tesla-fighting luxury sedan will be given free reign to blast their way up to 235 miles per hour. (Also, consider the test vehicle had a stripped-out interior, we're guessing the added weight of all the leather and fanciness in the final version will slow the street car down a bit.)

Still, the fact that the Lucid Air can hit that speed at all means this electric car is technically faster than modern-day supercars like the Ferrari 812 Superfast, the Lamborghini Aventador S, the McLaren 720S, the new 2017 Ford GT...hell, pretty much everything that doesn't have a Bugatti or Koenigsegg logo on it

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