The Lucid Air Touring test: How a luxury EV handles in snow

This is part 3 of a series of four testing Lucid Motors’ new ‘mid-range’ luxury EV, the Lucid Air Touring.Click here to follow the news.

If there was one point on my trip that the Lucid Motors team was interested in, it was the Donner Pass. The steepest, snowiest area of ​​California’s Interstate 80 – in fact, the snowiest area in the southern 48 states, averaging 411 inches of snow per year – Donors want everyone who crosses it I demand respect.

Not just chilly memories of the Donner Corps(opens in new tab), the infamous group of Western pioneers who were stranded here in 1846, losing half their crew and having to resort to cannibalism. These winters are more likely to result in hours of queues waiting for the California Highway Patrol to check if your tires require snow chains.

The Lucid Air is all-wheel drive, so it’s exempt from that requirement, but we weren’t looking forward to convincing CHP that this rare low-riding luxury sedan is tougher than it looks.

Meanwhile, the Lucid team suggested swapping out the regular tires for better grip. Mobile Service Van Program, Lucid Care(opens in new tab).

After all, Donner Pass was bright and clear when I passed, even though it was well below freezing. CHP was nowhere to be found. There was still a lot of snow and ice on the road and some deep drifts around it, but the regular tires never felt incredibly stable.

Lucid Air kept the road in a bear hug around all sorts of curves. (Remember the children. Won’t break while skidding(opens in new tab).)

As we drove up and down the winding roads to Lake Tahoe with Truckee, the biggest dangers had nothing to do with the car’s handling or maintaining a charge in the freezing cold. Now that I’ve gotten used to regenerative braking, it was a lot of fun to see if I could keep the car above 50% charge on the descents.

No, the biggest danger for this driver was the Lucid Air’s expansive windshield. This makes me feel like I’m in a Jetson bubble car.

Usually there isn’t much to see there, but here we were walking through a forest of tall pines covered in what looked like cake frosting against a cerulean blue sky. Who wouldn’t be distracted by a spectacle?

I remember Tooling standard option(opens in new tab) Comes with a regular aluminum roof (glass canopy is $4,500 extra). Not only are there less distractions, but considering how cold the glass bubbles are to the touch, they probably require much less energy to heat up.

Speaking of warmth, the Lucid’s partially heated seats and heated steering wheel (both accessible from the central tablet) were a cozy delight.

They put as many smiles on my face as the hot sweet rum I drank on the coast of Tahoe and helped banish the bad memories of the old electric car system that broke down in this winter wonderland. .

Striking Lucid Air exterior and nervous, glitchy Lucid Air interior

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When I returned to Nevada City, the Tahoe trip had one more benefit: a layer of snowy dirt provided camouflage for the car. I was a little apprehensive how many pedestrians would stop and stare when the is at the front. Lucid Air is more than just a headlight! – It’s on.

The “Quantum Gray” color model I was testing looks pretty stealthy, at least when parked. More than the design itself, many commented that the Florida license plate was something Californians couldn’t help but notice.

My fears that the car would become a target for thieves may have been unfounded, but that didn’t stop the car itself from sounding like it had a bad case of anxiety. First of all, the Lucid Air beeps the minute you sit in the driver’s seat because you haven’t put your seatbelt on yet.

The house I was staying in had a fairly steep driveway, which Lucid’s low-floor camera recognized as a road obstruction when driving down. I also ran into glitches that other drivers often describe. Lucid Air may also consider lane dividers to be obstacles.

When it comes to software glitches, it was the day that Lucid Air hit its worst. Normally, when backing up, the dashboard screen shows the rear view, while the central tablet shows the ‘surround view’. It’s a clever computer construction that shows what a car looks like from above, and you can zoom in on it in 3D.

Both screens were now blank on the spinning wheel. Lucid is the blue screen of death equivalent.

This isn’t the worst glitch in the world. After all, I could still see over my shoulder. After an over-the-air software update was downloaded that night, it was never encountered again.

Still, the feeling of driving a $109,000 beta product isn’t exactly reassuring.

Aerodynamic Clarity Bubbles and Mediocre Mapping

Back in the Bay Area, the worst winter storms had passed, but the winds were still insane. However, I didn’t realize this until, while waiting at an intersection, I saw trees bending and leaves running horizontally across my vision.

I’m used to cars that shake at least a little in strong winds, so it was a little unnerving that the Lucid Air didn’t move at all. Not only does it work left and right.

The feeling of being in a bubble untouched by the outside world was perfect.

Unfortunately, the real world doesn’t always fit Lucid Air’s poor navigation system.used by the company This map, not Google Maps(opens in new tab) data, facts Enraging drivers on the Lucid forums(opens in new tab).

It’s not just that the traffic data loads too slowly and you decide on a route before understanding all your options. It’s that Here’s maps are sorely outdated and road access often seems confusing.

I can count three times Lucid tried to take me in the wrong direction on a one-way street, and once I headed for the trailhead just outside Berkeley. chained.

The car’s sense of privilege turned headlong into reality. Lucid Motors has not disclosed when CarPlay or Android Auto will join the lineup. But given the desperate need for Google Maps and more detailed directions, this is not enough.

Part 4, which covers overall impressions, will be published on Saturday, February 18th..