Despite the hesitancy and fears surrounding electric vehicles, they are advancing like the iPhone. Newer versions with stronger batteries are coming out at shorter intervals.

That’s a plus amid the recent negative media messaging about electric vehicles, with range anxiety leading the list: What if I run out of power juice between Orange Theory and Whole Foods and have to click an Uber while backed-up gasoline drivers honk at me?!

The Lucid Air is a glider of an electric vehicle trying to counteract that legendary urban fear or at least relegate it to the irrational column. Its Air models offer ranges of about 410 to 516 miles on one full charge. That’s been a major selling point in a market where most electric vehicles still tarry below the average highway miles on a full gas tank.

As a recent test drive proved, the Lucid Air can keep you ahead of the gas curve. While you still must plan when and where to hook up to a charger if you lack a Level 2 at home, you can at least travel farther between chargers. Or make it to the next one if your first choices are occupied.

For me, that never happened. I didn’t worry about range anxiety, but admit I was anxious about my competence at a charging station: What if the technology tricked me into looking stupid?!

Because my six-day test run of local driving didn’t exceed the car's range when I picked it up, I never had to charge it and even returned it with 108 miles to spare. This underscores how the average American drives only 30 miles per day. The Lucid can also charge up to a 200-mile range in 16 minutes.

Lucid announced in July that its 2025 Lucid Air Pure equates to the most energy-efficient vehicle ever, the first to achieve 5 miles of range per kilowatt hour of energy. It recorded a 146 MPGe (miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent) EPA rating. The sedan has an EPA-estimated range of 420 miles from an 84 kWh battery pack. 

If you do the math, in tests or on the actual street, we can start to calm down about the future of EV convenience.

Nifty Gritty Specs

The Lucid Air Touring has a dual electric motor with all-wheel drive that delivers 620 hp, a range of 406 miles, 0-60 mph in 3.4 seconds, and a top speed of 140 mph, or 225 kmh. The Lucid Air qualifies for the left lane on German autobahns, where I’ve witnessed luxury sedans doing orbit boosters of more than 200 kmh. In fact, the only spec where all Lucid Airs score a complete zero is in carbon emissions.

The Air Touring is compatible with Level 2 and 3 systems and equipped with the combined charging system (CCS) standard. The car’s peak charging power is 250kW with AC charging up to 19.2kW. The charging port accommodates all chargers except Tesla’s, which are of the NACS standard. Lucid plans to offer an adaptor to NACS outlets with the next model year.

The Airs have 19–21-inch wheels and a 116.5-inch wheelbase, allowing for solid cornering and roadway footing. The Air Touring MSRP is $77,900, but my version as tested was about $82,000 because of a glass canopy roof exposing upward views.

The rear luggage compartment contains 22.1 cubic feet of space, and the front compartment, called the frunk, has 10 cubic feet. With all cargo space factored in, the Lucid Air passed our weekend “Costco haul test.”

Among the two other models:

• The more basic Lucid Air Pure, with MSRP of $69,900, comes with a single electric motor sustaining rear wheel drive, 430 hp, 4.5 seconds to 60 mph, 124 mph top speed, 420 miles of range, and a 17-minute charge to 200-mile range.

• The higher end Lucid Air Grand Touring, which gives the Lucid brand its range reputation, has three electric motors that bless the vehicle with AWD, 819 hp, 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds, a top speed of 168 mph, a full charge range of up to 512 miles, and a 200-mile charge capacity in about 15 minutes. It has an MSRP of $110,900.

Moving Fleet Side

All three Lucid Air models are part of the OEM fleet purchase program. So far, about 50+ companies have acquired Lucid Airs for their fleets, varying from a handful to hundreds, said Dennis Craig, director of global fleet sales for Lucid Motors. One of the fleet clients is a global chauffeured transportation company running 40+ Lucid Air sedans in the Los Angeles area.

The EV maker offers a volume incentive program with discounts based on the number of vehicles purchased.

“We definitely go above and beyond to appreciate our new customers and do full training on vehicles and make sure they are comfortable,” Craig said. “We rely heavily on the Lucid team to serve our customers. It’s not just one person’s customer. We look to use all our different backgrounds to make sure customers have a top-notch experience.”

Pluses and Pinpoints

Driving the Lucid Air proves to be an aerodynamic whirl, with its subtle battery whine, ambient whoosh, and reassuring whisk toward the future. 

"Lucid is changing the way fleet managers are looking at their electrification strategy due to how far drivers can go on a single charge and the measures that the Air goes to protect their drivers," Craig said.

One comfort advantage of the Lucid Air Touring is its slightly lower rear floor level allowing for more legroom. Because it has a lower range than the 516-mile Grand Touring model, and hence smaller batteries, it doesn’t need the mid-car interior hump to house additional battery cells. That makes it more comfortable for any VIP or executive chauffeured in the rear seats, as well as for clients and colleagues of an executive driving a fleeted Lucid Air Touring.

Along the dashboard, intuitive displays and onboard electronics contrast sharply with the Boeing 707-style cockpit controls of the pre-digital boaty sedans of the 1970s. That evokes some generational differences: Millennials and Gen Z-ers will likely know the interior tech through osmosis because it’s second nature.

Analog-raised Gen-Xers, like me, understand the templates of technology platforms but may instinctively look for dashboard controls in the places we learned in our first cars. I spent a few minutes searching for the left rear-view mirror and glove box controls — pressing and peeking at the left side of the dashboard and the contours of the glove box door — until I found them on the main center “iPaddy” console display. One was highlighted by the outline of… duh, a rear-view mirror! And the other one via an “openings” icon I could tap to reveal the glove box symbol.

Boomers, however, may eventually figure out the display menus, but not until they rant about how much simpler the Boeing 707 dashboard used to be.

Screen icon soup aside, I had implied earlier that the escapist Lucid Air carries the aura of a de-stress chamber. Its simple clear cabin lines, unitary flow design, and ample sense of space declutters the mind and soul. The Air can physically propel you to less stressful locations while its environs can air out the brain fog.

For employers and boards of directors, a Lucid Air is an investment in the sanity of the driver and work teams riding along. Relax them on the way, remove range anxiety, and they may produce a more vigorous presentation. Or close the deal.

The Air reminds us we live in a frenetic world of stacked schedules, recurrent distractions, random anxieties, and needless complexity. Thankfully, the Lucid Air Touring at least recreates a rolling, soothing cocoon that nudges you about what living a better fleet life should be.