Yahoo Sports Lucid Air's modular powertrain opens up serious performance possibilities
The Lucid Air sedan is an impressive, high-end luxury electric car with an astounding 1,080 horsepower between 465 and 503 miles of range in its top Dream Edition spec, but thanks to the company's trick powertrain engineering, that figure may just be the beginning. Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson gave us a little taste of what might be in store down the road in a media preview the company hosted earlier this month.
During Lucid's demonstration, Rawlinson gave us a sneak peak at a new rear subframe module for the Air. The way Lucid engineered its front and rear suspension modules allows them to be swapped, and thanks to the compact nature of the company's electric drive units, these modules can accommodate additional motors. Yeah, we could theoretically get a three-motor Lucid Air sedan with both a staggering amount of power and the potential for advanced torque vectoring across the rear axle.
As if a 9.9-second quarter mile and 2.5-second sprint to 60 alone weren't enough, right?
Besides the potential for an additional motor and torque vectoring, there also seems to be room for cranking up the power. See, Lucid's drive units (the electric motors and their associated components) are capable of delivering up to 670 horsepower apiece, which we touched on the new EV's trick powertrain layout back when Lucid first detailed its capabilities. However, the high-output Dream Edition, which has two motors, only makes 1,080 horsepower, seemingly leaving 260 horsepower on the table. The lower trim levels are expected to have power outputs of around 400, 620 and 800 horsepower, all of which are expected to be dual motor, thus having even more untapped potential.
It's when you take the power potential and the ability to add an extra motor that you can see the real performance potential: This chassis could theoretically employ three motors pushing a whopping 2,010 hp.
That's... not bad.
Related Video:
