Wait, weren’t those Tesla’s supposed backers?
American EV startup Lucid Motors, which unveiled its debut Air luxury limousine some time ago, today announced that it secured a major investment from a major investor, clearing the last hurdle that stood in the way of reaching production. The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund that’s entirely managed by the Kingdom, has opted to pour in US$1-billion into the carmaker, as part of its push to diversify its investment portfolio.
Lucid’s been on the funding rounds of late, and we guess it was PIF that took the bait. The company’s shown its Air limousine already: It’s been determined that in its dearest form, the Lucid Air will offer as much as 746kW of power, allowing the Air to go from rest to 100km/h in just 2.5-seconds, while also offering as much as 400km of range on a single charge. The batteries are courtesy of Samsung SDI and are of the lithium-ion variety, but of an unspecified capacity.
“By investing in the rapidly expanding electric vehicle market, PIF is gaining exposure to long-term growth opportunities, supporting innovation and technological development, and driving revenue and sectoral diversification for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. PIF’s international investment strategy aims to strengthen PIF’s performance as an active contributor in the international economy, an investor in the industries of the future and the partner of choice for international investment opportunities. Our investment in Lucid is a strong example of these objectives.” — Spokesperson, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia
While we now know that nothing stands in the way of Lucid and its production goals, the relatively late arrival of money means that between completing its factory in Arizona and finishing pre-production testing and development, the Lucid Air won’t be delivered until late-2019/early-2020. The long waiting period for the Air could see its list of rivals grow much, much longer than it already is, meaning the Air will have quite a fight on its hands if it intends to own a significant slice of the EV pie.
But progress should be swift here on out with few more delays on the horizon. Lucid and PIF are both circulating around the idea of establishing a lasting, sustainable electric luxury car marque based in Silicon Valley, benefitting from world-class engineering talent. That focus means that there’ll likely be precious-little pushback as Lucid grows as a company, and Lucid will benefit from PIF’s comfortable cash reserves (though probably won’t need any more).
The Lucid Air is on sale in the US and Canada now, with other markets expected to be announced by the company sometime after North American deliveries of the Air have commenced. What’s interesting to us is that PIF was the very fund that Tesla said would back its privatisation efforts, which PIF has since clarified to be inaccurate and has since been proven to be mostly hot air.
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