A Look at the Lucid Air Touring From a Tesla Perspective

Not a Tesla App

Recently, I had the opportunity to test drive the Lucid Air Touring while I was on a trip to Toronto. It was an interesting experience, so I’d like to tell you what I thought, coming from a two-year Tesla owner.

For context, I currently own a Tesla Model Y—a 2022 MYLR—and have driven both a Model S Long Range and a Model S Plaid. I use FSD nearly every day and go on road trips all the time. EVs have become a central part of my car ownership experience, and I’ve tried out everything from the original Kona EV to the Audi e-Tron and back.

I hope that my experience and perspective provide an interesting view of Lucid’s pretty amazing vehicle.

The Lucid Air

The Lucid Air is Lucid’s primary and only vehicle – until the Lucid Gravity SUV launches later this year. It’s available in various trim lines that go from lowest to highest – Air Pure, Air Touring, Air Grand Touring, and Air Sapphire.

I got to sit in the three primary models – the Air Pure, the Air Touring, and the Air Grand Touring. I intended to try out the Grand Touring as well – but more on that later. My focus for this will be on the Lucid Air Touring – the one that I had the opportunity to take to the streets with a Lucid employee sitting in the front passenger seat and a few friends sitting in the back.

The Lucid Air is a 4-seat sedan aimed at the upscale and luxury market. And from the price tag, you can tell who it is aimed at - $96,500 CAD (~$70,000 USD) for the Air Pure – without any options. The fully specced out Touring I drove cost $146,999 CAD (~$107,000 USD).

Lucid Air Touring – Options and Pricing

So, let’s get into it, starting with the specs of the car I had the opportunity to drive. The Lucid Air Touring is quite a vehicle, especially spec-wise. Lucid’s Air Touring is a dual-motor EV, with a rated range of approximately 587 km (365mi) and 620 horsepower – pulling 3.4s 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h).

Let’s talk options, as there are quite a few on the Lucid Air. The vehicle I drove was painted in the standard Infinite Black Metallic – a free paint option on any Lucid Air. All paint options only cost $1,000 CAD ($800 USD), which is quite nice.

The vehicle was equipped with an optional glass canopy. Yes – Lucid’s glass canopy is an option that goes for $5,000 CAD ($4,000 USD) and is only available on Touring or higher. The Air Pure is only available with a metallic roof. By default, the vehicles come with a platinum pillar trim which matches the rest of the vehicle. The one I drove had the Stealth package – another $4,500 CAD (~$3500 USD).

There are a few wheel options, and the Stealth package does blackout all the wheel options if it's selected, which is neat. 19” Aero Range wheels are standard, but 20” and 21” packages are available for another $2,500 or $5,000 CAD ($1750 or $3,500 USD). Once again – this vehicle had the 21” rims.

In terms of interior options, there are a few to pick from – by default, you get the Mojave PurLuxe Alternative Leather – if you pony up another $4,000 CAD ($3,000 USD), you can select from three real leather choices – Mojave (Black), Tahoe (Brown), or Santa Cruz (White). If you also choose the glass roof, the headliner, pillar trim, and sun visors on the roof interior are in Alcantara. If not, they’re in cloth.

The full leather packages also include leather or Alcantara on more surfaces within the vehicle, removing the cloth and plastic from anywhere in the interior.

The Lucid Air Touring in the showroom

Not a Tesla App

Other Features

Lucid also has an extensive list of features, including a Driver Assistance Package – DreamDrive (more on this later), an upgraded sound system, additional seating controls (12-way power seats or 20-way power seats with ventilation and massage), and a comfort package.

The comfort package includes a power frunk, heated wipers, soft-close doors, heated rear seats, four-zone climate control, heated steering wheel, and power rear window shades.

Honestly, in my opinion, many of the features in the “comfort package” should be standard. Paying for a heated steering wheel on a car that starts at $109,000 CAD is ridiculously silly in 2024.

I could imagine seeing this as an option for BMW – who allows customers to part out every piece of their higher-end vehicles (for a premium), but for an EV vendor like Lucid? It feels almost disappointing. Most interesting is that nearly every inventory vehicle that Lucid has in stock in North America has the package included by default.

Upgrade Chart

Here’s a chart showing the available upgrades and their prices for the Touring.

Comfort Package includes Power Frunk, Heated Wipers, Soft-Close Doors, Heated Rear Seats, Four-Zone Climate Control, Heated Steering Wheel, Power Rear Windows/Side Window Sunshades

If you add up all those features, it costs an additional $35,800 CAD in options – or $26,950 USD for a fully loaded Touring. Those same costs apply to the Grand Touring as well. It's slightly less for the Pure – there are fewer options, including not being able to equip it with a glass roof. The Sapphire, on the other hand, comes fully equipped at $327,300 CAD, or $249,000 USD.

Battery and Motors

Lucid’s biggest bragging points are its battery and motor technologies. The Lucid Air Grand Touring has a 718km EPA range-estimated battery, leaving behind its closest contender – the Tesla Model S Long Range, at 647km. However, the Grand Touring costs 1.5 times more than the Model S.

Besides the absolutely fantastic range figures – Lucid also brings an astonishing 5 mi per kWh, while the Model S only reaches 3.2 mi per kWh. The Model 3 narrows the gap at 3.9mi per kWh, but Lucid is still head and shoulders above in terms of efficiency. Of course, that efficiency comes at a cost – as even the Air Pure is far more expensive than a Model 3 Performance.

Here's a table comparing some key specs between the Lucid Air trims, the Model 3 and the Model S.

Lucid has some pretty extreme competition for the price and specs – but those aren’t all that matter. The interior, materials, fit, and finish are truly up to par for what you pay for.

Exterior

Let’s take a look at the outside of the vehicle. Overall, it's stylish, with nice, clean lines. If you opt for the default Stellar White Metallic, the vehicle looks good – even if you choose to have a metallic roof.

If you opt for the Glass Roof, it looks much better. However, you’ll want the Stealth Package on any color other than the Stellar White Metallic or Cosmos Silver Metallic. The platinum trims just stand out too much and take away from the car. All three wheel sets, including the base Aero wheels, are fairly stylish – especially so in the Stealth package.

Interior

On the interior, especially in the driver’s seat, the Lucid Air Touring with the extended real leather package is quite something to behold. Lucid has put a lot of care into designing the interior of the vehicle, with some subtle but clean ambient lighting highlighting the curves of the dash and interior of the vehicle.

The screens are mostly comfortably spaced (more on this in the UI section), but if you’re tall, you’ll find it a struggle to see around inside the vehicle. The A-pillar is extremely low and prevents taller people from seeing to the front left of the vehicle. This can be annoying when doing a left turn – you’ll find yourself leaning forward to see around the pillar.

However, the driver seat is fantastically comfy and holds you well in place when you put the vehicle into a higher speed mode and put your foot down to really take advantage of that acceleration. A well-placed reverse mirror and pop-up repeater cameras assist in making lane changes.

Backing up to the passenger side, the seats are super comfortable. If I had to choose a vehicle to be chauffeured around in – the Lucid Air with the extended real leather would be up there. It's fantastically built and very comfortable. The only thing missing is rear-ventilated seats and a better display. The rear display is only for accessing the rear climate controls since the vehicle is equipped with a quad-zone climate system. The rear screen currently has no other functionality – a big miss from the newer Model 3 Model S and Model X in my eyes, especially for those hoping to move their small families around in comfort.

Lucid has taken the rear passenger seats to the next level – they’re super comfortable and super spacious. In fact, my passengers found it to be more spacious than the Rivian R1T Quad Max we test-drove just an hour prior – and more comfortable. Behind those seats, in the trunk, you can find a fairly deep amount of space. Unlike Tesla’s long hoods that provide plenty of vertical space, the Lucid Air’s trunk is more similar to one you may find on a regular sedan but extremely deep. Plenty of space for several suitcases.

The frunk is massive. In fact, it's bigger than any Tesla frunk – a big win in my eyes, especially with the automatic frunk in the comfort package. I’d love to use the frunk on my Model Y more often – but having to manually open and close it means it's mostly relegated to storing safety equipment, a spare first-aid kit, and a portable air compressor. The Lucid Air’s frunk is fantastically large – you could easily fit three full gym bags up front, with space for a bit more stuff as well.

The Lucid Air Touring's interior in extended real leather

Not a Tesla App

Drive and Handling

The Lucid Air has three drive modes – Smooth, Swift, and Track (and one called Sapphire – on the same-named model). Smooth is effectively Eco mode and is nice, soft, and accelerates easily. It also limits horsepower to around 430 hp (the same as the Air Pure) if you’re on the Touring or Grand Touring.

Track mode disables much of the traction control and drive assists and also unlocks 100% of the vehicle’s power. Track mode has some sub-modes for racetracks, including Dragstrip, Hot Lap, and Endurance. Interestingly, Swift doesn’t unlock all of the horsepower, but reduces the amount of traction control and driver assists similar to Track. If you want all the horsepower, you’ll need to up it to Track mode.

Overall, while on Smooth, the Lucid Air handles extremely comfortably. In addition, while the vehicle doesn’t have air suspension, its adaptive suspension handles exceptionally well – the pothole-ridden roads we drove over were pretty much unnoticed by the passengers and myself. Lucid has done an absolutely spectacular job of fine-tuning the driving experience for comfort.

In Swift, the car handles a bit more robustly, and you can feel it start to come to life. Sadly, I didn’t have the opportunity to test track mode on Toronto’s congested streets. However – fret not – I have made plans with a friend to take a Lucid Air Grand Touring to the track in the future. Sadly, there are no Sapphires in my future – but if a reader has one and you’re in the Toronto or Ottawa area, let us know.

Overall, I enjoyed driving the car for the luxurious experience. However, it didn’t feel particularly sporty or snappy and felt more like driving a high-end ICE vehicle with an EV’s instantaneous response times. Overall, a good feeling in terms of ride quality and handling for a day-to-day driving experience.

Honestly, if Tesla could replicate Lucid’s absolutely spectacularly comfortable driving experience, that would be amazing, especially in the Model S and X. There’s definitely room for Tesla to improve – even past the “comfort” suspension they added in the 2023 Model Y. And that’s pretty evident – third-party suspension upgrades like those from Unplugged Performance are far superior to Tesla’s, especially in the comfort factor.

User Interface

Lucid’s overall user interface felt smooth, quick, and slick to operate. There were no delays or lag when switching back and forth between modes (like the Q4 e-Tron…). The upper displays show key vehicle information on the right and center and navigation or audio information on the right side. The center display also shows the repeater cameras when signals are active.

The larger display at the bottom is used primarily for options, drive mode swaps, and the 360º parking view. However, it feels like it's not being fully utilized—it’s there and very available, but it's next to useless. If I could display a full-screen nav or more media controls there, that’d be a huge improvement.

I may be spoiled by having everything on a single display on my Tesla and being comfortable with it – I personally don’t love the instrument cluster on the Model S and X. It’s great for your next turn and speedometer, but some features like the smaller visualizations and Autopark feel much less intuitive since you can’t tap or drag the screen.

DreamDrive and DreamDrive Pro

The Grand Touring I drove was equipped with DreamDrive Pro, Lucid’s version of FSD, but due to the lack of time and location, I didn’t have the opportunity to test it out. I’m hoping to do that sometime soon, but the Lucid Air comes with DreamDrive standard and DreamDrive Pro as an optional upgrade.

The standard version includes a long list of features, many of which are standard on a Tesla:

• 3D Surround View

• Blind-spot Monitoring

• Driver Monitoring system to warn against distractions

• Front / Rear Cross-traffic Protection

• Automatic Emergency Braking

• Forward Collision Monitoring

• Lane Departure Protection

• Adaptive Cruise Control

• Traffic Drive-off Alert (think the Green Light Chime on a Tesla)

• Traffic Sign Recognition

• Auto Park in and out (parallel and perpendicular)

• Park Distance Warning

• Rear View Camera

That sounds like a lot of stuff, but it's mostly standard features that are available on a Tesla.

Pro also promises future-capable ADAS for driving and parking, along with Highway Assist—including active lane centering with adaptive cruise control—essentially Autopilot.

Concluding Thoughts

Overall, the Lucid Air Touring is a compelling vehicle for its target market—older, well-off buyers who desire a more relaxed, luxurious, and comfortable EV. While I am absolutely in love with its adaptive suspension and luxurious interior, I really prefer the active dynamic of driving my Telsa.

If I did have a bunch of extra money, I think the Lucid Air would be a fantastic second vehicle for road trips – future models will have NACS ports and current models should be getting adapter capabilities. My friends and family would absolutely appreciate sitting in the comfortable cabin, and I’m sure the DreamDrive Pro would do a fairly good job of getting me around on highways during a trip.

Follow

Follow

Follow

Tesla’s Charging Snake and Upcoming V4 Wireless Charging Compatibility

Not a Tesla App

The Ride the Lightning podcast recently featured Tesla’s VP of Engineering, Lars Moravy, covering a wide range of topics—including the upcoming Model S and Model X refresh. However, some of the most intriguing details came from his comments on Tesla’s charging technology.

Moravy revisited Tesla’s once-hyped robotic charger snake, which was showcased years ago before quietly fading from the spotlight. He also dropped an interesting remark about wireless charging but didn’t go into detail.

Death of the Charger Snake

When discussing the Charger Snake, Lars had some strong opinions. It was an internal Tesla project that never gained much traction because engineers ultimately felt it wasn’t necessary.

At Superchargers, most people leave their vehicles to grab food, a drink or simply stretch—making manual plugging the vehicle in a non-issue. There was little justification for a complex, maintenance-heavy robotic charger, especially considering the challenges it would face in winter conditions. Just imagine the nightmare of keeping it operational in snow and ice.

But what about autonomous charging? As Tesla moves toward full autonomy, vehicles will need a way to charge without human intervention. And it isn’t like a Robotaxi passenger is going to like the idea of getting out of their vehicle to plug in either - which would ruin the seamless experience.

Wireless Charging and V4 Superchargers

Not a Tesla App

That’s exactly where Tesla’s wireless charging comes in. We got an early glimpse of its design during the We, Robot autonomy event, where the Cybercab was shown charging wirelessly—without a traditional charging port.

Compared to complex robotic systems for handling charging cables, wireless charging is a far more practical solution. A simple charging mat eliminates the need for moving parts while allowing vehicles to charge without human intervention.

In the future, Supercharger stations will likely support both wired and wireless charging, enabling Cybercab users or owners to charge their vehicles while sleeping, watching video content, or simply relaxing—without ever needing to step outside. Wireless charging may also be cheaper to install than a complete Supercharger stall, which Tesla is now able to install for below $40k per stall.

And here’s the most exciting part. When asked whether wireless charging would require new infrastructure, Lars hinted:

“Could be. But we’re making some smart plays about that with the new V4 Superchargers…”

This suggests that as Tesla expands its V4 Supercharger network, it will include wireless charging capabilities in the upcoming V4 cabinets. While every stall won’t need wireless capabilities, having the ability to add a few wireless chargers per major location will be enough to kickstart Tesla’s Robotaxi network.

Follow

Follow

Follow

Cybertruck Wins Best Tech Award by MotorTrend; Tech Coming to Other Teslas

MotorTrend

The Cybertruck has been named MotorTrend’s 2025 Best Tech Winner for chassis technology—but surprisingly, not for its stainless steel exterior. Instead, the award recognizes its Steer-by-Wire system.

Steer-by-Wire is a technology that many automakers have explored for years, but Tesla was the first to bring it to mass production. Now, tens of thousands of Cybertrucks across North America are driving with this cutting-edge innovation.

As one reviewer put it, “Steer-by-Wire feels as natural as riding a bicycle.”

What is Steer-by-Wire?

Most modern cars use a rack-and-pinion steering system, which creates a mechanical link between the steering wheel and the front wheels. To make steering easier, most vehicles incorporate hydraulic or electric power assist, reducing the effort needed to turn the wheels.

The steering ratio determines how many turns of the steering wheel are needed to move the front wheels from lock to lock. In most cars, this requires 3 to 3.5 full turns, translating to a ratio between 12:1 and 20:1.

Some high-performance sports cars also feature adaptive variable-ratio steering, which adjusts based on speed. At higher speeds, the ratio becomes less aggressive, allowing for added precision and control.

How it Works

The Cybertruck uses a fully electronic Steer-by-Wire system, eliminating any mechanical connection between the steering yoke and the wheels. Instead, the yoke sends inputs to a computer, which then controls independent electric motors dedicated to steering the front and rear wheels.

This redundancy ensures that even if one steering motor fails, the vehicle remains steerable through the other. Tesla also built in a backup power system—one motor runs on 48V low-voltage power, while the truck’s high-voltage battery powers the other.

Cybertruck Steer-By-Wire wins @MotorTrend Best Tech award – thank you!

Steer by Wire replaces traditional mechanical steering with electronic controls, letting you turn the wheels with less effort

This makes Cybertruck feel ultra nimble and – in combination with 4-wheel… pic.twitter.com/7MfHlnH1Tm

— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) February 25, 2025

The steering inputs are triple-redundant, with two primary sensors monitoring wheel angles and a third acting as a tie-breaker. If the two primary sensors detect conflicting data, the tie-breaker determines the correct reading, and the system alerts the driver to pull over safely if needed. Tesla’s engineering played a key role in the Cybertruck earning a 5-star safety rating.

Beyond safety, the system also features a variable steering ratio. At low speeds, such as in parking lots, the ratio is around 5:1, making tight maneuvers easier. At higher speeds, it adjusts to around 12:1 for greater stability. Unlike traditional steering wheels, the Cybertruck’s yoke maxes out at 340 degrees, removing the need for hand-over-hand turning.

The system is surprisingly intuitive. According to MotorTrend, it only took them three turns to get comfortable with how the Cybertruck steers, describing it as feeling almost natural.

Because of how the steering is designed, there’s rarely a need to remove your hand from the yoke—unless you’re using FSD. Whether navigating a tight parking lot, off-roading, or cruising on the highway, maneuvering a full-size truck has never been this effortless.

On by default—super useful when traversing narrow jobsites, parking lots & more pic.twitter.com/pQHecxfyQJ

— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) November 25, 2024

Rear-Wheel Steering

With the Cybertruck’s ability to turn its rear wheels, driving it feels almost effortless. Even if you’re not a fan of its design, we highly recommend visiting a Tesla showroom and taking one for a spin—you won’t regret it. The Cybertruck delivers one of the most enjoyable driving experiences, something you’d never expect from its bulky stainless steel exterior.

At low speeds, the rear wheels turn in the opposite direction of the front wheels, greatly reducing the turning radius for tighter maneuvers. At higher speeds, they turn in the same direction as the front wheels, allowing for smooth, stable lane changes without requiring dramatic steering adjustments. This makes highway driving feel remarkably fluid and controlled.

At low speeds, rear wheels rotate opposite to the front wheels—enabling tighter turns pic.twitter.com/Dv5yvjRw8L

— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) November 25, 2024

Steer-by-Wire Coming to More Models

Tesla has already confirmed that future vehicles will adopt features pioneered by the Cybertruck, with Steer-by-Wire being one of them. Since this technology requires a 48V low-voltage architecture, Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, mentioned on the Ride the Lightning podcast that it will be introduced in future models. Moravy also mentioned that the Model S and Model X will be updated later this year, potentially being the first models to take advantage of this.

The main challenge lies in transitioning to a 48V supply chain. Eventually, all Tesla vehicles will operate on 48V, likely incorporating Steer-by-Wire as well. This change should result in simplified parts, easier repairs, and improved handling.

As MotorTrend put it, when Cybertruck engineers replaced the traditional intermediate shaft with a ribbon cable, they didn’t just redefine how to steer a truck—they set the stage for the future of the entire industry.

Follow

Follow

Follow