Lucid factory phase 1 complete

[TruckElectric]

Lucid Motor announced that it completed the first phase of construction at its EV factory in Arizona.
Eventually, they plan to produce up to 400,000 electric cars per year at the facility after future expansions.

The electric car startup impressed many earlier this year with the unveiling of the Air electric sedan, the company’s first car with a range of up to 517 miles on a single charge.

But the vehicle has been delayed twice before and now the market is looking for them to deliver this time with serious production capacity being deployed.

The Air is going to be built at Lucid’s factory, called ‘Lucid AMP-1 factory‘, in Casa Grande, Arizona.
After delays due to the lack of financing, Lucid finally broke ground on the project last year and now they are announcing today that they completed construction.

Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of Lucid Motors, commented on the accomplishment:

“We broke ground on the 590-acre Lucid AMP-1 site in Casa Grande, Arizona, on December 2, 2019, and slightly less than a year later we have completed the first purpose-built EV factory in North America. The effort and agility demonstrated by this team is truly astounding, as we’re already commissioning equipment compatible with the Lucid manufacturing system to start production of the next-generation EV, the Lucid Air, in just a few months.

They shared some pictures from the factory today:

While we see some machinery deployed at the factory already, there is still a lot of work to be done inside in order to reach production

They are currently “transitioning to the construction of a final series of production-representative versions of the Lucid Air.”

At first, Lucid is planning for a capacity of 30,000 vehicles per year, but they are planning future expansions up to 400,000 electric vehicles per year.

Peter Hochholdinger, VP of Manufacturing at Lucid Motors and former head of manufacturing at Tesla, commented on the company’s manufacturing effort:

“In building this factory, we adhered to several important manufacturing philosophies, including the tenets of ‘Future Ready’ and ‘On Time,’ together which have allowed us to effectively manage our investment and build a brand new factory from the ground up. As we add new platforms and vehicles to our lineup, the planning that went into this facility ensures that we will always be able to keep up with growing customer demand for advanced electric vehicles.”

The first vehicles are expected to roll off the line at Lucid AMP-1 factory in the Spring of 2021

SOURCE: ELECTREK

 

[Ehninger1212]

Congratulations to them! Very compelling vehicle. Cant wait to see that factory grow. I love Local manufacturing.

 

[97trophy]

Meh...very skeptical.

Living in TX, I don't see a big enough market (here or in the EU) for sedans. The wrong vehicle at the wrong time.

And yes, I feel the same about the M3 - but so far I'm wrong on that.

 

[Luke42]

Living in TX, I don't see a big enough market (here or in the EU) for sedans. The wrong vehicle at the wrong time.

What, you don't use urban cubical taxis in your part of Texas?

 

[Crissa]

Meh...very skeptical.

Living in TX, I don't see a big enough market (here or in the EU) for sedans. The wrong vehicle at the wrong time.

And yes, I feel the same about the M3 - but so far I'm wrong on that.

Well, sedans have always gone to the efficient and the accelerated. Neither thing do US sedans aside from Tesla do well anymore.

-Crissa

 

[97trophy]

What, you don't use urban cubical taxis in your part of Texas?

Taxis I have used have either been a Prius or small / mid size SUV. And I don't think Lucid are going for the taxi market.

If I was a taxi driver and I was going electric, it would be a hatchback and not a sedan.

There are zero luxury sedans in my neighborhood that I know of. All the new Audi's, BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus, Volvos & Acuras I see are SUVs. Currently Audi's are the most popular new luxury cars I see - the Q7 is a big hit.

Lucid is a huge money pit for its investors - the product is 10 years to late.

 

[Crissa]

If you sell your cars for $100K each, you don't have to sell half as many as someone selling at $50k to make the same profit.

-Crissa

 

[FutureBoy]

If you sell your cars for $100K each, you don't have to sell half as many as someone selling at $50k to make the same profit.

-Crissa

To make the same revenue. Profit would be after expenses and that has a lot of other considerations beyond just the raw sales price.

 

[Crissa]

To make the same revenue. Profit would be after expenses and that has a lot of other considerations beyond just the raw sales price.

Yep. Selling two takes more labor hours. Making two uses more labor hours, And if the markup is the same...

Well, it's easy to make the economic choice.

-Crissa

 

[ldjessee]

Yep. Selling two takes more labor hours. Making two uses more labor hours, And if the markup is the same...

Well, it's easy to make the economic choice.

-Crissa

Yeah, which is why Tesla started with higher price, lower volume vehicles then used that to fund higher volume models.

They could have easily kept upping the cost of the Model S as it gained performance, never making the Model X, 3, or Y. They could have increased the price to the levels of those the Model S easily beats on the track and drag strip. Think about Tesla making 20,000 to 60,000 Model S a year, but each one costs a quarter to three quarters of a million dollars. Sure, they might have to improve the interior to use more luxury material, but the capital expense would still be MUCH less than building multiple factories and all that went into making the Model 3 a reality and success.