Lucid Air passes the Canadian winter test with flying colors

I had the opportunity to drive the Lucid Air Touring for a little more than a week during the holidays, and I can say with confidence that the California-designed and engineered electric luxury sedan passes the Canadian winter test with flying colors.

I am impressed. Let’s dive into it.

I had never had the chance to drive a Lucid before. Our own Scooter Doll is our main reporter on the Lucid beat, and he is a big fan of the Air, to say the least. His main complaint has been the software, which has been improving as of late, so I was excited to give it a shot with a more complete version of the car.

Since launching in Quebec, they had tried to get me in a car, but we couldn’t make it happen. Eventually, they told me they had one for me on December 23rd.

Even though it was the holidays, I couldn’t pass on the opportunity and went to pick the sleek red Air Touring for my holiday travels.

I have been following the company for a long time. From their transition as Atieva, an electric powertrain and energy storage company, to Lucid, a complete electric vehicle maker. Getting to drive one felt like a long time coming.

Lucid Air Touring

Now, I say it passes the Canadian winter test, and if you are from the region, you might say: “What winter?” Winters are indeed becoming milder around here, but I had the car for just over a week, and the timing was perfect for a true winter test.

A few hours after picking up the car in Montreal, I had to drive it back home to Shawinigan in the middle of a decent snowstorm. Two hours in the snow and the left lane on the 40 East wasn’t even plowed.

Generally speaking, a new car I am not familiar with plus a snowstorm equals being extra careful, and I was obviously cautious, but the Lucid Air’s impressive driving dynamics quickly gave me an incredible amount of confidence.

At 5,200 lbs, it’s a heavy vehicle, but it is an incredibly well-balanced 5,200 lbs.

The Air Touring is just the third most powerful version of Lucid’s flagship sedan, but I never felt like I needed more power, and that makes sense, considering it is pushing 620 hp and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds.

I was able to pass vehicles easily, even in the snow, and always felt in complete control of the vehicle. It is a fun, comfortable drive.

Speaking of comfort, the Lucid Air is a true luxury sedan with all the comfort features you would expect and more. The level of customization is also impressive for the seats. You could adjust them for hours to get them perfect.

The backseat is also impressive. Lucid did a great job optimizing the interior. The backseat feels like a limousine:

It’s a great car for drivers, for passengers, but the trunk space is where some people criticize the Lucid Air.

I understand why, but I would argue that trunk space is not a real problem. The trunk opening is one. It is extremely small and short:

However, in terms of volume, it is more than decent. You just need to be able to get things in. Thanks to Lucid’s extremely compact motors, there are very deep hidden compartments at the bottom of the trunk and frunk.

It leaves plenty of room for luggage, but again, it needs to fit the opening first.

For our travels, it was just my girlfriend, our cat, and I, but I could see this car easily fitting four people and luggage for a week.

That’s a good thing because this is a great road trip car, thanks to its incredible efficiency.

The Lucid Air Touring is rated at an EPA range of 406 miles (653 km), but like any other EVs or gas-powered vehicles, your mileage may vary, and the cold affects the mileage badly.

As I said, our winters are becoming milder, but I had the perfect Canadian winter test condition on Christmas day. We drove from Shawinigan to Quebec City, drove around the city, parked for hours in the cold without charging, and then went back to Shawinigan on a single charge.

Overall, it was just over 400 km (250 miles) and I arrived home with 27 km:

That might not seem too impressive for a 400-mile car, but the temperature on the drive ranged from -18 to -8°C (-1 to 18°F). If you have drivem EVs in those temperatures, you know that this is impressive.

What is most impressive is that I didn’t have to adapt my driving thanks to the impressive range and efficiency.

When I drive long distances in an electric vehicle in the cold, I would generally reduce my speed in order to extend the range, but in this case, I got a pretty good idea of the efficiency on the drive to Quebec City, so I was confident on my way back that I could make it without stopping to charge.

It enabled me to drive on the highway at my usual 119 km/h on cruise control and make it without breaking a sweat.

Electrek’s Take

That’s a game-changer. There’s no compromise. At Electrek, we like to emphasize that range is not everything with EVs. Non-EV drivers tend to think that you need more than 400 miles to have a viable EV. That’s wrong unless you drive 400 miles or more in one go often, which is not how most people use cars.

A 200-mile EV with fast-charging is a great solution for most people as you wake up with a full charge every day and for the few times a year when you drive long distances, you are able to stop for a quick 20-40-minute charge, which enables you to drive 300-400 miles in a single day easily.

However, things change in extreme cold. Once you start hitting temperatures below -15°C (5°F), the range starts to be affected badly, and that’s when a longer range becomes super useful.

Honestly, I’ve been driving EVs in the Canadian cold for almost a decade, and it hasn’t been a major issue for me. If you adapt your driving, you will be OK, and over that decade, I’ve also seen range prediction and efficiency improving, which help with this issue.

But now, if you have the money, you also have another solution: the Lucid Air. It’s truly a great, no compromise vehicle, as long as you have the money since the Lucid Air Touring at $78,900 USD ($109,300. CAD).

If you do, it would be hard to find a downside compared to other similarly priced vehicles. As previously mentioned, the software has been an issue with early versions of the Air.

I’ve only ever experienced the latest version of Lucid’s software and despite some issues, I found it more than decent, especially compared to legacy automakers.

It is equipped with Apple Carplay for those who like it, but the native navigation worked great for me, and it also has a native Spotify app. Personally, I don’t need much more than that. It’s not all perfect though. On two occasions, I had issue connecting my phone to the car and I had to disconnect and reconnect it several times for it to work.

There’s also plenty of room for UI optimization. I would like to see something like media controls for the passenger at the bottom of the center display or the right of the top display.