Electric Vehicles, EV sales EV Brief Electric Vehicles, EV sales EV Brief

"LCID" to begin NASDAQ trading on Monday, after Lucid Motors and Churchill Capital pass SPAC merger

After a rocky start to its shareholder vote last Thursday, NASDAQ reports that the SPAC deal between Lucid Motors and Churchill Capital IV successfully passed on Friday last week.

The Lucid Air promises performance, style, and exceptional quality, but can it beat Tesla at its own game? Image: Lucid

The Lucid Air promises performance, style, and exceptional quality, but can it beat Tesla at its own game? Image: Lucid

After a rocky start to its shareholder vote last Thursday, where the company failed to receive enough votes from retail investors to approve its merger with Churchill Capital IV, NASDAQ reports that the deal successfully went through on Friday, after Churchill Capital IV and Lucid extended the deadline for shareholders to vote, and executives pleaded with investors to vote in favor of all proposals in order to cross the finish line.

NASDAQ reports that some investors saw the move as highly dilutive based on misinterpretations of Lucid’s regulatory filings, which details a 2.61 exchange ratio of Churchill Capital IV shares to Lucid stock. This high exchange ratio is not actually relevant to the SPAC's public investors, who incorrectly feared that excessive dilution could adversely impact the value of the investment. Lucid will receive approximately $4.4 billion (after transaction expenses) in cash from the SPAC merger.

"Lucid has further increased its momentum as we gear up to make the first customer deliveries of our Lucid Air lineup of electric sedans later this year," Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said in a statement. "We are making significant investments in the long-term growth and innovation of our company, and we will continue to bring to bear world-class technology to positively impact mankind's transition to sustainable mobility."

Lucid recently opened its NYC design studio in the Meatpacking District. Image: Lucid

Auto manufacturing is an expensive business, and even more so for a startup like Lucid that doesn’t have a bank account the size of Volkswagen’s or General Motors’ to throw at electromobility. This Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) trend on Wall Street has been taking off in the automotive sector, with companies like Fisker and Nikola also receiving an injection of funds through the SPAC investment process. Essentially a shell company, a SPAC is set up for the sole purpose of raising capital to acquire another company. Generally, a SPAC’s only asset is the money raised in its own IPO.

Lucid’s first EV, the Air, is currently undergoing final testing and development, and the company plans to officially commence customer deliveries “in the second half of 2021”. CEO Peter Rawlinson has already delayed deliveries from (northern hemisphere) Spring this year, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as an impediment to that target date. The Air is a luxurious, Mercedes-Benz S-Class rival, initially launching in the highest specification, with 500 miles (805 km) of range and over 1,000 hp (745 kW). More affordable variants will be launched in due course, as rivals to Tesla’s Model S, BMW’s i4 Gran Coupe, and the Mercedes-Benz EQE. Pricing for the Lucid Air in the United States is as follows:

  • Air Dream Edition - $169,000

  • Air Grand Touring - $139,000

  • Air Touring - $95,000

  • Air Pure - $77,400


Source: NASDAQ

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Electric Vehicles, Manufacturing EV Brief Electric Vehicles, Manufacturing EV Brief

Lucid Motors reveals Arizona factory paint shop; targets 400,000 units per year across four models

On the back of news that Tesla Motors has begun construction on what may be the world’s most advanced automotive paint shop, Lucid Motors has released details on its paint shop under construction in its AMP-1 factory, located in Casa Grande, Arizona.

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Lucid’s Arizona factory to produce high-end paint finishes, starting with 30,000 Lucid AIR Sedans per year

On the back of news that Tesla Motors has begun construction on what may be the world’s most advanced automotive paint shop, Lucid Motors has released details on its own paint shop currently under construction in its AMP-1 factory, located in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Lucid Motors’ competitor Tesla has been criticised in the past for many poor (and downright ghastly) paint jobs over the years. Recently however, Sandy Munro was thoroughly impressed with the exterior paint on a brand new 2021 Model—anecdotal evidence of course—which implies things may be improving in Tesla’s paint shop and its QA checks.

For many, Porsche has always been held up as among the best in the business when it comes to high-grade exterior finishes, and Lucid is clearly watching the big German manufacturers and Tesla closely to ensure its vehicles’ paint matches the company’s luxury image.

A Lucid Air after what appears to be the pretreatment and sealer phases of the painting process.

A Lucid Air after what appears to be the pretreatment and sealer phases of the painting process.

According to Mike Boike, Director of Manufacturing, “We're competing against the best in the world, and we know it.” he added. “So the processes and the materials that we use are nothing but the best in the world. We've got the latest and greatest paint process. We have the latest and greatest materials, and we have a high-powered team of engineers and manufacturing professionals.”

Lucid’s paint shop process involves the following steps:

  • Pretreatment and Electrocoat: As each Lucid Air comes out of the body shop, it gets rigorously cleaned. Then we apply both a thin film coating and electrodeposition coating, which protect the entire body structure from corrosion.

  • Sealer: Next we thoroughly seal the vehicle to prevent any type of air or water intrusion that could create road noise or water leakage into the car.

  • Paint: Once the unit is sealed and sanded, it’s then sent into the paint booth. Here, we’ve integrated the latest innovative process and materials technologies that result in a flawless, luxurious finish.

  • Finesse: Finally, post-bake, the car is brought to the finesse deck where a team inspects and polishes it to perfection before approving to ship to the customer.

Lucid’s automated painting process

Lucid’s automated painting process

Lucid plans to commence building the Air sedan in 2021, and is aiming for 30,000 vehicles in its first full year of production. According to the company, it’s more economical to build the paint shop based on the eventual full capacity of the plant, which is 400,000 units per year.

Lucid’s second model line, a luxury SUV codenamed “Project Gravity”

Lucid’s second model line, a luxury SUV codenamed “Project Gravity”

Lucid’s second vehicle will be a luxury SUV currently codenamed Project Gravity, which will arrive in 2023.

Source: Lucid Motors

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