The Laguna Seca raceway in California has emerged as the ultimate proving ground to test the performance of electric vehicles.
With 2.238 miles (3.602 km) of hairpin turns and unrestrained straightways, The famed track provides perfect real world conditions to test EV attributes such as speed, acceleration, braking, and handling.
Last year, Tesla unofficially became the fastest 4 door electric sedan in the world with a blistering 1:36.555 second lap time during advanced R&D testing of their heavily modified Model S Plaid powertrain and chassis prototype
Piloted by test driver Thomas Mutsch, this same Tesla Model S prototype also bested the Porsche Taycan Turbo by nearly half a minute on the winding Nurburing track in Germany with an unofficial lap time of 7 minutes and 13 seconds.
Elon Musk had confirmed this modified model S featured an additional electric motor bringing the total power output to an estimated 800 horsepower, and there is much speculation about other modifications present in this custom race tuned Model S. The vehicle appeared to fitted with an improved aerodynamic body kit, larger brakes, and a more race oriented wheel configuration.
Recently, Unplugged Performance, the world leader in premium performance upgrades for Tesla Vehicles, beat the Tesla team’s record by nearly a second with their own lap time of 1:35.79 in a stripped down and performance tuned Tesla Model 3.
Impressively, the unofficial record lap was sort of an accident. With veteran American race car driver Randy “The Rocket” Probst behind the wheel, the team at unplugged performance were actually practicing for an upcoming race at Pikes Peak when the run occurred.
The automotive world is on notice, electric cars are for real.
However, the electric crown may have just been usurped by a unique new entrant.
Early, unofficial reports are coming in that a Tri-Motor Lucid air has bested the Unplugged Performance Tesla Model 3’s Laguna Seca lap time by over 2 seconds, with a lap time of 1 minute and 33 seconds.
American Automotive company Lucid Motors began developing electric cars in 2014, and unveiled the first prototype of the Lucid Air in 2016. With many bold claims such as being the most aerodynamically efficient luxury car in the world, and a record estimated EPA range of 517 mi (832 km) on a single charge, the elegant and futuristic Lucid is certainly an intriguing challenger to Tesla’s throne.
The 2021 Lucid Air boasts up to 1,080 horsepower available in a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive setup, and quarter mile times as quick as 9.9 seconds. By comparison, the best recorded quarter mile time in a stock Tesla Model S Performance is 10.4 seconds.
In July 2017, a modified performance version of the car (we’re not sure if it was the same tri-motor model we saw at Laguna Seca) hit a confirmed top speed of 235 MPH 378 km/h on the high-speed track at the Transportation Research Center in Ohio.
Featuring a 113 khw hour battery pack, Lucid also claims to be the fastest charging electric vehicle with charing rates of up to 20 miles per minute.
The Lucid Air will be available in 4 initial models,
The Air, $80,000, The Air Touring model from $95,000, the Air Grand Touring from $139,000, and the limited Air Dream Edition, available in spring 2021 for a starting price of $169,000.
Unplugged Performance graciously acknowledged the loss on twitter, and accepted the challenge to continually improve the performance of their modified Model 3.
This healthy competition in the EV world is exciting to see and no doubt driving the industry forward. With electric car manufacturers competing for bragging rights with souped up race versions of their production cars, innovations learned on the track can translate into real world performance enhancements, and the impressive displays build respect and notoriety for the electric vehicle market as a whole.
Whether Lucid is truly a worthy challenger to Tesla will come down to how well they deliver their final production car to market, on time, as promised, and with all the bells and whistles.
Lucid is not the only high performance EV maker breathing down Elon’s neck. Croatian manufacturer Rimac has produced the Concept Two, a beautiful sports car which claims a 1,914 HP electric motor and is capable of accelerating from 0-60 in 1.85 seconds, beating the Tesla Roadster who advertises a takeoff to 60 in 1.9 seconds.
At this point its difficult to compare these nascent car companies to current market juggernaut Tesla, which has slayed a slew of dragons over its 17 year life to create one of the planet’s top selling cars, and become the most valuable automaker in the United States.
We say bring on the competition. It’s aligned with Tesla’s mission anyway, because the company’s goal has always been to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Lucid Air Laguna Seca Footage: https://www.youtube.com/thekilowatts
Unplugged Performance: https://unpluggedperformance.com/
Original Author: Produced by Electric Future and published on 20/09/2020 Source