Lucid Motors, the small-but-ambitious electric car startup based in Menlo Park, California, is holding an exclusive event in Los Angeles this weekend to show off its first production model, the all-electric, 1,000-horsepower Air. The company’s engineers and designers will be on hand at the Peterson Automotive Museum to discuss the car’s finer details, as well as offer rides in their engineering prototype. (We got to take one for spin during CES last month, and it left us scrambling to come up with new words for “fast.”)
But before they tearing off camouflage, the team at Lucid took a trip to Minnesota for a leisurely drive through some snow covered forests. Just kidding! The Air shredded through the snowfall like it was Shaun White. Honestly, snow drifting is really the best drifting. Right above Tokyo.
The trip was intended to test out how well the Air handled in extremely cold temperatures (-18 degrees Fahrenheit), as well as to film it looking badass in a stunningly beautiful landscape. Lucid says the cold weather allows it to perform “grueling real-world cold-driving testing and validation of our powertrain, battery, thermal, body, and chassis systems.”
Not that many people will be taking their ultra-luxury electric car for a drive in the Klondike, but you never know. How many charging stations are there above the Arctic Circle?
“Much of our time in Minnesota was focused on braking systems and vehicle dynamics,” Lucid says. “Low friction surfaces, such as deep and packed snow, polished ice, and split left-versus-right friction, challenge both the car and the driver, allowing us to develop anti-lock braking, traction control, and stability-control systems to ensure comfortable, stable progress through the worst conditions seen on the road.”
Right, right, but look at that windshield! I mean, what is that?
Here’s the whole thing. Enjoy.
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