Lucid Motors Shares a New Video of the Vehicle Production Process at its EV Factory in Arizona

author: Eric Walz   

Construction of the Lucid Motors EV factory in Casa Grande, Arizona began in Dec 2019. The plant is now ready to start production of the Lucid Air sedan.

California luxury electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors shared a new video showing the vehicle production process at its state of the art electric vehicle factory in Arizona. Lucid's factory is dubbed the Advanced Manufacturing Plant 1 or AMP-1.

The advanced EV factory, which is located on a 590 acre site in Casa Grande, is where Lucid Motors will build its electric vehicles, beginning with the Lucid Air Sedan. The luxury-electric Lucid Air will compete with the Tesla Model S Performance and other high-performance luxury sedans from the likes of Porsche, BMW and Audi.

The top of the line Lucid Air Dream Edition will produce up to 1,080 horsepower from its advanced electric powertrain with a range of 503 miles.

Lucid Motors is backed by a $1 billion investment in 2018 from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia. Construction on the $700 million factory continued at a rapid pace last year, despite the pandemic. The site was transformed from a greenfield to a dedicated EV factory in just one year. The final phase of construction was completed in Dec 2020.  

"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," said Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO, Lucid Motors in December when the final construction phase was completed. "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.

The Lucid Air sedan.

Future expansion plans include adding a state-of-the-art infrastructure which can be expanded to meet Lucid's future goals as its looks to take on Tesla and other automakers. Part of that expansion will support Lucid's Project Gravity, a premiere electric SUV that will be the company's next electric vehicle.   

Lucid said the factory will eventually be able to produce 400,000 EVs per year, enough capacity to become a challenger to segment leader Tesla, or any other automaker for that matter.

Lucid's vehicle manufacturing system will utilize advanced processes for the Lucid Air sedan, including a riveted and bonded monocoque body structure usually found in Formula One race cars. With this design, the body of the Air itself is structural. Lucid says it was inspired by the way aircraft is constructed. The process results in a more rigid body structure.

The first cars built in Arizona will be the limited production Lucid Air Dream Editions, which are sold out despite the staggering $169,000 price tag. The Dream Editions will be followed with the Air Grand Touring and Touring models. The lower price Touring models will offer 620 horsepower from a dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric powertrain and will start at $87,500.

The more affordable Lucid Air Pure joins the lineup in early 2022 and starts at $69,900.

The new video features Lucid's Director of Manufacturing Assembly, Art Schlaud, who shared some information about the manufacturing processes used at the plant to build the Air sedan. Also featured is Fredirico Tapia Olivas, Lucid's head of Manufacturing Quality, as well as other Lucid Motors factory employees.

You can check it out below:

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.