Elon Musk pushed into second place as Tesla rival Lucid’s wide ranging Air Dream rolls off the factory line

Elon Musk has been beaten into second place with the launch of a new electric car that can boast a 520 mile range, 115 miles further than Tesla’s Model S.

The new Lucid Air Dream Edition, which has just gone into production in the US, costs just shy of $170,000 and has more than 1,000 horsepower, which means it can do 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds.

The Air Dream model by Lucid, a rival to Tesla, received rave reviews after going into mass manufacture at its Arizona factory last week.

The US government has certified that the Air Dream car has a range of 520 miles. Executive creator Peter Rawlinson, a British-born former Tesla employee, told CNN that the new development could have a trickle-down impact on the general market, encouraging more drivers to make the jump to electric.

A cheaper Lucid model, the $131,000 Grand Touring version, can offer a 516-mile range.

While market leader Tesla has announced two other vehicles that have a similar or greater range to the Air Dream, neither has yet gone into manufacture. In the US, the Air Dream car will start to be delivered from late October.

Ramping up

Lucid plans to ramp up the Arizona plant’s capacity to 90,000 vehicles a year over the next two years, and enjoyed a 23% hike in its share price last month as a result of the launch of the Air Dream edition and Grand Touring.

Rising ranges in electric cars could see Ireland take off as the perfect place for drivers and company fleets to dip their toes in the new market, with its smaller road distances and mild climate.

A drive from Belfast to Cork is just 262 miles (421km), while Dublin to Cork is 161m miles (249km, so rising ranges make electric cars more feasible here.

Speaking at last week’s launch, Mr Rawlinson said: “We’ve ridden customers of the fear of range anxiety. The next big obstacle is cost effectiveness of electric cars. We’ve got to get the cost down.”

It’s now possible to pre-order a Lucid Air in the UK – although reservations are now closed – but customers in Ireland will have to sign up to a wait list for news of when it will become available here. To find out more, visit www.lucidmotors.com/air/reserve.