Watch this Lucid Air prototype hit a top speed of 217 mph

[Shawn Knight]

Lucid Motors, the hopeful Tesla competitor based out of Menlo Park, California, is hard at work perfecting its debut electric vehicle. Part of that work apparently involves pushing prototypes to see just how fast they can go flat out.

In the clip above, Lucid showcases the Alpha Speed Car prototype of its Air vehicle on a high-speed track in Ohio where it touches an impressive 217 mph before the company shuts it down. Not bad at all.

Tesla’s Model S P100D is often described as being brutally fast although technically, we’re more impressed with how quick it is (the sedan is software governed at 155 mph so it’s really not all that fast). While Lucid’s demonstration is more for show (and acquiring data for additional improvements, as the company says), it’s hard not to watch and wonder how fast the P100D could go in a straight line without limits.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/68948-watch-lucid-air-prototype-hit-top-speed-217.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Can't remember what TESLA's original roadster's top end was, but I thought I had read it was over 200 MPH .....

 

[wiyosaya]

What happens to people who actually try to hit the outrageous top-end of a car like this - http://www.motorauthority.com/news/...-jailed-after-clocking-158-mph-on-public-road

The top-end is pure marketing blather that many will fall for, I am sure. In an electric car, all I really care about is how far will it go before I need to recharge it. Even if I could afford a car like this, I would avoid it because it is being marketed as an extension to my manhood. Sorry, but it won't fit where my manhood is intended to go.

 

[ChrisH1]

Simple fact is, as you go faster wind resistance goes up, as the square of the speed so it mounts up pretty fast. You start to get to the point that you're just not getting a viable number of km per kwH of power; you need to charge up often. By the time you get up to the Tesla's top speed you're using about a kwH per mile. At 217mph you'd be using 2 or more.

Not restricted to electric of course, a Bugatti Veyron at top speed would go through its 26.4 gallon tank in about 51 miles, 12 minutes. Probably want a new set to tires after that, too.

Thus the top end is indeed purely marketing. Apart from certain select bits of Europe and I suppose the race track there's nowhere to do anything like this legally.