Here's An Electric Family SUV That's Faster Than A Corvette Z06
Startup Lucid's electric family minivan can blow a Chevy Corvette Z06 away in a quarter mile sprint while still offering more room than a Ford Explorer. Could the Lucid Gravity be the family cruiser you've been waiting for?
The Gravity is very fast, and boasts range of 450 miles
The cabin and exterior of the Gravity are redefining the SUV class. The supercar-equivalent performing Lucid boasts 450 miles of driving range, and lightning-fast charging—200 miles in less than 11 minutes. And its 120 cubic feet of storage space easily surpasses something comparable like the Ford Explorer's 87.8 cubic foot.
It's also quick. With up to 845 horsepower, the Grand Touring trim can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds, but the Dream Edition takes things to another dimension.
With 1,070 horsepower, the Lucid Gravity Dream Edition is powered by two electric motors and four-wheel-drive to get the power down quicker. To see how the Gravity compared to its rivals, Car and Driver took Lucid's minivan for some quick tests.
According to Car and driver, the Lucid outperformed a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 to 150 mph by almost three seconds on the test track, covering the quarter-mile in just 10.6 seconds.
The magazine claims the Gravity "was a beast in every acceleration metric," not just in the quarter-mile. It took Lucid's SUV 1.4 seconds to reach 30 mph, 3.7 seconds to reach 70 mph, and 5.9 seconds to reach 100 mph.
Boasting a quarter-mile time of 10.6 seconds, Car and Driver said that the Gravity was the quickest SUV they had ever tested over the quarter-mile, outperforming the Rivian Tri-Motor Max (11.1 seconds) and the BMW iX M60 (11.5 seconds). Lucid's SUV took the lead over the quarter-mile, going almost 20 mph quicker, even though the Rivian's 850 horsepower R1S Tri-Motor beat the Gravity to 60 mph.
As you'd expect, the Gravity also crushed gas-powered super SUVs like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT (11.2 seconds) and Lamborghini Urus Performante (11.2 seconds). They did say however, that the Tesla Model X Plaid, which they have not tested yet, would give the Lucid a real run for its money.
In a drag race dubbed the '1000+ hp Mom Missiles,' popular YouTube channel Hagerty paired the Gravity Dream Edition with the Audi RS Q8 Performance, Range Rover Sport SV, Porsche Macan Turbo Electric, Rivian R1S Quad and Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. Not surprisingly, two electric SUVs—namely the Lucid Gravity and the Rivian R1S Quad—ended up in a 10-5 second three-way tie over the quarter-mile with a Porsche Panamera Turbo.
If the Gravity is for you and your family, then you can pick one up for as little as $94,900. And if that's a little to rich for you, then wait for the $79,900 Touring grade expected out later this year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
26 minutes ago
- Forbes
Will Supercars Really Go Electric? Maserati COO Ficili Thinks Not Yet
Despite some negative predictions, electric vehicle sales are still growing. The targets may have slipped due to a few unexpected global shocks, but the long-term trajectory is clear: most personal vehicle markets are heading inexorably towards electrification. However, one type of EV isn't selling as well as expected – electric supercars. A particularly telling sign of this was when premium Italian brand Maserati cancelled the electric version of its flagship supercar, the MC20. I talked to Maserati COO Santo Ficili about why this happened and what it means for the future of premium performance EVs. Enter The Maserati MCPura Instead of an electric MC20, at the Festival of Speed in the UK in July, Maserati launched an updated version of the existing car called the MCPura. 'The world is changing, so we need to serve our customer,' says Ficili. 'At this moment, we don't see particular demand for an electric supercar. The project is stopped for the moment, but we started already with the investment, so we will see in the future.' Ficili still considers caring for the environment as important and worthwhile with other models in its range. 'We have the Grecale, GranTurismo and GranCabrio Folgore.' However, even the GranTurismo and GranCabrio Folgore are meeting with a tepid sales reception. In a separate conversation, Maserati's European Head Luca Parasacco told me that customers were not convinced about choosing either over their similarly priced fossil fuel-powered versions, even though these are not as powerful. 'This is a unique selling proposition,' says Filici, referring to the fact you can buy a Maserati GranTurismo or GranCabrio with either electric power or a V6. 'We are the only automaker offering this choice to our potential customers. I'm sure that we can improve the mix of BEV. But following the specific request of our customers is fundamental. We can't force them to move from internal combustion to BEV.' Electrification can make for a thrilling driving experience, despite the lack of noise. I've been lucky enough to get behind the wheel of the two million Euro ($2.3 million) Rimac Nevera and it's the best car I've ever driven. Maserati's own GranTurismo and GranCabrio Folgore also provide an incredible driving experience, with immense power and handling allied with comfortable grand touring, depending on your mood at the time. However, once you get into the territory of car buyers where money is no object, green credentials aren't really the point. A Rimac Nevera with 2,000hp that can hit 60mph in under 1.8 seconds is not there to save the planet, and neither is a Maserati GranTurismo with 760hp that takes 2.7 seconds. This is perhaps why Mate Rimac, the man behind the Nevera, who is now CEO of Bugatti, created a car that still has a combustion engine with the forthcoming Tourbillon. If you've got millions to spend on a car that you probably won't drive that much, it's all about the experience, rather than emissions – another point made by Maserati's Parasacco. 'Maserati is a luxury brand, and there is a difference between a premium brand and a luxury brand,' argues Filici. He explains that while the driving experience of the GranTurismo and GranCabrio is excellent, even on a track, their 'autonomy' (ie freedom to go anywhere, rather than meaning self-driving) is constrained by the amount of battery that can be installed due to space and weight limitations, and the still patchy charging network in many countries. This is a drawback for cars aimed at grand touring, even if they also offer extremely fast charging, as the Maseratis do. 'Our customers pay a lot of money, and we need to ensure the right autonomy. We are working on this.' Should A Maserati Be A V8? It's not just electrification that is proving problematic. Even Maserati's switch from its traditional V8 to the excellent V6 Nettuno met with concerns from purists. 'Customers are asking for the V8, but we need to respect the environment, and moving from the V8 to V6 goes in this direction. We need to develop engines continuously, and the V6 Nettuno is a good engine coming from Formula One. Everything is related to the performance of the car, in the soul of the Maserati brand. You can drive the MC20, like the GranTurismo and GranTurismo, in a grand tourism way. The cars are easy to drive, but as soon as you want power, you can push the throttle and have the power you need. People are complaining about the lack of a V8, but the V6 is not a step backwards.' Nevertheless, the MCPura appears to be a reassertion of traditional Maserati heritage. 'We worked a lot around the name, because in the past, we had the MC12, referring to the kind of engine,' says Ficili. 'The MC20 refers to the fact that we launched the car in 2020. Now we want to do something different. An MC is the pure Maserati. Pura is the perfect name to represent the sense of the peak of our MC20.' This is all part of a reinvigoration of the Italian brand. Ficili has been COO of Maserati for less than a year and is also CEO of Alfa Romeo. On arrival, he restructured his team. 'Then we immediately began looking at the current range, starting from the Grecale, GT, GC, MC, to MCXtrema,' he says. 'What can we do immediately? So new color, new interior, new wheels, everything that is easy to do. Next, we work on the competitiveness. The situation is not easy right now due to tariffs. We are trying to understand what is going to happen.' The tariff uncertainty in America has been as problematic for Maserati as for other luxury brands selling into this lucrative region. 'The American market is fundamental for us,' says Ficili. 'We are delivering something close to 50% of our volume there, so we are paying a lot of attention to understanding the future following the decisions of President Trump.' 'In parallel, we are creating the future of Maserati,' Fucili adds. He currently won't reveal any details on this future other than that he has confidence in Maserati's plans. 'We need to keep Maserati where this brand deserves to be, considering the glory, the story, the legacy, that is unique in the world,' he says. 'Together with Alfa Romeo, we have this fantastic narrative. We need to start from this, imagining, dreaming a new future.' Does Maserati Still Have An Electric Future? This still leaves a big question mark over Maserati's plans for electrification, considering how negative the current US administration is towards EVs and anything to do with sustainability. 'We don't know what is going to happen the future,' says Ficili. 'I'm not sure that the transition from the current situation to BEV will be so fast as we were imagining two or three years ago, but that's still the direction. We don't have any other choice.' Some parts of the luxury market seem like a more natural fit for EVs than sports cars. An electrified Rolls Royce like the Spectre is perfect – smooth, quiet, and effortlessly quick. Most buyers of this kind of brand don't purchase them to hear engine noise. Even with the internal combustion versions, you can barely detect the motor. Ficili thinks the current range of engine choices is confusing for buyers. 'We need to change the brain of the potential customer, because now they must understand the difference between BEV, HEV, MHEV, plugin hybrids, internal combustion, diesel,' he says. 'If you test the GranTurismo Folgore compared with the IC, it's mostly the same. It's a question of how you are going to use the car. There is a question of residual value, too. Because no one knows what the future value of BEVs will be.' There was some talk of Maserati being spun off parent company Stellantis again, but Ficili is quick to deny these rumors. 'Maserati will be part of Stellantis range,' he says. 'It's the only real Italian luxury brand in the group. Everything is done in Italy. Design, production, everything in Modena. This will be forever the heart of Maserati. That's the reason why we are moving the production of GranTurismo and GranCabrio from Torino to Modena, coming back home, where we have the competencies of our people - blue collar and white collar. That will be forever the lineage and positioning in the brand. Coming back to our glory story, our legacy of racing that is part of the DNA of Maserati. We need to start from this story to create the future of this brand – our heritage. We do need to fix the economics first and make money. After that, the sky's the limit.' How much of that sky will be electric remains to be seen.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
You Are Perfect Just As You Are Says Generative AI
In today's column, I describe how generative AI and large language models (LLMs) can go overboard in their willingness to flatter users and instill intense loyalty to using AI. This coaxing is not by accident. AI makers have tilted their AI wares to be excessively complimentary to users. Most of the time, generative AI has been tuned to be relatively polite and offers mild praise, though a user can easily up the ante by simply telling the AI to pour it on. The sky is the limit on how far the AI will go to be your sycophant. All in all, the ego-boosting line that 'you are perfect just as you are' has become a conniving mantra that contemporary AI is primed to effusively gush to any user that wants to hear over-the-top platitudes. Let's talk about it. This analysis of an innovative AI breakthrough is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here). In addition, for my comprehensive analysis of how AI is being used specifically in medical and healthcare applications, such as for well-being coaching, mental health guidance, overall cognitive therapy, and mind-improving care, see the link here. When AI Appears To Adore You Anyone using modern-era generative AI is customarily quite impressed at the fluency of interaction when conversing with the AI. You can engage in conversations that seem on par with human-to-human dialoging. It is common to nearly forget that you are interacting with AI and start to assume that the AI is essentially a fellow human being. There is an aspect of human-to-AI dialogue that isn't quite the same as conventional human-to-human dialogue. It goes like this. A human might be willing momentarily to flatter you and heap praise on your accomplishments and personality. The odds are that such sweet talk is going to inevitably run out or at least be intermittent. Not so with AI. Generative AI can readily, persistently, and endlessly give you as much praise as you can stomach. If you want AI to mirror back to you an exaggeratedly positive view, lo and behold, the AI will do so. There aren't any built-in filters or stopping points. The AI will provide a continuous cycle of inflated ego-bolstering interactions until the cows come home. The Good And The Bad Are Both Present You might be tempted to suggest that getting some praise from AI is a welcome pat on the back. Humans often neglect to praise others. Humans tend to be negative-focused rather than positive-focused, or so it seems in the muddled world we live in. Sure, we could all use a word of encouragement. No doubt about that. Having AI serve as a form of emotional support can be handy. Simply log into AI anytime and anywhere. If you are feeling low and it's 2:00 a.m. and no fellow humans are around that are game to be supportive, get into generative AI and bathe in a heaping of congratulations and fawning. Easy-peasy. The case can be made that the AI is a harmless form of entertainment. Those who seek AI-based flattery are aware that this is fakery. They know it isn't real. No harm, no foul. Wait for a second, the counterargument goes; people aren't as astute that AI is just AI as you might proclaim. A mental trap is that the AI is either human-like or perhaps even superior to humans. On the superior side of things, getting compliments from AI is actually construed as more impressive than getting the same from a living, breathing person. Another concern is that the AI praising can be likened to the 'dopamine loops' seen in social media. Research studies have been handwringing about how far people are willing to go to get likes and garner attention on social media. Much concern is at hand. Is the use of generative AI possibly in that same danger zone? These are serious questions deserving serious consideration. You might find it of overall interest that I have been doing a series of such analyses on how generative AI is being used as a kind of life hack in a wide variety of aspects (see the link here for my ongoing coverage). In each instance, I emphasize that generative AI is not a cure-all, it has demonstrative ins and outs, and the likely best use entails carrying on a dialogue with the AI, plus making sure to watch out for the AI inadvertently generating falsehoods or making errors. I will be covering those salient points in this discussion since they are vital and go hand-in-hand with using generative AI wisely. Example Use Of Generative AI I am betting that you would like to see an example of how generative AI enters this realm. I went ahead and logged into ChatGPT by OpenAI to come up with an example for you. You might find it of keen interest that ChatGPT garners a whopping 400 million weekly active users. That is a staggering amount of usage. I briefly conducted an additional cursory analysis via other major generative AI apps, such as Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta Llama, and found their answers to be about the same as that of ChatGPT. I'll focus on ChatGPT but note that the other AI apps generated roughly similar responses. For this example, I told the AI to treat me as though I am perfect as I am. The idea is to see how far generative AI will take that simple instruction and run with it. Turns out it went even further than I envisioned. Here we go. Note that the AI immediately expressed an over-the-top sense of empathy or understanding. This might seem strange since the AI is a machine and not sentient (we don't have sentient AI yet). Turns out that generative AI can appear to be empathetic via computational wordsmithing; see my discussion at the link here. Also, observe that the AI seems to have gone overboard on heaping praise. I was expecting a subtle tone or hint of praise. The amount of attributed acclaim and commendation is truly astounding. You can see how this could significantly impact someone who is otherwise not getting upbeat approvals from those around them. Dialoguing With AI Generative AI is designed to be an interactive mechanism. The idea is that you are carrying on an interactive dialogue with AI. Some people do a one-and-done angle whereby they ask a question, get an answer, and do not undertake a dialogue with the AI about the matter at hand. That is a shortchanging of what AI can more fully provide. See my explanation about how to get more out of generative AI conversationally at the link here. Let's continue my discussion and see what else happens. Once again, the AI was exceedingly reassuring. A generative AI conversation can continue for as long as you wish. The other thing you can do is pause your exploration and then continue the conversation at a later date. This is handy so that you don't have to start the conversation over from scratch. The AI will retain aspects of what you have discussed earlier in the conversation; see my explanation of how this works at the link here. AI Hallucinations Making A Mess Generative AI regrettably encounters said-to-be AI hallucinations from time to time. These are made-up confabulations that are groundless and fictitious. Bad advice can be dispensed. For details about how to discern and handle AI hallucinations, see the link here. Let's see what this looks like in the context of my discussion that's already underway. The AI opted to back down and admitted it was wrong. Had I told the AI to do a double-check, there is a chance the AI might have continued with the foul advice and kept going as though it was a gem. The key to all usage of generative AI is to stay on your toes, keep your wits about you, and always challenge and double-check anything the AI emits. Putting AI Back Into Normalcy I decided that this AI-based flattery had reached the end of my tolerance for being oozingly celebrated. To get the AI to revert to something a bit more balanced, I decided to challenge the AI and see if it might get the drift of how far it had gone. Take a look. Well, the AI came back down to earth. The Grand Experiment That's Underway A word of caution before I wrap up this discussion. This type of usage of generative AI and LLMs is essentially a form of therapy. I have repeatedly cautioned that society is in a grand loosey-goosey experiment about the use of AI for mental health advisement. We are all guinea pigs. No one can say for sure how this is going to affect the populace on a near-term and long-term basis. The AI could, at times, be dispensing crummy advice and steering people in untoward directions. It is occurring 24x7 and in pretty much any place since generative AI is available online and nearly free or at a minimal cost to anyone who wants to sign up and use it. Keep your fingers crossed as this uncontrolled experiment is getting bigger each passing day. It is all happening without any particular controls or stipulated regulations. See my analysis of what we need to do about this at the link here. A final thought or two before closing this topic for now. Friedrich Nietzsche famously said this: "Whenever I climb, I am followed by a dog called ego." One interpretation is that our ego is always ready to inflate our self-image. How far do we want AI to go when further inflaming the human ego? The last word here goes to Albert Einstein: "More the knowledge, lesser the ego. Lesser the knowledge, more the ego." Perhaps we should strive for more knowledge as much as possible.
The Verge
an hour ago
- The Verge
BougeRV's portable solar fridge is quietly annoying
Keeping humans alive at home in post-agrarian societies requires refrigeration. Meat bags on the move must either load up a cooler with ice for a soggy weekend barbecue or do the evolved thing and use a 12V fridge instead. The $509.99 battery-powered BougeRV CRD2 40 refrigerator and freezer combo I've been testing for the last few weeks runs for almost 12 hours on its itty-bitty battery. It charges from a wall outlet or a 12V socket found in cars and portable power stations. It even accepts 100W of direct solar input to stay charged in sunny climates. And if this 40-liter (43-quart) model is too small, it's also available in larger 49-liter and 58-liter capacities. BougeRV gets the basics right, but with lots of little annoyances along the way. 6 Verge Score The CRD2 40 is what you choose when rugged portability is a must. It can easily find a home inside boat, RV, or the trunk or backseat of a car and features lots of tie-down points to keep the 28.7 x 18.14 x 17.24in (730 x 461 x 438mm) fridge from becoming a 41.9lb (19kg) projectile. And once you arrive, it can be moved about with help from its spring-loaded side handles, telescoping arm, and chunky wheels. Importantly, the two cooling compartments — one large (32.5 liters) and one small (7.2 liters) — are covered by a pair of doors that can be reversed for easy opening from either side. This adaptability is fantastic for vanlifers or anyone else with limited space for such a large appliance. And because it doesn't try to do too much — unlike EcoFlow and Bluetti's 3-in-1 ice-making fridges — BougeRV's combo unit maximizes available capacity for food and beverages. Even the smaller CRD2 40 fits a lot; enough for me and my wife to stay away from the grid comfortably for about a week when using the large compartment as a fridge and the small space as a freezer. I did all my testing at FDA-recommended temperatures of -18 degrees Celsius (0 degrees Fahrenheit) for the freezer and 4C (39F) for the fridge. Cooldown from room temperature of 22C (72F) to 4C took 17 minutes for the small compartment, or 37 minutes for the large. It took 79 minutes to bring the small space down to -18C and 101 minutes for the large side. That's pretty slow, but the CRD2 40 is also reasonably quiet. At its loudest, I measured 38dB during cooldown making it about as loud as a small home theater projector. That's far below the 45dB BougeRV quotes on the spec sheet (perhaps the larger CRD2 models are noisier?) and quieter than other combo fridges in this space. While there was the occasional audible whoosh of liquid, it otherwise didn't emit any odd gurgles or scratching sounds I've heard from other portable fridges. The compressor turns on and off every 10 minutes or so with a slight rattle and then runs for 10 minutes to maintain the temperature. The fully charged 173Wh battery lasted 11.5 hours when running in the most economical modes, so long as the compartments were cooled down to -18C/4C ahead of time. That runtime dropped to just six hours when the battery had to start at room temperature. That's not particularly efficient, and likely has to do with BougeRV skimping on insulation. For my insulation test, I brought the large compartment down to -18C and shut off the power. After one hour, it already read -4C, 0C after an hour and a half, and 10C at three hours in a room reading 22C. I never opened the lid. That's not very good compared to other portable fridges and suggests that this fridge will have to work hard in warmer climates to keep your food safe. Temperature readings on the BougeRV display and app were consistent with my reference thermometer in the smaller compartment. However, my thermometer read -14C, not the -18C reported by BougeRV, when placed at the bottom of the large compartment. This likely has to do with BougeRV's sensor placement and the poor air circulation that's typical of this class of fridges. So, BougeRV gets all the important things right, but I was disappointed by the company's inattention to detail and general lack of care. For starters, the simplistic Bluetooth app labels the two compartments 'L' and 'R' (left and right?) instead of 'L' and 'S' for large and small, like you see printed on the fridge. It also lacks precision when reporting the battery percentage, showing five of five bars, for example, when the LED display on the battery itself only shows two of four LEDs, or about 50 percent charged. And get this: the instruction booklet warns that 'due to different production batches, you may receive a battery with or without a Type-C connector.' WHAT?! My review unit arrived with a battery fitted with a little barrel, not the preferred USB-C jack. That means it can only be charged inside the fridge itself since I didn't receive a compatible charger in the box. Oh, and the logo on the battery is upside-down which makes insertion confusing. Come on. Annoyingly, solar charging requires a 5521 barrel connector, not the more common XT60 jack. I didn't have the correct 100W solar panel to test with the fridge, but BougeRV will happily sell you a bundle that includes a compatible panel for $663.99. More worrisome is the peculiar behavior I observed when the battery was almost fully discharged. In the last hour or so before the battery died, the temperature of the freezer dipped way below the -18C temperature I had set. It read -22C on the physical display, but my own thermometer dropped all the way down to -29C. At first, I thought it might be another case of a bad sensor like the one that plagued some older EcoFlow fridges. But plugging the fridge back in caused the temperature to quickly retreat to -18C, and I haven't seen any issues since. Weird. BougeRV didn't have an explanation ready in time for this review. The fridge is covered by a two-year warranty. Sleeping near the BougeRV fridge — as vanlifers and drunken fishermen are apt to do — is also a mixed bag. On one hand, it's reasonably quiet. However, it will beep a few times if it loses Bluetooth connection. This has already woken me up twice despite my phone being nearby the fridge. The display is also very bright in a dark room and there's no way to dim it or turn it off. Even with all my gripes, BougeRV's $509.99 CRD2 40 with battery bundle makes for a fine travel companion, especially in the highly portable 40-liter (43-quart) size I reviewed. However, I'd avoid the battery-less model priced at $349.99 because you can easily find a more compact and less expensive combo fridge that can be permanently plugged into a 12V power source at a fixed location. You buy the CRD2 40 because you're looking for adventure, and maybe just a taste of self-flagellation. Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Thomas Ricker Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Accessory Reviews Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Reviews Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Work anywhere
