Six years ago today, Atieva, the Silicon Valley-based electric vehicle technology company that would later become Lucid Motors, announced its battery pack would power the entire 24-car Formula E field for the 2019/20 race season.
The Formula E battery pack was conceptualized, designed, tested and manufactured by Atieva at its headquarters in Newark, California.
Founded in 2007 as a battery technology specialist, Atieva initially focused on developing advanced battery packs for electric vehicles, including race cars.
In 2016, the company rebranded as Lucid Motors and unveiled its first vehicle prototype, a luxury electric sedan with over 300 miles of range and 900 horsepower.
That prototype evolved into the Lucid Air, which entered production in 2021.
Since its release, no other electric vehicle has surpassed the Air in EPA-rated driving range or energy efficiency, an achievement the company attributes to its battery technology roots.
5 Miles per kWh
In mid-2024, Lucid announced the 2025 version of the Lucid Air, the model’s cheapest iteration.
By then, the company claimed 420 miles of EPA-estimated range from an 84-kWh battery pack, with an efficiency of 5 miles per kWh.
The model achieved a record MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) of 146 — the highest ever for an electric vehicle.
MPGe is the EPA’s way of measuring an EV’s energy efficiency in terms that can be easily compared to the fuel efficiency of traditional gasoline cars.
The Lucid Air outperformed other luxury electric sedans, including Tesla’s Model S, which achieved 4.02 miles per kWh, and Mercedes-Benz’s EQS, which reached 3.25 miles per kWh.
Thanks to its efficiency, the Lucid Air can recharge up to 380 miles overnight at home (in 10 hours), reaching 95% of its 420-mile range.
In comparison, the Tesla Model S charges 306 of 402 miles (76%), and the Mercedes EQS charges only 247 of 352 miles (70%) in the same time.
Rawlinson on Efficiency
The milestone was celebrated by CEO Peter Rawlinson, who wrote on LinkedIn then that the Tesla Model S would need seven years to match the Lucid Air efficiency.
Rawlinson stepped down from his role in Lucid earlier this year, being replaced by former Chief Financial Officer Marc Winterhoff — who continues to serve as interim CEO.
In an interview with Autocar a few months after leaving his role, Rawlinson once again promoted the company’s mission of energy efficiency.
“I co-founded Lucid not just to make EVs but to advance the art of electric cars,” he said. “Using smaller batteries is absolutely crucial to that.”
Electric vehicles require large, heavy batteries to achieve sufficient range and power, which makes them heavier than gasoline or diesel cars and can reduce their energy efficiency.
To Rawlinson, “the real task is to make cars go farther with less battery – by saving weight, improving aerodynamics and cutting frontal area, by cooling batteries better and making motors more efficient.”
“We’re doing all of it,” he added, “that’s the vision of Lucid.”
2025 EPA Ratings
The new ratings released by the EPA, regarding 2026 model year vehicles, showed that the Lucid Air remains the vehicle with the best efficiency.
The trim equipped with 19-inch wheels has an EPA range of 420 miles, with an efficiency of 23 kWh per 100 miles. The higher-end Air Touring, with the same wheels, can reach up to 431 miles.
The sedan clearly outperforms its competitors in the segment, with an MPGe of 146.
By comparison, the Tesla Model S has a rating of 124, while Mercedes-Benz luxury sedans like the EQS and CLA range from 98 to 109 MPGe.
Commenting on the new data, the company’s VP of Global Comms wrote on X that while “other automakers often tout EV range using lenient WLTP or CLTC test cycles, masking efficiency gaps and inflating expectations,” with the official EPA numbers, “the story changes.”
“This advantage comes from a holistic engineering approach,” Twork remarked, highlighting Lucid‘s “complete vehicle system designed years ago and still ahead of any passenger car sold today.”
