Lucid Motors (Atieva) Factory For 400-Mile Atvus To Be In Arizona

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

Until now, it’s been something of a mystery where Lucid Motors would be manufacturing it’s rather appealing looking 400-mile Atvus electric vehicle, and if the company would actually be able to meet its goal to begin sales in 2018. Considering the people involved with the company, though, it seemed likely that there must be serious plans of some kind.

It appears that those presumptions were correct, as the company has revealed in a recent live-streamed press announcement that it’s developing a manufacturing facility in Arizona that will create 2,000 new jobs by 2022. Notably, comments were made during the live-streamed event that implied the company would be focusing its hiring efforts around military veterans.

“Lucid Motors announced on November 30 that it will construct a $700 million factory on 500 acres of land in Casa Grande, Arizona, southeast of Phoenix,” Steve Hanley writes on sister site Gas2. Here’s more from Steve:

“It took a serious partnership of the state, county of Pinal and city of Casa Grande to bring this deal together,” said Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in an exclusive interview with the Phoenix Business Journal. “We made an extra effort to bring another major manufacturing facility to Arizona.”

The company considered 60 markets in 13 states before selecting Casa Grande. Company officials were reluctant to name the other finalists but a report in the Sacramento Business Journal said California’s capitol city was the runner-up for the Lucid factory. The company has declined to confirm or deny that report. Key factors that tipped the balance in favor of Casa Grande included the availability of a 500 acre, shovel ready site with heavy rail access, the skill level of the workers available in the immediate aria, and Arizona’s quality of life. In addition to rail access, Casa Grande also is located close to several interstate highways.

“While all the markets wanted an automotive OEM facility, Arizona was the state that made us feel as if it were a partner in the process,” said Brian Barron, director of manufacturing for Lucid Motors, formerly called Atieva. “We were impressed that Gov. Ducey made a trip to California to meet our team and was so accessible when we were in Arizona. This was one of the key deciding factors in choosing Casa Grande.” Ducey essentially closed the deal for Arizona, according to Lucid Motors.

Eric Jay Toll of the Phoenix Business Journal was on hand for the announcement and reports that the “alpha prototype” seen in the photos that accompany this story is not the final design for Lucid’s first car. The actual production prototype is scheduled to be unveiled at Lucid headquarters in Menlo Park, California December 14. The final price has not been set but will be more than $100,000. Lucid marketing managerDavid Salguero says the interior of the car will be larger than the Mercedes S Class sedan.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNH2LtkjiFY/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNH2JoSjErC/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BM7MYaWj8gZ/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNH2GaHDVAM/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMf_HrtDb_T/

There was a bit more revealed during the event, but nothing too notable. As a reminder, Lucid Motors, previously known as Atieva (and known for the supervan Edna), is aiming to bring it’s all-electric sedan to market by 2018.

The model, known as the Atvus, will reportedly feature a single-charge range of more than 400 miles, achieved through the use of an 87 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack. The model will also reportedly feature more than 1,000 horsepower and a 0–60 mph time of under 3 seconds.

First year production will apparently total 20,000, with the company aiming to ramp up to 130,000 units a year within one year or so later.

For a very rough idea of what’s in store performance wise, see: Atieva’s Edna Races Again Following An Upgrade … 0–60 MPH In 2.74 Seconds.


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

James Ayre has 4830 posts and counting. See all posts by James Ayre