- Electrical powertrains are simply higher on the subject of straight-line efficiency.
- Exhibit A: The Lucid Gravity is now the quickest SUV Automobile and Driver has ever examined within the quarter-mile.
- It beat gas-powered SUVs from Porsche and Lamborghini—and almost bested the Corvette Z06.
Once I drove the Lucid Gravity earlier this yr at its press launch, I used to be blown away by the electric-vehicle startup’s second act. However there’s loads you’ll be able to’t study in a couple of hours with a brand new automobile. Now, reviewers are getting their arms on the electrical family-hauler for extra in-depth testing, and it continues to impress.
A few weeks in the past, we wrote about Jason Cammisa’s “Mother Missiles” drag race, during which he pitted a number of super-powered SUVs in opposition to each other. The Gravity smoked all of them—together with Rivian’s quad-motor R1S SUV.
Picture by: Tim Levin/InsideEVs
Now, Automobile and Driver is out with an identical outcome after evaluating the Gravity on observe. On Friday, the outlet stated that the Gravity Dream Version is the quickest SUV it has ever examined, crushing the quarter-mile in a blistering 10.6 seconds at 140 mph. It additionally sprinted to 30 mph in 1.4 seconds, hit 70 mph in 3.7 seconds and blew previous 100 mph in simply 5.9 seconds.
Let me remind you: This is not some low-slung supercar. It is a massive, three-row, seven-seat SUV. It simply goes to indicate how astonishingly high-performance electrical vehicles might be, particularly when carried out proper. The Dream-edition Gravity has two motors, 1,070 horsepower and 909 lb-ft of torque. It is Lucid’s second automobile after the Airwhich launched in 2021.
The spectacular outcomes are additionally a robust endorsement of the fledgling startup’s tech. However Lucid wants much more than devilishly fast quarter-mile instances to turn into a wholesome, worthwhile enterprise. What it wants is quantity. The Gravity ought to ship extra of that than the Air ever did, however gross sales have been gradual going up to now.
Lucid kicked off SUV manufacturing late final yr and solely offered 70 within the first half of 2025, in keeping with knowledge from Cox Automotive. (Lucid, for its half, would not escape model-by-model gross sales and has stated the Gravity’s manufacturing ramp can be gradual.)
Picture by: Tim Levin/InsideEVs
Automobile and Driver notes that the Gravity slugged among the strongest gas-powered SUVs. It proved faster than the Lamborghini Urus Performante, which notched a quarter-mile in 11.2 seconds at 122 mph. And it beat the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT, which additionally recorded an 11.2-second run. Excessive-powered electrical SUVs just like the R1S Tri Max, BMW IX M60 and Mercedes-AMG EQE53 had been no match for it both. (The outlet says it hasn’t examined a Tesla Mannequin X Plaid but.)
What’s extra, the seven-seater almost matched the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, lacking that sports activities automobile’s quarter-mile time by only a tenth of a second. In Automobile and Driver’s testing, the Gravity truly beat the Z06 to 150 mph by about three seconds. The outlet notes that the Gravity appears to get a second wind above 60 mph.
The comparability additional proves one thing we already knew: In case your mission is to go as fast as attainable in a straight line, it is electrical or bust. And subsequent time you present as much as the drag strip, if a minivan from the long run pulls up subsequent to you, you are about to get bought.
Contact the writer: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
