Category: Lucid

After a very long takeoff roll, the Lucid Air electric luxury sedan arrived in 2020 and reset expectations for EV range, efficiency, and charging. The Air is an excellent first effort, but as a sedan its sales potential is inherently limited. So the 2025 Lucid Gravity — the automaker’s second model and first SUV — may be even more important for Lucid’s future.

Available in two-row, five-seat and three-row, seven-seat configurations, the Gravity aims to attract the much larger cohort of new car buyers who want extra space, or need a vehicle to accommodate their families and Instagram-worthy lifestyles. But those buyers already have plenty of choices, including the Cadillac Escalade IQ, Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, Rivian R1S, and Volvo EX90, as well as the two-row BMW iX.

As with the Air, the Gravity aims to beat the competition on efficiency, while offering a spacious interior and sporty driving dynamics. However, Lucid is also repeating the Air recipe by starting with expensive models and working its way down. The only Gravity trim level available for the 2025 model year is the Grand Touring, which starts at $96,550 but can easily crest $100,000 with options. First impressions indicate that buyers will get great engineering for their money, though.

2025 Lucid Gravity: design

In physics, gravity and mass go hand in hand, but that’s not the case here. While not exactly a welterweight, the Gravity does at least come at under 6,000 pounds (just) thanks to extensive use of aluminum, which is pretty good for a big electric SUV. It’s aerodynamic, too. A drag coefficient of 0.24 beats the 0.25 of the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, another EV with a shape dictated by the wind tunnel.

In achieving that low drag coefficient, Lucid took a very different approach to Mercedes, one that makes the Gravity look unlike any other current SUV. While it has a tall, flat hood, the snub nose and generous midsection are almost minivan-like, while the tapered tail makes the Gravity look a bit like a tall wagon in rear three-quarter view. Much like the Lucid Air sedan, that aerodynamic rear-end styling also necessitated a clamshell hatch that opens to reveal a large aperture for loading cargo, while also hiding unseemly shut lines.

All of these elements, along with details like carefully-sculpted mirrors, well-defined corners, and underbody aero elements, help reduce drag, but also form the building blocks of a distinctive Lucid design language, Derek Jenkins, the company’s senior vice president of design and brand, told Digital Trends.

Those design choices also make maximum use of the available space. The Gravity offers more first-row headroom and second-row legroom than the EQS SUV, and its more upright body sides make the third row feel a lot less claustrophobic while also providing more headroom than in the third row of a Volvo EX90.

Fold all of the seats down, and the Lucid has substantially more cargo space than the Mercedes or Volvo. The Cadillac Escalade IQ offers a bit more cargo room, but it’s a much bigger vehicle, at just over two feet longer than the Gravity. Lucid also incorporated an 8.1-cubic foot frunk that doubles as a bench and, thanks to rear seats that fold completely flat and the lack of intrusive shock towers, the interior can easily accommodate an air mattress.

Up front, the Gravity updates the minimalist aesthetic of the Air. Simple shapes, such as the scalloped door panels and subtle stacking of the air vents and display screens on the dashboard, provide the visual interest rather than extraneous trim elements. Material quality also felt worthy of our test vehicle’s six-figure price.

2025 Lucid Gravity: specs

2025 Lucid Gravity: tech

While there’s a clear through-line between the Air and Gravity interior designs, the Gravity receives a high-mounted dashboard display that brings it closer to the driver’s line of sight. This 34.0-inch display, which also necessitates a smaller, square steering wheel, is accompanied by an 11.0-inch touchscreen on the center console, which Lucid calls the Pilot Panel, that incorporates most of the controls. Wireless Apple CarPlay is standard, with wireless Android Auto due in a later update.

Besides the standard displays, the Gravity can be equipped with a head-up display and a 7.0-inch touchscreen for second-row passengers. Those passengers, along with those in the other two rows, get two USB-C ports for their devices, albeit not in the convenient seatback-mounted position of a Rivian R1S. And while a 10-speaker audio system is standard, the options list also includes a 22-speaker system with Dolby Atmos. Lucid also plans to use the Gravity’s over-the-air (OTA) update capability to offer audiovisual relaxation programs while parked, similar to what Lincoln is doing in its newer vehicles, but aren’t cars for driving?

For drivers of medium height, at least, the elevated, curved main display is excellent. The instruments and navigation map remained in view while looking straight ahead, without blocking the view of the road. The Pilot Panel responded to inputs without lag, but as with all touchscreens, the lack of physical feedback made it tricky to use while driving. Sliders for temperature and small icons to turn the seat heaters on and off made those tasks more difficult than they needed to be, as did the small panel on the driver’s left that houses the headlight controls.

As in the Air, Lucid routes adjustments for the steering wheel and mirrors through touchpads on the wheel, but they’re a bit easier to use than the main touchscreen and a memory system puts them in the set-and-forget category. Lucid thankfully retained manual air vents, so you don’t have to use the screen for that.

The Gravity’s standard DreamDrive 2 driver-assist package includes expected features like adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and lane keep assist. A midlevel DreamDrive Premium primarily adds more camera tech, including a surround-view system than also shows what’s directly under the vehicle, as well as a blind-spot camera display that’s much better executed than the grainy version in the Cadillac Escalade IQ.

The top DreamDrive Pro package will add a hands-free highway driving system with automated lane change capability, similar to Cadillac’s Super Cruise, but it won’t be available until later this year. It’s enabled by a sensor suite consisting of 12 exterior cameras, five radar units, one lidar unit, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and two interior cameras for occupant monitoring.

2025 Lucid Gravity: driving experience

In its launch Grand Touring spec, the Gravity has standard dual-motor all-wheel drive and a 123-kilowatt-hour battery pack. Grand Touring models are rated at 828 horsepower and 909 pound-feet of torque, and Lucid estimates a zero to 60 mph time of less than 3.4 seconds. That’s about the same as a dual-motor Rivian R1S with the optional performance upgrade (but slower than tri-motor and quad-motor versions), and 0.2 second quicker than a BMW iX M60, the most muscular version of that SUV.

The subjective feeling of acceleration was in line with that number, which was once firmly in supercar territory but today means the Gravity is not the quickest EV around. That a three-row SUV can move this quickly is still hilarious, and makes left turns a lot easier. Plus, the lack of the extreme, almost-painful gut-punch feel of some even quicker EVs made mashing the right pedal all the more pleasant.

Air suspension is standard, but an optional Dynamic Handling Package includes three-chamber air springs with greater adjustability, as well as rear-wheel steering. Smooth, Swift, and Sprint drive modes are included for on-road use, plus a Terrain mode (with hill-descent control) for light off-roading, and Lucid lists a useful 6,000-pound towing capacity.

Other automakers — Mercedes, for example — use a similar formula to make their electric SUVs handle passably well, but Lucid’s chassis tuning is a cut above. On an extremely tight, twisty road that would have been a chore in most other big electric SUVs, the Gravity warped and folded space like its namesake force. Incredibly precise steering made it easy to place it on the road with small, delicate inputs, making both the odd-shaped steering wheel and the Gravity’s considerable width (enough to make narrow parking spaces a challenge) less of a concern. Lots of grip and little body roll inspired confidence, but didn’t come at the expense of poor ride quality.

The excellent suspension tuning made transitioning from back roads to highways a nonissue, although the same steering tuning that made the Gravity so agile on the fun roads made it feel a little nervous on the highway, and the forward roof pillars tended to get in the way when turning. There was also little discernible difference between the drive modes, and while it was fun to slide the Gravity around in the dirt in Terrain mode, that capability is likely less relevant to customers than the Rivian R1S’ more advanced ability to traverse obstacle-strewn trails with ease.

2025 Lucid Gravity: range and charging

Lucid expects up to 450 miles of range, which is 40 miles more than the longest-range Rivian R1S and well ahead of the BMW iX, Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, and Volvo EX90. And it nearly matches the Cadillac Escalade IQ’s estimated 460 miles of range with a battery pack that’s 61.5% the size of the Caddy’s.

The Gravity ships with a North American Charging Standard (NACS) port and access to Tesla Supercharger stations. After the Gravity was first shown in 2023, Lucid even moved the charge port from the front left fender to the rear left fender to better accommodate Tesla V3 and V4 Superchargers. And to ensure the best performance with those chargers, Lucid employed a new version of its boost charging system, using the rear drive unit’s motor and inverter to increase voltage when needed.

All of this hardware allows for a sustained power rate of 225 kilowatts at 500-volt chargers like the V3 Superchargers and 400-kW on 1,000-volt V4 Superchargers. The latter power rate also applies to Combined Charging Standard (CCS) DC fast chargers, which the Gravity can plug into with an adapter. At that peak 400 kW, Lucid claims the Gravity can recover 200 miles of range in less than 12 minutes.

The Gravity also boasts 19.2 kW of Level 2 AC charging power, which should make overnight home charging a nonissue, assuming you have a wall box capable of that peak power rate. And Lucid claims the Gravity is capable of bidirectional charging at the same rate.

2025 Lucid Gravity: How DT would configure this car

A $96,550 base price already puts the Gravity Grand Touring at the upper end of its competitive set, and that’s before adding several key options. The most sophisticated DreamDrive Pro driver-assistance package costs $6,750, a head-up display is only available as part of the $3,200 Technology Package, and the upgraded audio system costs $2,900.

After driving a Gravity equipped with the Dynamic Handling Package, it also seems like a must-have feature, but one that adds $2,900 to the price tag. If you want third-row seating and leather upholstery, those items cost $4,200 and $2,900, respectively. The test car also had extra-cost paint, bigger wheels, and bright exterior trim, which brought its as-tested price to around $125,000.

Lucid has an $81,550 Gravity Touring model on the way, but for now a fully-optioned Gravity Grand Touring does feel worth that price in terms of fit and finish, feature content, and driving dynamics. It certainly makes more sense than a Cadillac Escalade IQ, which offers similar range at a similar price but feels like it was made to be an Escalade first and an EV second. A fully-loaded Volvo EX90, on the other hand, costs less than a base Gravity Grand Touring, and feels more normal. So while the Volvo can’t match the Lucid’s range, charging performance and driving dynamics, it might be a better choice as a first EV. The deliberately-weird BMW iX and Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV are neither here nor there, falling short of the Lucid in practical terms without carrying over the familiar experience of those brands’ gasoline SUVs.

A dual-motor Rivian R1S with the Max Pack and performance upgrade comes pretty close to the Gravity Grand Touring in price and performance, with 410 miles of range to the Lucid’s 450. The Rivian is also the clear off-road and towing champ, but the Lucid is better to drive where SUVs spend most of their time — on the road. Adventure-worthy vehicles like the R1S are great, but Lucid’s relentlessly rationale approach to building a better electric SUV is worth taking a moment to appreciate.