Luxury Electric Vehicle Bursts Into Flames at Showcase Event
A pricey Lucid Air electric vehicle burst into flames while sitting unattended in a parking lot last weekend. At the time, the four-door sedan was not connected to a power source, according to a Reddit user who had been on site to test drive the base model.
Redditor u/protectivedetective writes that they had been invited by Lucid Motors for semi-private demo of the different trims of Air Models. The cars, which were released in late 2022, were designed to compete with luxury electric vehicles such as the Tesla Model S, the Fisker Karma, and Porsche Taycan with a starting retail price of $77,400.
"While I was enjoying the Grand Touring Model right before test driving, the base model which was parked a few lanes back actually started smoking while stationary," the user explained. "The smoke evolved into flames, and the vehicle started getting crispy."
They continued, writing that no one was harmed and that there had been no property damage, and that it seemed to happen out of nowhere. "As stated, the vehicle was stationary, but it did have an odor almost like burning brakes," they added. "Completely wild."
A photo accompanying the post does indeed show a Lucid Air that can best be described as "crispy."
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Likewise, video taken at the scene made its way to Imgur, which shows the vehicle as it began smoking, before it fully went up in flames.
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In an emailed statement to Men's Journal, Lucid Motors said that while a technical investigation is still ongoing, initial findings indicate that the fire did not involve the main high-voltage battery pack.
"We have begun a full technical investigation of the incident that occurred on Saturday, June 10, in Longwood, Florida," the statement read. "This work is still ongoing, but our findings thus far indicate that the fire did not involve the high-voltage battery pack."
According to Drive Tesla Canada, the demo event had been part of a nationwide "Dream Ahead" push by Lucid Motors to get consumers excited about the Air Models, following an inundation of canceled orders leading up to the release. Suffice it to say, the recent fire is probably not going to help the company on that front.