MONEY SHOT

LUCID CREATES A CUTTING-EDGE CAR OUT OF THIN AIR AND GIVES US A RARE LOOK AT JUST HOW EXPENSIVE IT IS TO DO SO.

- Dave VanderWerp

When the numbers get too large, our little brains struggle to contextualize. We realize that vehicle development and manufacturing, along with building out a nationwide distribution and dealer network, burns money at a rate that makes trust-fund millionaires look like they're living paycheck to paycheck. But what does it actually take to start with nothing and end up with an 1111-hp electric luxury sedan?

Let's put it this way: If you stuffed $100 bills into 55-gallon oil barrels, you'd need nearly 300 barrels to contain the $5 billion that Lucid Motors has spent thus far. The clic that a venture like this is a moonshot is fitting. Actually, it could be many moonshots, as this sum would more than pay for both Bezos's and Branson's rockets combined. The fact that billionaires generally choose space programs over high-volume production cars as pet projects should tell you something.

Founded in 2007 as Atieva, a battery-pack maker, Lucid is now beginning the tough task of making good on its vehicle investment. Adding to the monumental cost of the Air sedan is that the company chose to develop everything from the battery pack and electric motors to the headlights and power electronics. Of course, much of the effort also applies to other models in the works, such as the Air-based Gravity, an SUV coming in a year or so, and about a billion of the investment is sunk into a greenfield plant in southern Arizona.