A $100,000 electric car trying to take on Tesla hit a top speed of 235 mph - here's what you need to know

Danielle MuoioJul 10, 2017, 22:22 IST

A view of the Lucid Air outside of Lucid Motors' headquarters in Menlo Park, California, February 16, 2017.Bryan Logan/Business Insider

Lucid Motors, a startup going after Tesla's grip on the luxury electric car market, said Monday that a prototype of its Lucid Air sedan hit a top speed of 235 mph, crushing the top speed of a Model S (155 mph).

That's not exactly a fair comparison considering the Lucid prototype was adjusted to go as fast as possible. An actual production version of the car will be electronically limited to hit a more manageable top speed.

But the test, conducted in Ohio with the Transportation Research Center, shows Lucid Motors' engineers are set on competing with Tesla on speed.

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Lucid Motors' all-electric car was built by the same minds behind the Model S.

Peter Rawlinson, the chief engineer behind the Model S, is the leading force behind the car as Lucid Motors' CTO. But Rawlinson is flanked by other former Model S engineers as well, like Eric Bach, Tesla's former director of engineering

In April, I got a ride in the startup's very first prototype, the Lucid Air. Here's what it was like:

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A $100,000 electric car trying to take on Tesla hit a top speed of 235 mph - here's what you need to know