- Rawlinson turns into advisor as Lucid delivers Gravity, pivots to extra inexpensive EVs
- CTO of Lucid and mother or father Atieva since 2013, led efficiency-and-performance push
- Oversaw Lucid Air and Gravity, Tesla Mannequin S
Peter Rawlinson is now not the highest govt at California’s Lucid Motors.
In a press launch, Lucid mentioned that Rawlinson “has stepped apart from his prior roles,” and can transition to a task as senior technical advisor to the chairman of the board at Lucid, whereas COO Marc Winterhoff has been made interim CEO.
Rawlinson was elevated to the position of CEO at Lucid in 2019, but it surely’s the chief technical officer (CTO) position that he doubly held that’s been particularly necessary. Because the engineering wizard behind loads of what has propelled the corporate to its technological preeminence, Rawlinson particularly has established the corporate as able to extracting probably the most miles per kwh out of electrical propulsion techniques—even versus rival Tesla. As such, Lucid was the primary automaker to crack 500 miles of EPA-rated vary with out an absurdly massive battery pack.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson – Arizona plant commissioning
“Now that we now have efficiently launched the Lucid Gravity, I’ve determined it’s lastly the fitting time for me to step apart from my roles at Lucid,” mentioned Rawlinson, within the launch. “I’m extremely happy with the accomplishments the Lucid workforce have achieved collectively by means of my tenure of those previous twelve years.”
It has certainly been that lengthy. Rawlinson joined Lucid’s mother or father, Atieva, as chief know-how officer in 2013. Rawlinson and design chief Derek Jenkins first offered to a small group, together with yours really, a idea model of the Air in 2016, when Lucid turned the automotive model of Atieva.
Lucid nearly didn’t make it—and won’t have with out Rawlinson’s perseverance. Ford thought of shopping for Lucid in 2018, then took a cross. Lastly in April 2019, with the completion of an preliminary $1 billion funding from the Saudi Arabian Public Funding Fund (PIF), issues obtained actual and improvement accelerated.
Amid Lucid’s cash-strapped hunger period, from 2017 effectively into 2019, Rawlinson saved a core engineering workforce and revisited a few of the key tech within the Lucid Air—what he referred to as the core competence of the corporate. That led to the breakthroughs just like the 900+ volt tech and Lucid’s personal permanent-magnet motor design it makes use of at this time. Within the meantime Lucid had began offering System E battery packs for the complete racing collection, which added to the corporate’s data base.
The corporate has “initiated a search to establish Lucid’s subsequent Chief Government Officer,” with assist from an govt search agency, in line with the discharge. “The brand new CEO will assist Lucid execute its technique and put together for the following chapter,” it acknowledged.
Peter Rawlinson
Rawlinson has held positions at Jaguar and Lotus, amongst different corporations, however Inexperienced Automobile Studies first got here to know Rawlinson when he was Tesla’s chief engineer for the Mannequin S, liable for its design and manufacturing. Again in 2011, when he was in that position, Rawlinson informed GCR that he was significantly happy with the Mannequin S battery pack and the way it match electrically and mechanically inside that trailblazer, which might go on to win all types of awards.
The Lucid CEO has managed to rent top-tier expertise on the automaker, together with Tesla’s former manufacturing chief and different high executives from VW, BMW, and Apple, and maintain on to them in a means Tesla hasn’t. He saved Lucid’s braintrust within the California’s Bay Space, but it surely opened its Casa Grande, Arizona, manufacturing facility in 2021.
Lucid midsize SUV teaser
The Lucid Air has been Inexperienced Automobile Studies’ Finest Automobile To Purchase, and regardless that it’s a really massive automobile, the Air Pure stands as America’s best EV. It’s now delivering the Lucid Gravity SUV and hopes to greater than double its automobile manufacturing this 12 months because of having the mannequin within the combine. And three inexpensive EVs, constructed off a brand new mid-size platform and with a fair lower-cost Atlas drive unit spearheaded by Rawlinson as key to attending to additional economies of scale, are due inside a pair years.
For now, Rawlinson and that tech preeminence stay Lucid’s energy; he’s prompt that it could take years for the competitors to meet up with Lucid’s effectivity edge, and we predict he’s proper.
