- Rawlinson turns into advisor as Lucid delivers Gravity, pivots to extra reasonably priced EVs
- CTO of Lucid and dad or mum Atieva since 2013, led efficiency-and-performance push
- Oversaw Lucid Air and Gravity, Tesla Mannequin S
Peter Rawlinson is now not the highest government at California’s Lucid Motors.
In a press launch, Lucid stated that Rawlinson “has stepped except for 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 function of CEO at Lucid in 2019, nevertheless it’s the chief technical officer (CTO) function that he doubly held that’s been particularly essential. Because the engineering wizard behind quite a lot of what has propelled the corporate to its technological preeminence, Rawlinson particularly has established the corporate as able to extracting essentially 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 now we have efficiently launched the Lucid Gravity, I’ve determined it’s lastly the best time for me to step except for my roles at Lucid,” stated Rawlinson, within the launch. “I’m extremely pleased with the accomplishments the Lucid group have achieved collectively by means of my tenure of those previous twelve years.”
It has certainly been that lengthy. Rawlinson joined Lucid’s dad or mum, Atieva, as chief know-how officer in 2013. Rawlinson and design chief Derek Jenkins first introduced to a small group, together with yours actually, a idea model of the Air in 2016, when Lucid grew to become 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 move. Lastly in April 2019, with the completion of an preliminary $1 billion funding from the Saudi Arabian Public Funding Fund (PIF), issues received actual and improvement accelerated.
Amid Lucid’s cash-strapped hunger period, from 2017 properly into 2019, Rawlinson saved a core engineering group and revisited a few of the key tech within the Lucid Air—what he known 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 right now. Within the meantime Lucid had began offering Components E battery packs for your complete racing collection, which added to the corporate’s information base.
The corporate has “initiated a search to determine Lucid’s subsequent Chief Govt Officer,” with assist from an government search agency, in accordance 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 firms, however Inexperienced Automotive Stories 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 function, Rawlinson informed GCR that he was significantly pleased 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 prime executives from VW, BMW, and Apple, and maintain on to them in a manner Tesla hasn’t. He saved Lucid’s braintrust within the California’s Bay Space, nevertheless it opened its Casa Grande, Arizona, manufacturing unit in 2021.
Lucid midsize SUV teaser
The Lucid Air has been Inexperienced Automotive Stories’ Finest Automotive To Purchase, and though it’s a really massive automotive, 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 yr on account of having the mannequin within the combine. And three reasonably priced EVs, constructed off a brand new mid-size platform and with an excellent 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 steered that it will take years for the competitors to meet up with Lucid’s effectivity edge, and we predict he’s proper.
