Lucid Motors completes electric-vehicle plant in Pinal County (VIDEO)

Lucid Motors has completed construction of its Pinal County factory a year after breaking ground. It is expected to roll its first electric vehicles off the line in spring.

The opening comes four years after the new plant was announced. Lucid has positioned itself as a competitor to Tesla.

Arizona beat out 12 other states to land the plant. Continuing to hire, it is expected to draw many of its employees from Maricopa.

According to Lucid, the site was selected for a number of reasons – including infrastructure, talent, geographic location and pre-existing automotive supply chain – but it also offered space for a large footprint and planned expansions, as key areas of the factory were intentionally designed with this in mind.

A total of four phases are planned through 2028, taking the square footage of the factory from its current 999,000 square feet to 5.1 million square feet. In its final form, the new Lucid AMP-1 (Advanced Manufacturing Plant) will have capacity up to 400,000 units per year.

“In building this factory, we adhered to several important manufacturing philosophies, including the tenets of ‘Future Ready’ and ‘On Time,’ together which have allowed us to effectively manage our investment and build a brand-new factory from the ground up,” said Peter Hochholdinger, vice president of manufacturing for Lucid Motors. “As we add new platforms and vehicles to our line-up, the planning that went into this facility ensures that we will always be able to keep up with growing customer demand for advanced electric vehicles.”

The new factory has the commissioning of production equipment and processes underway ahead of start of production for the Lucid Air in spring 2021.

“We broke ground on the 590-acre Lucid AMP-1 site in Casa Grande, Arizona, on Dec. 2, 2019, and slightly less than a year later we have completed the first purpose-built EV factory in North America,” said Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of Lucid Motors. “The effort and agility demonstrated by this team is truly astounding, as we’re already commissioning equipment compatible with the Lucid manufacturing system to start production of the next-generation EV, the Lucid Air, in just a few months.”

Lucid AMP-1 is the first greenfield, dedicated electric vehicle factory to be built in North America. It was designed with a “Future Ready” focus that allows for additional phases of expansion at the site, with the next phase expected to begin in early 2021, enabling future production of the brand’s first SUV under the name Project Gravity in 2023.

As part of the factory’s commissioning, the company has already built its full beta prototype test fleet and is now transitioning to the construction of a final series of production-representative versions of the Lucid Air. The Lucid manufacturing system includes aircraft-inspired riveted and bonded monocoque body structure replacing spot welds for structural efficiency.

Initial capacity is up to 30,000 units annually to supply global markets, beginning with North America. These will initially consist of Lucid Air Dream Editions, followed quickly by Grand Touring and Touring models. The Lucid Air Pure will join the line-up in early 2022, available from $69,900.