- Rawlinson turns into advisor as Lucid delivers Gravity, pivots to extra reasonably priced EVs
- CTO of Lucid and mum or dad Atieva since 2013, led efficiency-and-performance push
- Oversaw Lucid Air and Gravity, Tesla Mannequin S
Peter Rawlinson is not the highest government at California’s Lucid Motors.
In a press launch, Lucid stated that Rawlinson “has stepped apart from his prior roles,” and can transition to a job 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, but it surely’s the chief technical officer (CTO) function that he doubly held that’s been particularly essential. Because the engineering wizard behind a whole lot 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 giant battery pack.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson – Arizona plant commissioning
“Now that we’ve got efficiently launched the Lucid Gravity, I’ve determined it’s lastly the appropriate time for me to step apart from my roles at Lucid,” stated Rawlinson, within the launch. “I’m extremely pleased with the accomplishments the Lucid staff have achieved collectively by way of my tenure of those previous twelve years.”
It has certainly been that lengthy. Rawlinson joined Lucid’s mum or dad, Atieva, as chief expertise officer in 2013. Rawlinson and design chief Derek Jenkins first offered to a small group, together with yours actually, a idea model of the Air in 2016, when Lucid turned the automotive model of Atieva.
Lucid virtually didn’t make it—and may not have with out Rawlinson’s perseverance. Ford thought-about 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 obtained actual and improvement accelerated.
Amid Lucid’s cash-strapped hunger period, from 2017 properly into 2019, Rawlinson stored a core engineering staff and revisited a number 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 at the moment. Within the meantime Lucid had began offering Components E battery packs for your entire racing sequence, which added to the corporate’s information base.
The corporate has “initiated a search to establish Lucid’s subsequent Chief Government Officer,” with assist from an government search agency, based on the discharge. “The brand new CEO will assist Lucid execute its technique and put together for the subsequent chapter,” it said.
Peter Rawlinson
Rawlinson has held positions at Jaguar and Lotus, amongst different corporations, however Inexperienced Automobile Experiences 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 advised GCR that he was notably 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 stored Lucid’s braintrust within the California’s Bay Space, but it surely opened its Casa Grande, Arizona, manufacturing unit in 2021.
Lucid midsize SUV teaser
The Lucid Air has been Inexperienced Automobile Experiences’ Greatest Automobile To Purchase, and despite the fact that it’s a really giant 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 car manufacturing this 12 months because of having the mannequin within the combine. And three reasonably priced 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 recommended that it will take years for the competitors to meet up with Lucid’s effectivity edge, and we predict he’s proper.
