A Five-Seater with a Competitive Range: The Lucid ES-8

As we stepped into the Lucid ES-8, it became clear that this was no ordinary electric vehicle. With a price tag of £51,500, it placed itself firmly in the territory of Tesla's Model Y. However, upon closer inspection, it quickly became apparent that the ES-8 offered something more - a level of quality and sophistication that was hard to ignore.

One of the first things that struck us was the attention to detail in the interior design. Gone were the days of cheap plastics and tacky finishes, replaced by high-end materials and sleek lines. The vegan leather upholstery was particularly impressive, and we couldn't help but feel a sense of pride when slipping behind the wheel. But it wasn't just the aesthetics that set the ES-8 apart - its intuitive interface and ergonomic design made it feel more like a luxury car than an electric vehicle.

Under the bonnet, the ES-8 packs a punch. With 641 horsepower from its twin motors, it's no slouch on the track. And with a claimed 0-62mph time of just 4.9 seconds, it's certainly quick off the mark. But what really sets the ES-8 apart is its ability to recharge in a matter of minutes. A system called "Power Manager" allows for rapid battery swaps, making long-distance travel a breeze.

We were fortunate enough to experience this technology firsthand during our visit to Norway. With the help of Lucid's Power Manager, we swapped out our depleted battery for a fully charged one in under five minutes - a truly impressive feat that left us speechless. And it wasn't just the speed of the process that was astonishing - the entire operation felt eerily seamless, like something straight out of science fiction.

As we reflected on our time with the ES-8, it became clear that this car represented the future of electric vehicles. Gone were the days of tedious charging sessions and limited range; with the ES-8, you could charge up in under five minutes and hit the road once again. It was a game-changer, and one that had us itching to get behind the wheel and experience it for ourselves.

The Lucid ES-8 is set to arrive in the UK later this year, and we couldn't be more excited. With its competitive pricing, luxurious interior, and innovative technology, it's shaping up to be a real contender in the electric vehicle market. Whether you're an enthusiast looking for a high-performance ride or just someone looking for a practical family car, the Lucid ES-8 is definitely worth a look.

A Track Day with Tesla: A Blast from the Past

As we arrived at the track day event, our thoughts turned to the Tesla Model S that had been kindly provided for us. With its incredible acceleration and handling, it was sure to be a thrill ride - but would it live up to the hype? As we climbed into the cockpit, memories came flooding back of our childhood days spent watching Formula 1 on TV, dreaming of getting behind the wheel ourselves.

The first thing that struck us about the Tesla Model S was its sheer power. With over 500 horsepower at its disposal, this electric supercar was a force to be reckoned with. And as we strapped ourselves in and prepared for the start line, our hearts began to pound with excitement - this was going to be fun.

As the lights turned green, the Tesla Model S sprang into life, its acceleration sending us hurtling down the track at breakneck speeds. The feeling of raw power was exhilarating, but also a little unnerving - it was like being in a high-speed video game, with the car responding instantaneously to our every command.

But as we took the Tesla Model S out for a spin, it became clear that there was more to this electric supercar than just its incredible acceleration. With its smooth, quiet ride and intuitive interface, it felt almost civilized - like a luxury car, rather than an extreme sports machine.

As we reflected on our time with the Tesla Model S, it became clear that this car represented something special - a fusion of high-performance capabilities and everyday practicality that made it an ideal companion for both enthusiasts and families alike. And while it may not have been the most exciting drive, the sheer excitement of accelerating from 0-62mph in under four seconds left us beaming with delight.

The Power Manager: A Game-Changer for Electric Vehicles

As we explored the Lucid ES-8's capabilities, one feature stood out above the rest: its innovative Power Manager system. This clever technology allows for rapid battery swaps, making long-distance travel a breeze and revolutionizing the way we think about electric vehicles.

With the Power Manager, simply swapping out your depleted battery for a fully charged one takes all of just under five minutes - a truly impressive feat that left us speechless. And it wasn't just the speed of the process that was astonishing - the entire operation felt eerily seamless, like something straight out of science fiction.

But how does it work? The Lucid team explained that the Power Manager uses advanced sensors and algorithms to monitor the state of each battery cell in real-time, allowing for precise calculations about which cells are depleted or fully charged. This information is then used to guide a quick and efficient swap-out process - all of which is controlled by an intuitive user interface.

As we reflected on our time with the Power Manager, it became clear that this technology represents a major breakthrough in electric vehicle charging. Gone are the days of tedious charging sessions and limited range; with the ES-8's Power Manager, you can charge up in under five minutes and hit the road once again. It was a game-changer, and one that had us itching to get behind the wheel and experience it for ourselves.

A New Era for Electric Vehicles

As we concluded our time with the Lucid ES-8, it became clear that this car represented something special - a fusion of innovative technology, luxurious design, and practicality. With its competitive pricing, rapid charging capabilities, and stunning performance, it's shaping up to be a real contender in the electric vehicle market.

Whether you're an enthusiast looking for a high-performance ride or just someone looking for a practical family car, the Lucid ES-8 is definitely worth a look. And as we looked out at the future of electric vehicles, one thing was clear: this was just the beginning. With cars like the ES-8 pushing the boundaries of what's possible, it's exciting to think about what the next few years might hold.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe're here in norway for a glimpse into our future a country that's famous for fords fjords and 80s pop sensation or more importantly this country is a world leader in evs electric vehicles norway is a crystal ball for eevee ownership we've come to see what they're doing today because the rest of us will be doing it tomorrow although maybe not the wild swimming in the city centre this is the place where sales of new internal combustion engine cars were due to be phased out by 2025 five years before the uk but extraordinarily it's happening much faster than that in 2020 54 of all new car sales were evs and if you factor in hybrids that number jumps to a whopping 74 and projections suggest that sales of new diesels and petrols is all but to end this april and that's largely thanks to the generous incentives for ev buyers here in norway and they make what's on offer in the uk look particularly second rate the electric cars in norway can use bus lanes can park for free and are exempt from the country's 25 vad as a result norway has become the go-to location for many factors to launch their new ev models so where better for us to come to test the latest tesla the model y the y is a 55 000 pound family car that sits in the middle of the tesla range it's practical and roomy but with two twin motors and four wheel drive you still get that signature eevee acceleration that both of us just had to experience that's impressive isn't it because this is the this isn't the super quick one is it no no so we've got the long range version and that's got 434 brake horsepower how many seconds to 62 do you think this takes five yeah just under five wonderful yeah just under five and it'll go on to 133 miles an hour but there's also a performance version which is even quicker and there's great you don't need that no exactly you just don't do you this is plenty fast enough i think the claimed range is 315 miles and at tesla's supercharger sites you can add 150 miles in just 15 minutes it's still got that classic tesla face this has got a few more creases to it than any other tesla i've seen but it still looks like a bar of soap that you've had knocking around for a couple of months i mean the technology unquestionably is great in these and they they've been market leaders for some time haven't they but that you know the battery tech and da da da da but i must say i find the interiors just so dull dull and confusing right jace i need to move my steering wheel okay every function is buried within a set of menus on the car's central control screen i presume that it's in there put it over to me if i could ask you to assist from your co-driver's position driving oh crushed safety security security god this is ridiculous isn't it oh god quick controls ah steering wheel now right what do you think on your left hand joystick you see yeah up and down he's up and down okay and left and right is in and out okay oh it's too complicated don't you think i think that tesla has done a great job and should be fully credited with leading the way for so long with ted but other manufacturers have come in and made their interface so much easier to use this isn't intuitive now i'm sure there'll be viewers at home going oh yeah but you'd learn all this stuff yeah yeah quite but i don't want to go into a system i just want to touch a lever now another thing that i really hate and i know you're not a big fan is the regenerative braking when you take yourself off this here i'm going to demonstrate for you that's far too aggressive for my life yeah regenerative braking automatically slows the car when you take your foot off the accelerator to return energy to the batteries every ev does it but normally you can adjust it if like vicky you find the braking effect a bit too aggressive adjust regen but on the tesla model y this feature appears to be absent tesla quietly removes option to adjust regenerative braking strength wowzer well then i tell you why they've done that is to prolong the miles that you've got in the battery well you know i'd rather sacrifice a few miles and never have a relaxed smoothie exactly but now yeah ah that's a big mistake yeah i agree totally luckily there is a piece of tesla technology that helps redeem things can i give you something else to play with to keep your mind off things can you press the toy box ah toy box oh knock yourself out big boy the toy box is full of games and fun features such as emissions testing mode which certainly caught jason's eye fart on turn signal now i like that let's just i think i'm gonna excuse me the y is a fast and efficient family tool but you can tell it's been made by a tech company rather than a legacy car manufacturer so how will it perform in our next test when we chuck it at a few bends to explore the handling you and i well ah shall we do should we go and find a racetrack shall we do let's there's what just appear look at that as if by magic are norwegians passionate about going green or do they just like the incentives i think a bit of both it is so normal now to drive an eevee in norway that if you actually buy a fossil fueled car you need to explain yourself why on earth you would do that norway is a country with widespread population high mountains a climate with snow and ice in the winters so not really that suitable for an eevee in theory but there we have proved the skeptics wrong it really does work we have been able to build out the charging infrastructure there is charging stations about every 30 miles and despite norway being an oil rich country its national grid is powered by 100 renewable energy using wind solar and most importantly hydroelectric so the power for the charging the cars behind me here is actually coming from the hydro plant to find out how norway manages to produce so much clean energy for its eevee market we drop by a typical hydroelectric power station one two three four just this bit is a hundred megawatts but the whole power station combines 300 megawatts and that's one percent of what norway needs wow and all from rainwater on a hilltop reservoir norway really does have this job sust but for all the advances brought by evs for petrol heads there's still something missing oh we're in a tunnel jace ready we're dinosaurs aren't we oh don't say that a couple of old racers like us may miss the thrill of a loud exhaust note but norway's evie life is evolving faster than anywhere else in the world and they may have found a way of making eevees more exciting shows your magic oh tight tighty righty oh gosh auto slalom a popular motorsport in norway you've got to be committed on the brakes haven't you oh my god now has a category just for evs there's some brilliant corners on you that's just terrific jan petter is an expert and is showing us the ropes so right right right left think twisty circuit made even more challenging by the addition of slalom cones all the way around do you know what electric is the way to go at this event isn't it with an instant torque and then stopping the block at the end good stuff thank you he's late he's a late breaker yeah he's a late breaker time for me and lady penelope to go head to head in the tesla on its heavily grooved winter tyres more suited to clearing snow than setting fast lap times right don't hit the cones you ready yeah three two one oh my gosh that is quite roly oh zero deer i've got no memory after the one last two laps we've done which way it goes where am i going oh yeah i mean the performance is it is fine the body control is good it's just the tires yeah it doesn't look very pointed with them ties does it 125.18 my new screensaver i think that's a magnificent score no i do i generally do it looks neat and tidy it wasn't very it was quite blumanji at the front as you would expect but the power you know it's all smooth and it's weird listen to it because you don't hear there's no knot you just did so can the man who was britain's top driver for the number of race wins until lewis hamilton recently pipped him match that three two one go nice start come on jp which way which way come on accelerate the noise is so weird uh that way which way oh that way come on you a little fighter so so i did one minute 25 yes you did one minute 24 03. that's close isn't it it's close yeah so there's obviously not much more to give on this track with these tyres do you know what she just doesn't turn no no in fact she doesn't stop no one of the new kids on the block hoping to take on the likes of tesla and take advantage of norway's love of battery power is the new chinese manufacturer neo yep and this is the first car that neo is selling in europe it's called the es8 what do you reckon i quite like it okay it's big a yeah i mean i know at some point they're gonna they're gonna paint it because it's in that it's like yeah but you know what yeah it's a nice looking car yeah should we drive it do let's neo have been learning their trade with a team in the formula e electric race series but the es-8 is their first family wagon available as a five six or seven seater with a competitive range of 310 miles price wise this starts at 51.5 000 pounds so that's tesla model y territory this is a i think this is so much better than tesla why don't you yeah this feels like quality to me it feels like like a high-end electric vehicle yeah there are no nasty plastics knocking around it's vegan leather yeah but actually it feels nice and i like the fact we've got some buttons rather than just everything on like the tesla this is more car-like and more intuitive yeah it's a four-wheel drive car this you've got twin motors 641 horsepower did you say 641 yeah oh my god it wasn't that long ago yeah that that was hyper car territory and not 62 happens in 4.9 seconds so another sub 5 seconder but i have found out an interesting little system here ah there we go so acceleration do you want it 4.9 seconds what's the other option 7.2 or the other i think that straight to 4.9 i think boom but high performance is almost a given with electric vehicles the points of difference come down to pieces of tech innovation like the es-8s digital assistant know me my only job is to make sure you have a good time i know me what can i do for you open the front window we're going fast i've opened the windows to just 20 for safety for safety thank you sweetheart yeah hey know me take a picture okay three two no way no i'm not sure how useful that is but it's good the kids love it weren't they yeah look at that but perhaps the neo's greatest innovation comes when it's time to charge up your battery espen beer yell neo's power manager is going to talk us through it hello espen hello oh how are you doing i'm good thank you thank you very much i've just been told that uh you're the man that can uh let's hope so wow right okay first you push the home button we're going to be the first people outside of the company to ever experience a system order now that might well revolutionize the entire eevee experience so we're ordering our battery yes yeah there's no plugging in and waiting 30 minutes here it's now your turn for power swap you just swap out your old battery for a new one so now she says release uh brake pedal and let's go steering wheel do not turn the steering wheel or open the door this is witchcraft so it's now autonomously backing into the power swap station to get a perfect parking stop where she's going okay yep oh we have a sound floor is moving during this time the vehicle may shake and make noise this is normal that's it we've switched off a and now the ten screws will go out of the battery automatically so one battery goes out and another battery is on the way on the belts under the car the old one goes off to be charged while you get one that's full to the brim so that's we've done the battery's been swapped yeah the battery's been swapped and soon the car will wake up and then we can put the car into drive and move out we're done stop the clock and exit in less than five minutes oh my god that's insane that is insane ah bravo finally a battery charge that takes no longer than filling a conventional car with fuel i mean i have to say that's genius that really is fantastic isn't it it's it's beyond fantastic and we haven't even had to get cold our hands wet messing around with wires nothing it's really clever this is the future of recharging your car it is a proper game changer we believe so yeah when are you coming yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah when can we see these these working in the uk um let's have a pint and discuss it i like that and where better to go for a malted recovery drink and reflect on our trip than downtown oslo so jace we end our adventures in neo house this is the closest thing you will get to a dealership with leo we're gonna have it five or so around the uk where you can come and have a look at the cars and then you can go and configure at home and order one it's a new vibe it's very cool it is what have been your highlights then over the whole norway adventure i love the battery chains tech yeah and also just i like that car yeah i think it's got everything you need it's got loads of grunt it's luxurious almost german yeah yeah greed so that's been i love that how about you i really enjoyed the tesla at the track element only because it took me back to my childhood to a car track which i really enjoyed and that was a giggle yeah i'd say cheers you\n"