Lucid Completes Construction of First Greenfield EV Factory in North America
CASA GRANDE, AZ—Lucid Motor has completed construction of its new assembly plant here, which it claims is the “first greenfield, dedicated electric vehicle factory to be built in North America.” The company’s first model, the Lucid Air sedan, is due to roll off the line early next year.
Lucid has already built a full beta prototype test fleet and is now transitioning to the construction of a final series of “production-representative versions” of the Lucid Air. It claims that it’s using “innovative production processes and state-of-the-art equipment” in the new factory, which it has dubbed AMP-1 (Advanced Manufacturing Plant).
“The Lucid manufacturing system embraces advanced processes, such as an aircraft-inspired riveted and bonded monocoque body structure replacing spot welds, which endows Lucid Air with state-of-the-art structural efficiency,” says Peter Rawlinson, CEO of Lucid Motors.
“The Arizona site was selected for a number of reasons, including infrastructure, talent, geographic location and pre-existing automotive supply chain,” explains Rawlinson. “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.
“This includes a state-of-the-art, water-based paint shop designed to be future-proof with the necessary footprint and specialized infrastructure so it can be expanded to meet the needs of all future phases of the factory itself,” Rawlinson points out.
According to Rawlinson, the plant will be capable of an initial production capacity of 30,000 units annually. “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,” he explains. “In its final form, AMP-1’s manufacturing capacity will be 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,” adds Peter Hochholdinger, vice president of manufacturing at Lucid Motors. “As we add new platforms and vehicles to our lineup, 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.”
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