Lucid Motors has got big plans for the future of Lucid Advanced Manufacturing Plant (AMP-1) in Casa Grande, Arizona. And they all revolve around their innovative paint shop, designed to expand in phases.
It’s the cornerstone of the factory, and embodies our commitment to luxury and sustainability for Lucid, an American electric vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Newark, California.
What makes the paint shop so critical?
“When you build a paint shop, you have to build with the final volume in mind,” says Mike Boike, Director of Manufacturing. “The first year we’re only planning for 30,000 cars, but at full-capacity, the paint shop will support 400,000 cars per year. It also needs to be big enough for any size vehicle that comes through.”
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Aircraft-Inspired Monocoque Body Structure
Lucid Motors CEO Peter RawlinsonThe all-new manufacturing system at Lucid’s AMP-1 embraces advanced processes, such as an aircraft-inspired riveted and bonded monocoque body structure replacing spot welds. This gives the Lucid Air state-of-the-art structural efficiency.
As Lucid rolls out the first Air models this spring, AMP-1 has the capacity to deliver up to 30,000 units per year. And in its final form, the manufacturing capacity will be up to 400,000 annually. They will begin production with the Lucid Air Dream Edition, followed quickly by Grand Touring and Touring models. The Lucid Air Pure joins the lineup in early 2022.
“We're competing against the best in the world, and we know it.” Boike says. “So the processes and the materials that we use are nothing but the best in the world. We've got the latest and greatest paint process. We have the latest and greatest materials, and we have a high-powered team of engineers and manufacturing professionals.”
The Painting Process
The Lucid Air is the quickest, longest range, fastest charging luxury electric car in the world, the company says, with a max horsepower of 1,080 and range of over 500 miles per charge. To give Lucid Air its rich color and stunning finish, they created a process as efficient as the car.
Here are the steps an Air goes through once it enters the paint shop:
- Pretreatment and Electrocoat: as each Lucid Air comes out of the body shop, it gets rigorously cleaned. They apply both a thin film coating and electrodeposition coating, which protect the entire body structure from corrosion.
- Sealer: next they thoroughly seal the vehicle to prevent any type of air or water intrusion that could create road noise or water leakage into the car.
- Paint: once the unit is sealed and sanded, it’s then sent into the paint booth. Here, they have integrated the latest innovative process and materials technologies that result in a flawless, luxurious finish.
- Finesse: finally, post-bake, the car is brought to the finesse deck where a team inspects and polishes it to perfection before approving to ship to the customer.
On to General Assembly
Once a new Lucid Air emerges from the paint shop, it’s time to move into general assembly. This is where they marry the body, powertrain, and all the expertly-crafted interior comes together and is then quality-tested to ensure EV perfection. At this stage in the process, it’s less about the robots, and more about the hands-on human element. It’s all carefully choreographed.
“We do have some robots and we do have automation, but this vehicle is put together by humans,” says Art Schlaud, Director of Manufacturing for GA. “And it takes real craftsmanship.”
Product Operations Manager Jason Regelski agrees.
“GA is pretty amazing because it’s the culmination of everything that makes Lucid special,” Regelski says. “We take the beautifully painted sleek body, all of the powertrain technology with the drive units and the battery packs, the expertly crafted interior components, the software technology, and we bring that all together and we send it out as a finished product.”
After each Lucid Air is complete, it undergoes an inspection that consists of 180 attributes before being approved.
“The handoff with general assembly starts in the roll test area,” says Federico Tapia, Director of Manufacturing of Quality. “We take the unit, start with the handle lock mechanisms, and we take the car to the water test, squeak and rattles. Then to the predelivery line. We are evaluating eleven subsystems, powertrain, body, interior, exterior, chassis, and more.”
AMP-1 at a glance
- First greenfield factory in North America dedicated to electric vehicle manufacturing
- Location: 590 acres in Casa Grande, Arizona
- Construction time: Just under one year, now in the commissioning stage
- Production capacity: 30,000 units per year initially, up to 400,000 units annually
