Lucid Motors building $700 million EV factory in Arizona

Lucid Motors (formerly Atieva) has revealed that its upcoming EV, recently unveiled in Los Angeles, will be built in Casa Grande, Arizona. The Phoenix suburb will host the $700 million factory, which will start producing the first model by 2018. "Arizona stands to gain 2,000 new jobs by 2022," Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said. "Lucid has also made a commitment to training and hiring ... Arizona's veterans."

Factory construction will be overseen by Brian Barron, the company's director of engineering. Lucid showed off its prototype, code-named Atvus, that was first (officially) unveiled at the LA Auto Show earlier this month. Not a lot is known about the car, other than that it'll have at least 300 miles of range, autonomous features and roughly the same interior space as a BMW 7-series. The company will limit production to 10,000 units in late 2018, and ramp up by 60,000 per year, Lucid CTO Peter Rawlinson told The Verge.

The company has reportedly raised $131 million in funding, and will look for more cash early next year. Investors include Chinese electronics firm LeEco, Venture Rockefeller, Japan's Misui & Co. and Beijing Auto, but Rawlinson says Lucid Motors is primarily an American firm. The company tested its electric powertrain using a modified Mercedes-Benz van, and released a video showing that it could hit 0-60 mph in 2.6 seconds, faster than a "Ludicrous"-equipped Tesla Model S.

LeEco is also behind two other electric car ventures: its own LeSee and Faraday Future. It recently unveiled plans for a $1.8 billion LeSee plant in China and Faraday Future has broken ground on a $1 billion factory near Las Vegas, Nevada. However, construction has temporarily halted at the Faraday Future site due to missed bill payments, according to state treasurer Dan Schwartz, and Jia recently admitted that LeEco was running out of cash.