Lucid Motors, an electric vehicle (EV) startup, said it will go public after entering into a definitive merger agreement with Churchill Capital Corp. (CCIV), a special purpose acquisition company.
The combined equity value of the transaction will be $11.75 billion and an initial pro-forma equity value of about $24 billion and will provide Lucid with about $4.4 billion in cash.
“Lucid is proud to be leading a new era of high-technology, high efficiency zero-emission transportation,” said Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of Lucid. “Lucid is going public to accelerate into the next phase of our growth as we work towards the launch of our new pure-electric luxury sedan, Lucid Air, in 2021 followed by our Gravity performance luxury SUV in 2023.”
The cash from the transaction will be used to expand Lucid’s manufacturing facility in Arizona, which is the first greenfield purpose-built EV manufacturing facility in North America and is already operational for pre-production builds of the Lucid Air. The expansion will take place over three phases in the coming years with the facility capable of producing about 365,000 units per year at scale. The transaction will also supply the facility with energy storage solutions for the residential, commercial and utility segments.
Lucid’s EV technology includes battery technology with a projected range of more than 500 miles on a single charge, which would be higher than any competitors today. The company will also use the fund to expand its retail and service footprint across the U.S. throughout 2021 and intends to extend its employees domestically to 3,000 employees by the end of 2022.
Lucid began the first phase of construction on the facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, last year after breaking ground in late 2019. Lucid began preorders for its EVs in early 2020 and later in the year the company tested its Lucid Air that had a range of 517 miles (832 kilometers) on a single charge. The range of the Lucid Air vehicle was verified following an official EPA standard testing procedure and the long range could allow Lucid to make inroads against already established players such as Tesla and other automotive OEMs that have already rolled out EVs in the automotive market.
Lucid is one of numerous startups that have emerged to take advantage of the blossoming EV market that was kicked off through Tesla Motors' growth and increasing demand from consumers. The established players in the automotive market have followed suit and are vowing to convert the majority of their portfolios to electrified models.
