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T U E SDAY, DE C E M BE R 13, 2 02 2
NEWS-PRESS EXCLUSIVE
A drive into the future Large crowd visits Hope Ranch home to meet engineer Peter Rawlinson and test-drive his state-of-the-art Lucid Air electric cars
COURTESY PHOTO
U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, visits Kyiv, Ukraine.
Carbajal, others visit Ukraine Delegation expresses bipartisan support for nation during Russian invasion and afterward By JARED DANIELS NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS
Visitors to a Hope Ranch home test-drive Lucid Air luxury electric cars Sunday.
By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
Fans of Peter Rawlinson — the renowned Welsh automotive engineer who worked on the Tesla Model S — got a chance to testdrive his futuristic, Lucid Air luxury electric cars Sunday at a Hope Ranch residence. The large crowd also got to rub elbows with Mr. Rawlinson, who lives in California, and chat with him about his achievements with electric cars. Mr. Rawlinson, the CEO and chief technology officer of Lucid Motors, told the News-Press the Lucid Air model is an important step in making electric vehicles affordable and achieving progress against the perils of climate change. He said he and his company strived to “reach for the stars in what is possible.” “It’s important to understand the rationale behind Lucid,” Mr. Rawlinson said, answering the News-Press’ questions by email. “It’s not simply to create electric cars. That in itself is far from enough. Lucid exists to push the limit of what is possible with EV technology and take it to the next level. “This is important, not from hubris, but because the world needs sustainable mobility urgently, and higher technology will both catalyze rapid adoption today and pave the way for cost reductions to make electric cars affordable to a far wider audience in the near future,” Mr. Rawlinson said. “It’s that wider uptake that’s important if we are to make a dent in global emissions and global warming,” said Mr. Rawlinson, who told the News-Press he would love to start a dealership in a city he loves: Santa Barbara. Mr. Rawlinson’s cars, in fact, proved to be a hit in Santa Barbara with the large number
STEVE TONNESEN / NEWS-PRESS
Snow caps the mountains behind Carpinteria.
Peter Rawlinson, a Welsh engineer and CEO and CTO of Lucid Motors, chats with people during a testdrive event and social gathering at a Hope Ranch residence in Santa Barbara. “I realized that an electric car could be so much more,” Mr. Rawlinson told the News-Press.
of people who visited the Hope Ranch home. People came in their Teslas and Rivian trucks from as far as Atascadero to try out the Lucid cars. And they were thrilled with their test drives. “Even though you feel like you are flying in the Air, you never feel like you are going to slip or slide off the turns. It is FUN to drive,” said one person who test-drove
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the Lucid Air. Geri and Jerry Bidwell, Santa Barbara residents who got their Lucid Air eight months ago, told the News-Press they’ve had no problems with the car. “It’s clear to me that Rawlinson has worked very hard on this car,” Geri Bidwell told the NewsPress. “He treats everyone with positivity and respect. His Lucid car is an emblem of that.”
Jerry Bidwell said the Lucid Air has been a great car. Mr. Rawlinson told the NewsPress that he and his company wanted to “push the envelope in every sense and advance the technology. “To that aim, we needed to attract and hire the best engineers and scientists in the world. That was challenging given we were Please see RAWLINSON on A4
Drier week follows weekend of rain By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
If you didn’t see it, you no doubt heard it: the pound, pound, pound of rain. Sometimes during the day, sometimes during the night, rain fell with a fury this weekend, providing much-needed water in Santa Barbara County and the rest of California. Down it came, but not for too long. In the 24-hour period ending
at 4 p.m. Monday, 0.34 inch of rain fell in Goleta, 0.36 inch of rain in Santa Maria and 0.19 inch in Lompoc. But this is the land of microclimates, and Santa Barbara saw just 0.04 inch of rain during the same period, according to the National Weather Service. Elsewhere, Santa Ynez experienced 0.04 inch of rain; New Cuyama, 0.07 inch. Along with the rain came the cold. Highs on Monday were the Please see WEATHER on A4
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in s i de Classified.............. B4 Life..................... B1-2 Obituaries............. A4
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U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal joined four colleagues from the House Armed Services Committee over the weekend on a bipartisan visit to Ukraine to reaffirm the U.S. support for the country in its fight to expel the Russian invaders. During a Monday press conference recapping the visit, Rep. Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and the other delegates praised the resolve of the Ukrainian people. They also discussed the positive impact American and allied support is having in helping Ukraine maintain
forward momentum, and they discussed their thoughts on the future of American support for the country. “We saw firsthand the human cost of Putin’s unprovoked war, but we also saw the incredible resolve from the Ukrainians to defeat their invaders,” Rep. Carbajal said during the virtual conference. “Assistance that Congress has approved that we voted for is clearly making the difference and keeping the momentum with Ukraine.” He also applauded the Ukrainian government for its commitment to transparency in its handling of American Please see UKRAINE on A4
Sudoku................. B3 Weather................ A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 13-18-19-22-38 Mega: 11
Monday’s DAILY 4: 8-6-9-8
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 8-19-53-61-69 Mega: 19
Monday’s FANTASY 5: 6-9-20-26-39
Monday’s DAILY DERBY: 01-07-11 Time: 1:42.36
Monday’s POWERBALL: 16-31-50-55-61 Meganumber: 9
Monday’s DAILY 3: 5-3-1 / Midday 3-7-0