Owners of the Lucid Air sedan will be able to charge their luxury EVs at thousands of Tesla Supercharger stations in North America starting July 31, nearly two years since the automakers reached an agreement. But there is a notable caveat: Lucid Air vehicles won’t be able to charge as fast as Tesla vehicles.
Lucid said on Tuesday that all Lucid Air sedans, regardless of model year, will be able to access Tesla’s network of fast chargers with an approved adapter that costs $220. Tesla V3 (and above) Supercharger stations are compatible with the Lucid Air adapter.
However, the Air will only be able to charge at 50 kW, a far lower rate than the 250 kW peak rate that these Superchargers provide. The issue stems from a mismatch between Lucid’s 924-volt charging system and the 400V Tesla Superchargers. Lucid, and any other EV with 800-volt charging systems, simply can’t charge as fast as they might with chargers designed for them, as Consumer Reports notes.
Lucid spokesperson Andrew Hussey explained that engineers repurposed hardware in the Air’s integrated charging system, called Wunderbox, to make the system work and activate 50kW boost charging when using a Supercharger. He added that Lucid views the 50kW charging for Air as another option for owners who are on road trips, or live or work closer to Superchargers.
