Lucid Air Owners Can Access Tesla Superchargers—but There’s a Catch

Owners of the Lucid Air sedan can now charge their luxury electric vehicles at thousands of Tesla Supercharger stations throughout North America starting July 31, nearly two years after the automakers reached an agreement. However, there is a significant drawback: Lucid Air vehicles will not charge as swiftly as Tesla vehicles.

On Tuesday, Lucid announced that all Lucid Air sedans, irrespective of their model year, will have the ability to use Tesla’s network of fast chargers with an approved adapter costing $220. This adapter is compatible with Tesla V3 (and newer) Supercharger stations.

That said, the Air will only be able to charge at 50 kW, which is much slower compared to the 250 kW maximum rate available from these Superchargers. This limitation stems from a disparity between Lucid’s 924-volt charging system and the 400V Tesla Superchargers. As noted by Consumer Reports, Lucid vehicles and other EVs with 800-volt charging systems cannot achieve quicker charging speeds with chargers that aren’t specifically designed for them.

Lucid spokesperson Andrew Hussey clarified that engineers adjusted the hardware in the Air’s integrated charging system, known as Wunderbox, to enable compatibility with a Supercharger and activate a 50kW boost charging feature. He stated that Lucid views this 50kW charging option as advantageous for Air owners, especially those going on road trips or living and working close to Supercharger stations.

Unlike the recently released Lucid Gravity SUV, the Air continues to utilize the Combined Charging System (CCS), which is considered the main EV charging standard in North America and has been adopted by almost all automakers, with one significant exception. Tesla developed its own charging standard, which combines both the vehicle’s charging port and an EV charging connector. In 2022, Tesla made its EV charging connector design public to encourage network operators and automakers to adopt this technology and help establish it as the new standard in North America.

Tesla calls its standard the North America Charging Standard (NACS). In May 2023, Ford became the first automaker to collaborate with Tesla, granting its EV owners access to the Supercharger network. Existing Ford EV owners will need an adapter to use the Tesla network. Additionally, Ford—and likely most other automakers, including GM, Rivian, Honda, Mercedes, Hyundai, Kia, and Toyota—has agreed to integrate the NACS charging port into their future EV models.

Lucid was among the last manufacturers to finalize an agreement with Tesla. Like the others, Lucid announced that its upcoming EV, the Gravity SUV, will feature an integrated NACS charging port.