The owner of clear air will soon be able to use Tesla superchargers, but there is a catch

In nearly two years since the carmaker reached an agreement, owners of Lucid Air Sedan will be able to charge their luxurious EVs at thousands of Tesla Supercharger Stations in North America from July 31st. However, there are some noteworthy points to note. Clear aircraft cannot charge as fast as Tesla vehicles.

Lucid said Tuesday that all Lucid Air Sedans will have access to Tesla’s network of fast chargers with $220 approved adapters, regardless of model year. The Tesla V3 (and above) supercharger station is compatible with the Lucid Air Adapter.

However, air can only be charged at 50 kW. This is a much lower rate than the 250 kW peak rate these superchargers offer. This issue stems from the discrepancy between Lucid’s 924-volt charging system and the 400V Tesla Superchargers. Lucid, and other EVs with 800 volt charging systems, can’t charge as fast as they are when they use chargers with designed chargers, as consumers report.

Lucid spokesman Andrew Hussey explained that engineers will reuse hardware in an Air’s integrated charging system called Wunderbox to enable the system to work and activate 50kW boost charging when using the supercharger. He added that Lucid views a 50kW charging as another option for owners who are on a road trip or who live or work near a supercharger.

Unlike the Lucid Gravity SUV released earlier this year, the air is still built with the charging system (CCS). CCS is considered the go-to standard for EV charging in North America and was used by all car manufacturers, with one notable exception. Tesla has developed its own charging standards, including a charging port and EV charging connector built into the vehicle. In 2022, Tesla shared the design of its EV charging connectors to encourage network operators and automakers to adopt technology and make it a new standard in North America.

Tesla calls this standard the North American Charging Standard, or the NACS. In May 2023, Ford became the first automaker to reach an agreement with Tesla to allow EV owners to access the supercharger network. The owner of an existing Ford EV uses the Tesla network using the adapter. But Ford – and soon, almost every other automaker, including GM, Libian, Honda, Mercedes, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, and more, agreed that future EVs would incorporate NACS charging ports into their vehicles.

Lucid was one of the last companies to win a deal with Tesla. And like everyone else, Lucid announced that it will have a built-in NACS charging port in its next EV, the Gravity SUV.