Here you go fellas! Lucid Air SC network will be enabled

[9point81]

Are you positive? I'm seeing several articles about V4 being rolled out and operational next year that were written in 2024. The site i originally linked to on the first page of this thread indicates V4 325 kw in several locations down here around Florida that are operational.

100% positive. Those stalls are commonly referred to as v3.5 stalls. V4 on the outside, with v3 tech inside

 

[Miami_Lucid_Man]

Is the 50kW limit attributed to the Lucid adapter, or just all Airs? Could you charge faster with a third party adapter at a Supercharger?

No...so the limitation is in the Tesla Supercharger architecture itself and the 400 volts. Air's have 800 volts and don't communicate well with the 400 V, hence the limitation. The new V4 stalls, when fully operational, may be a different story since they have a higher voltage architecture (1000v I believe).

The adaptor you choose for now wont matter.

 

[HC_79]

Is the 50kW limit attributed to the Lucid adapter, or just all Airs? Could you charge faster with a third party adapter at a Supercharger?

It's the Air. At 500V chargers it can't charge any higher than 50kW as it's a limitation of the Wunderbox. The reason the Gravity can go up to 225kW on a 500V charger is because they're using the rear motor as a booster. It was a whole new redesign to accommodate for this which the Air doesn't have the capability to do. (so don't expect an OTA to magically fix it) Until there's a major model refresh on the Air (if at all) this is the max it will go UNTIL Tesla enables true 1000V chargers.

For now, the 50kW is probably more a last resort than using them all the time. A) It's going to take much longer to charge and B) you're potentially going to block access to another charger and piss off others who are possibly waiting while the Air is slow charging.

 

[Neurio]

Is the 50kW limit attributed to the Lucid adapter, or just all Airs? Could you charge faster with a third party adapter at a Supercharger?

No, it's inherent to all Airs because of the Wunderbox and how it upconverts the lower voltage of the Supercharger (or something like that - I'm no electrical engineer).

 

[9point81]

Is the 50kW limit attributed to the Lucid adapter, or just all Airs? Could you charge faster with a third party adapter at a Supercharger?

The limitation is the Tesla network, not the Airs or the adapter. Their network is designed to accommodate their cars, which are all 400v (other than cybertruck) right now.

 

[Leftlane]

While this is nice, it is more of a non-event unless you have no options, an EA charging desert, or broken/full EA chargers. Charging at 50kw is painfully slow - what Lucid is capable of doing in 12 mins will take about an hour, which is terrible, plus it isn’t very cost effective. Good thing is Tesla SCs are everywhere and always work, but that speed stinks.

 

[Rutrow]

kWIs the 50kW limit attributed to the Lucid adapter, or just all Airs? Could you charge faster with a third party adapter at a Supercharger?

It’s Tesla’s reluctance to allow Lucid to use higher power. The V3 chargers with the MagicDock have been available to Lucid for quite some time, BUT at the same reduced (50kW) speed. The only difference now is that Lucid can charge at all SuperChargers at 50kW if you have the adapter.

I sure hope that minimal charge speed is unlocked soon. 50kW is practically useless for road trips. I’ve only used it once in a pinch in the Pacific Northwest, where chargers are fairly few and far between.

 

[Celeras]

All Airs, regardless of adapter (limitation of the Air's Wunderbox). They overcame that limitation with the Gravity and a special design that allows the rear motors to boost the voltage.

I see. I guess there's a lot I don't understand about the finer details! That limitation has something specific to do with a supercharger?

I don't charge away from home at all, but I did once while I was swapping out my home charger. The Electrify America location I used was 350kW and though I have no idea what the delivered rate actually was it topped me off from low battery in 25ish minutes. So way faster than what I'm reading about this Supercharger limitation.

[edit] ahhhhh so many people replying while I was typing on my phone hahaha, thanks all.

 

[RAF42]

It's the Air. At 500V chargers it can't charge any higher than 50kW as it's a limitation of the Wunderbox. The reason the Gravity can go up to 225kW on a 500V charger is because they're using the rear motor as a booster. It was a whole new redesign to accommodate for this which the Air doesn't have the capability to do. (so don't expect an OTA to magically fix it) Until there's a major model refresh on the Air (if at all) this is the max it will go UNTIL Tesla enables true 1000V chargers.

For now, the 50kW is probably more a last resort than using them all the time. A) It's going to take much longer to charge and B) you're potentially going to block access to another charger and piss off others who are possibly waiting while the Air is slow charging.

Your B point is quite important, and under reported. The one time I charged our Q8 E-tron at a supercharger (In Placerville, magic dock - worked great) I was lucky there was only one car there and also was able to park next to the last open SC space. Anywhere else I would have been blocking two spaces. The longer V4 station cables would make this particular issue not a problem. If you are at Harris Ranch or some other place with upwards of 100 Super Chargers, you could probably get away with it. Lots of busy SC locations it would not go over well (and 50kW is more of a plan B or where, for whatever reason, you have the time for a longer charge).

 

[Rutrow]

Why on earth does the adapter only work with DC? That's the faster NACS variety... AC is the slower one. If it works with DC shouldn't it work with both?

The exposed pins would be energized if an adapter could be used for both. With the NACS plug the AC and the DC pins are covered (since they’re both the same). With CCS adapter using a NACS cord you’d be sending AC to the DC lugs, or DC to the AC lugs. The components of each can’t handle the current from the other.

 

[Miami_Lucid_Man]

I see. I guess there's a lot I don't understand about the finer details! That limitation has something specific to do with a supercharger?

I don't charge away from home at all, but I did once while I was swapping out my home charger. The Electrify America location I used was 350kW and though I have no idea what the delivered rate actually was it topped me off from low battery in 25ish minutes. So way faster than what I'm reading about this Supercharger limitation.

[edit] ahhhhh so many people replying while I was typing on my phone hahaha, thanks all.

It's funny how you get answers from both the Lucid side and the Tesla side but the bottom line is as of now it ain't working past 50 KW after July 31 until Tesla actually activates a 1000v V4 supercharger. At that point it would seem that it would charge faster.

 

[coma24]

While this is nice, it is more of a non-event unless you have no options, an EA charging desert, or broken/full EA chargers. Charging at 50kw is painfully slow - what Lucid is capable of doing in 12 mins will take about an hour, which is terrible, plus it isn’t very cost effective. Good thing is Tesla SCs are everywhere and always work, but that speed stinks.

Never disagreed with a statement more in my life. Show me a Air getting 250kw for any length of time.

Your post implies that all charging will take 5 times longer, and that's just not true. It'd be a shame for people to rule out this option based on this information.

 

[Miami_Lucid_Man]

Never disagreed with a statement more in my life. Show me a Air getting 250kw for any length of time.

Your post implies that all charging will take 5 times longer, and that's just not true. It'd be a shame for people to rule out this option based on this information.

I think a interesting question is will a 50kw-limited situation be treated the same in terms of ramp up and down speed as on a typical unrestricted supercharger, which typically only hits the peak kw for a brief moment or two before curving down. I think that's done to protect the battery. Will this ramp up to 50 kw and hit the rev limiter so to speak all the way through to the end since it's a much lower kwattage?

Maybe someone who has used a magic dock enabled supercharger (all 2 of you!) can speak to this.

 

[Celeras]

Interesting tidbit of information for those who it applies to: I still have my $650 credit for "charging accessories" that I got at delivery, and I was saving it for this exact moment. I just tried to pre-order and it does not appear that the adapter is a qualifying product

 

[Leftlane]

Never disagreed with a statement more in my life. Show me a Air getting 250kw for any length of time.

Your post implies that all charging will take 5 times longer, and that's just not true. It'd be a shame for people to rule out this option based on this information.

Disagree all you want - Lucid states that you can add 200 miles in 12 minutes at a hi speed charger, and it will take about an hour at 50kw. It obviously depends on your SOC, battery preconditioning, etc - but these datapoints are real.

You’ve really been insulated if this statement is the one you disagree with the most in your entire life.

From Jalopnik today:
There is one caveat to all of this: rather slow charging speeds, at least by Lucid's standards. The Newark, California-based company says Airs will be able to charge up at 50 kW and gain up to 200 miles of range per hour. That's good in a pinch, but it's rather crappy when you consider the fact that an Air Grand Touring can DC fast-charge at 350 kW and add that same 200 miles of range in just 12 minutes under ideal conditions. Currently, the highest-power Tesla Superchargers can deliver 250 kW, with plans for 350-kW stations.

Read More: https://www.jalopnik.com/1918392/2026-lucid-air-tesla-supercharging-new-features-details/

From Car and Driver today:
With the introduction of a CCS-to-NACS adapter, all Lucid Air models will be able to plug into over 23,500 Superchargers. Lucid says it enables the cars to charge at up to 50 kW, which should provide 200 miles of range per hour

From The Drive today:
As of July 31st, owners of the Lucid Air electric sedan are gaining access to Tesla’s vast network of Supercharger stations, adding more than 30,000 new options for existing owners. But there’s a catch—Lucid’s surprisingly good and also surprisingly affordable offering will be limited to just 50 kW of throughput. Forget Air; think water, then freeze it, because that’s positively glacial.

“Using this solution, the Air can charge at up to 50 kW and gain up to 200 miles of range per hour of charging, giving owners additional peace of mind while on the road,” the announcement said (emphasis added).

Meanwhile, the Lucid Gravity, which already has access to the Supercharger network, can sustain more than four times the throughput (225kW) on the same charging equipment. What would take the Air an hour, the Gravity (and most current Teslas, for that matter) can knock out in about 15 minutes.

 

[DeaneG]

I think a interesting question is will a 50kw-limited situation be treated the same in terms of ramp up and down speed as on a typical unrestricted supercharger, which typically only hits the peak kw for a brief moment or two before curving down. I think that's done to protect the battery. Will this ramp up to 50 kw and hit the rev limiter so to speak all the way through to the end since it's a much lower kwattage?

Maybe someone who has used a magic dock enabled supercharger (all 2 of you!) can speak to this.

The Air will pull a steady ~50kW from a V3 or V3.5 supercharger, all the way from 0% up to 80% or so, with the exact start of ramp down depending on the model version: GT vs. Touring vs Pure.

 

[HC_79]

It’s Tesla’s reluctance to allow Lucid to use higher power. The V3 chargers with the MagicDock have been available to Lucid for quite some time, BUT at the same reduced (50kW) speed. The only difference now is that Lucid can charge at all SuperChargers at 50kW if you have the adapter.

I sure hope that minimal charge speed is unlocked soon. 50kW is practically useless for road trips. I’ve only used it once in a pinch in the Pacific Northwest, where chargers are fairly few and far between.

It's not Tesla doing anything, it's a limitation of the vehicle on 500V chargers. Not sure how many times this needs to be explained over and over again about why Lucid can't go above 50kW on 500V chargers.

Let's stop with the "Tesla is punishing Lucid" narrative. It's utter falsehood and maybe do so due diligence before you start making such false claims.

 

[johnse]

Tesla Superchargers are the only network that still assumes a 400v battery system is being charged. All of the 800v+ battery systems that are able to charge on Superchargers implement some form of gymnastics to allow their batteries to charge (batteries require a charging voltage higher that the battery voltage to charge--otherwise the battery tries to power the charger).
This even includes the Cyber truck with its 816v battery.

Some do it by splitting the pack in half and charging the two halves in parallel. Others by using some form of voltage boost. The Gravity uses voltage boost that re-uses motor coils and cooling to boost the supercharger voltage to the level needed.

At the time Air was designed, there was no plan to support Superchargers. The majority of CCS chargers have sufficient voltage to charge without boosting. The relatively fewer CCS stations using lower voltage were also limited to 50kw similar to CHAdeMO used by Nissan Leaf.

Air's Wonderbox handles all charging that is not the high voltage DCFC. This includes AC level 1&2 and 400/500v DC. Lucid's engineers created a box to handle all of that at the power levels that were prevalent at the time.

 

[dbsb3233]

It's not Tesla doing anything, it's a limitation of the vehicle on 500V chargers. Not sure how many times this needs to be explained over and over again about why Lucid can't go above 50kW on 500V chargers.

Let's stop with the "Tesla is punishing Lucid" narrative. It's utter falsehood and maybe do so due diligence before you start making such false claims.

Yep. It's a limitation of the onboard Lucid Air Wunderbox that steps up the voltage to match the car's 900V pack. It wasn't designed to handle more than 50kW.

The Gravity uses a different approach to step up the voltage (via the motor) and can handle max power.