Lucid Gravity gaining access to Supercharger network, Air access planned for Q2 2025

[thyname]

is the Hyundai one rated to 500A and 1000V? Honest question, because I haven't seen one yet .

Good question. We have not used it yet, still sitting on the original sealed box. I will open it tonight and take a look what it says.

 

[thyname]

I am not sure why anyone expect Lucid to hand out free adapters. It would be nice for owners but I think they are charging a fair price for it.

Maybe because other brands (and much cheaper ones) actually did hand them out for free? Case in point: Hyundai recently (for our 2023 Ioniq 5). I also think Ford and a few others. But yes, I agree, Lucid price is indeed fair. In the grand scheme of things not a big deal imo

 

[BS8899]

Maybe because other brands (and much cheaper ones) actually did hand them out for free? Case in point: Hyundai recently (for our 2023 Ioniq 5). I also think Ford and a few others. But yes, I agree, Lucid price is indeed fair. In the grand scheme of things not a big deal imo

I have the same thoughts as @thyname. While I don't think Lucid "owes" the owners a adapter per se, It would be a good will gesture to do so for existing Air owners. A back-of-envelop calculation suggests the cost would be approx $4-5M cost to Lucid. Aside from Hyundai, Rivian also gave its existing customers free adapters. I got mine (for my 2023 R1S) 6 months ago. The Rivian adapter is rated to 500A/1000V. I have yet to use it.

 

[Elfin]

is the Hyundai one rated to 500A and 1000V? Honest question, because I haven't seen one yet .

The Hyundai adapter is rated at 350A. It's actually a huge safety concern that there are adapters floating around that can't handle the maximum CCS current. It would be fine to use at a V3 supercharger (I = 50kW/400V = 125A) but unsafe to use at a high voltage/power NACS station.

 

[BS8899]

The Hyundai adapter is rated at 350A. It's actually a huge safety concern that there are adapters floating around that can't handle the maximum CCS current. It would be fine to use at a V3 supercharger (I = 50kW/400V = 125A) but unsafe to use at a high voltage/power NACS station

Are these adapters "dumb" (i.e., passive pass-through) devices or do they have some intelligence (e.g., a sensor chip) that could detect overload and automatically cut of the charging?

 

[dbsb3233]

Maybe because other brands (and much cheaper ones) actually did hand them out for free? Case in point: Hyundai recently (for our 2023 Ioniq 5). I also think Ford and a few others. But yes, I agree, Lucid price is indeed fair. In the grand scheme of things not a big deal imo

Ford was the first to gain SC access, and yes, we got free adapters. Which IMO turned out to be a huge mistake. Especially back then, as they had something like 100,000 to distribute to existing Ford EV owners and supply was a big problem. By promising them to everyone for free, everyone want it ASAP... even those that really had no use for it (entitlement). If they just priced it normally, immediate demand would have been 1/3rd, and those people could have gotten them sooner. And everyone else would have been OK waiting or just not bothering at all (like buying any accessory). The result was people that really needed it being pissed off for months and months while the supply trickled in, going to so many that never even used it.

Granted, supply has has finally caught up, and Lucid has a fraction of EVs on the roads that Ford does. But still, it illustrated the unintended consequences of "free for all". No good deed goes unpunished. Safer just to sell it like any other accessory and let supply/demand react normally.

 

[Elfin]

Are these adapters "dumb" (i.e., passive pass-through) devices or do they have some intelligence (e.g., a sensor chip) that could detect overload and automatically cut of the charging?

As far as I know they're dumb/passive. I think there are temperature sensors in outlets of vehicles and plugs of chargers. I think the chargers measure the resistance of the connection too.
They did put a sticker on it:

 

[BS8899]

Ford was the first to gain SC access, and yes, we got free adapters. Which IMO turned out to be a huge mistake. Especially back then, as they had something like 100,000 to distribute to existing Ford EV owners and supply was a big problem. By promising them to everyone for free, everyone want it ASAP... even those that really had no use for it (entitlement). If they just priced it normally, immediate demand would have been 1/3rd, and those people could have gotten them sooner. And everyone else would have been OK waiting or just not bothering at all (like buying any accessory). The result was people that really needed it being pissed off for months and months while the supply trickled in, going to so many that never even used it.

Granted, supply has has finally caught up, and Lucid has a fraction of EVs on the roads that Ford does. But still, it illustrated the unintended consequences of "free for all". No good deed goes unpunished. Safer just to sell it like any other accessory and let supply/demand react normally.

You raised a fair point RE: entilement. That said, one would think that if Lucid can acquire the adapter in bulk (say 10,000 units) and sell it to the owners who really wnat one say @$120 (instead of $220), that would be a good gesture and "ensures/encourages" the Air owners to use a properly rated adapter. As it stands, lucid is pricing its adapter higher than market. I am not sure that's the best way to do it.

 

[HC_79]

Which leads to my thought: why can't we just use third party adapters with our Lucid Air and Superchargers? What's the worst that can happen?

Because sometimes cheaper isn't always better. The worst? it melts, fries your port and Lucid refuses to cover it under warranty

https://insideevs.com/news/742873/nacs-to-ccs-dc-to-dc-adapter-cheap-vs-expensive/

 

[David R.]

Is it just me or is charging pretty money for the "Lucid adapter" is a bit unfair? Especially for the price / class of the Air. My wife got a free adapter from Hyundai for her 2023 Ioniq 5 bought two years ago, which arrived just a month or two ago.

Which leads to my thought: why can't we just use third party adapters with our Lucid Air and Superchargers? What's the worst that can happen?

It has been said that there is no electrical connection between the adapter and the SuperCharger but I cannot vouch for that as I do not know. If there is no connection and it is a pass-through, perhaps the Lectron adapter would work? Or Lucid has installed, or has had its vendor install, some electronic tag in their adapters?

 

[borski]

It has been said that there is no electrical connection between the adapter and the SuperCharger but I cannot vouch for that as I do not know. If there is no connection and it is a pass-through, perhaps the Lectron adapter would work? Or Lucid has installed, or has had its vendor install, some electronic tag in their adapters?

Likely any that is rated for the right current / voltage adapter would work. They are not “smart” adapters.

Some of the destination charger adapters do have some minimal smarts in them.

The risk you run of using a third-party adapter is melting components or overheating. For example, if you used the Ioniq 5 adapter, which is not rated for all the voltage/current a Gravity can pull, that would be a bad idea and I don’t recommend it.