Silicon Carbide metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (SiC MOSFET) can operate at a junction temperature of 200°C to 250°C due to its improved material properties and thermal stability. However, successful realization of SiC MOSFET based high temperature (HT) converter requires HT gate drivers. This report presents a low cost HT gate driver developed with commercial-off-the shelf (COTS) discrete transistors and signal diodes rated for 180°C to 200°C. The gate driver has a robust overcurrent or shortcircuit protection circuit and under voltage lock out protection circuit. It protects the SiC MOSFET from both fault under load and hard switched fault condition. The propagation delay of the protection circuit and gate driving circuit are greatly reduced compared to commercial silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology based HT gate drivers. This low fault response time increases the lifetime of the SiC MOSFET in harsh HT environment.