The synthesis of high performance polyvinyl ether (PVE) synthetic fluids using a Lewis acid based cationic polymerization process is disclosed. The polyvinyl ether fluid have repeating vinyl ether units of the general formula —[CH2—CH (O—R)]n, wherein R is comprised of a branched or linear alkyl group having at least 4 carbon atoms and n is a whole number representing the average number of repeating units in the polyvinyl ether. The resulting PVE fluids exhibit excellent lubricant properties, similar to poly-alpha olefins (PAOs), but the PVE fluids have the benefit of higher polarity than PAOs and thus have better solubility and dispersity of polar additives.