Chinese EV manufacturer Zeekr has just lifted the lid on its latest 5.5C lithium iron phosphate battery packs, which the company says are capable of being topped up from 10%-80% in just over 10 minutes.
The official figure is 10 minutes 30 seconds, with Zeekr going on to say that even during freezing-cold weather conditions, the same battery packs can manage that charge in just 30 minutes – way below the time that many modern EVs can hit in perfect ambient conditions.
This is all thanks to an enhanced battery management system, which has allowed Zeekr engineers to force more wattage into its upcoming 800V 007 model, which will start to reach the first customers next week.
Currently, the fastest charging cars on sale are the Lotus Eletre and Porsche Taycan, which can brim batteries at speeds of up to 350kW and 320kW respectively, which will take around 20 minutes.
Although Zeekr has effectively halved that time, the big catch is that owners will have to locate one of the company’s V3 ultra-fast ‘charging piles’, which are capable of delivering up to 600kW – far out-juicing anything that’s currently available in the US and Europe.
Zeekr says it has opened over 500 of these ultra-fast charging stations in China, with plans to grow that number to 1,000 this year and to 10,000 by 2026. Although it hasn’t said how many it plans to install overseas.
China charges ahead
Although Zeekr is branching out into other regions, having recently struck a positive chord with Swedish and Dutch buyers, it is the Chinese market that chiefly benefits from its battery and charging innovation.
In the US, the UK and much of Europe, the number of ultra and hyper-fast chargers (those that can deliver 350kW or more) are still very much in the minority. China, on the other hand, is ploughing ahead.
Despite EV makers attempting to create models that can be brimmed in a similar time to their fossil fuel counterparts, it is the public charging network that is constantly playing catch-up.
With every increase in charging capability, the network has to then provide options to fulfil those speeds. Where 350kW was once seen as the absolute pinnacle of EV battery brimming, companies like Zeekr are proving this number can be increased… and drastically so.
It won’t be long before the likes of Tesla and other early EV players will start rolling out models and infrastructure that dabble in the 600kW+ region. In a few years, 350kW will seem slow, but we will still be waiting for the public network to play catch up so we can take advantage of those lofty figures.
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