One of the biggest reasons people are hesitant to make the switch to electric vehicles is range anxiety and long charging times. Well, Chinese automaker Zeekr says it has a solution with the debut of its new battery and charging system. The company says the pack can charge from 10 percent to 80 percent in an astonishing 10-and-a-half minutes using the company’s V3 ultra-fast charging station.
Zeekr says the lithium-iron-phosphate batteries support the company’s ultra-fast 5.5C charging, and they are being fitted to the new 007 sedan. The batteries use “optimized materials and upgraded technology” to get charging speeds that are higher than what has been achieved by existing nickel-cobalt-manganese batteries.
The company also made some tweaks to its battery management system, allowing it to charge at a stable rate at temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit. When temperatures get that cold, Zeekr says the new batteries can still charge from 10 percent to 80 percent in 30 minutes. That’s some really impressive stuff.
Like Tesla in the U.S. and around the world, Zeekr opened its own charging station in China — 500 of them, to be exact — with over 2,700 chargers that can support 800V charging in total. The company is planning to add another 500 chargers to its network in 2024, and by 2026 it’d like to have over 10,000 ultra-fast chargers in China. That’s a tall order, but if anyone can do it, it’s Zeekr. That company knows what it’s doing.
Just for reference, most Teslas plugged into a Supercharger can charge from 10 to 80 percent in about 15 minutes, according to KBB.com. That’s mighty impressive, but it just illustrates how strong Zeekr’s numbers are — it’s more than 30 percent faster.
Anyway, charging times like this could be a real game changer for electric vehicles. 10 to 80 percent in just over 10 minutes is really fast. I mean, it’s damn near as fast as filling your car up with gas. Another benefit of this swiftness is that the lines to charge will be shorter. It remains to be seen if these new batteries and chargers will hold up in the real world, but it could make a big difference for a lot of folks who don’t want to make the jump to EVs.