A common complaint we hear about EV ownership is the fact that you’ll have to wait for your car to charge up, even with a DC fast charger. Now, 20 minutes is not too long of a wait by all means, but that still means you’ll have to do some homework to plan for your trip, before actually reaching for your car keys. Fortunately, it seems that reality will soon be over.
Geely, through its subsidiary Viridi E-mobility Technology (VREMT), has unveiled its latest 600 kW supercharging technology, which it says can add 300 km of EV driving range in just five minutes. The company adds that the “supercharger” is now in mass production, and will be deployed exclusively in China for now.
The charger is able to achieve its eye-watering 600 kW output thanks to an improved liquid-cooling system, thus allowing for increased voltage and current. However, the only models that can take advantage of the fast charging speeds are the Zeekr 001 and the upcoming 009, thanks to their use of CATL’s Qilin long-range batteries.
Zeekr’s existing chargers already offer up to 360 kW DC charging, which is enough to give the 001 a range of 120 km in 5 minutes. Rivalling Chinese EV maker Xpeng recently announced plans for its own fast charging network rated at 480 kW, while NIO also detailed an upcoming 500 kW technology for its own vehicles.
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Meanwhile, here in Malaysia, the fastest DC charging station available right now are the 180 kW units offered by the Shell Recharge network, but we’re sure that the number is set to rise – both in quantity and charging speeds – over the next few years.
With the number of EVs on the roads constantly increasing, having faster DC chargers can not only increase the overall utilisation rates of the charging infrastructure as drivers are spending less time at the charging stations, but also ease range anxiety especially during heavy travel periods, which will eventually lead to a higher EV uptake in the market.
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