According to ZEEKR, its new LFP cell and pack technologies were developed entirely in-house and will help power its 800V electrical system for future EVs. It can deliver 500 km (311 miles) of range in 15 minutes of fast charging.
Lastly, to support its 800V architecture and fast-charging battery technology, ZEEKR shared plans to expand its fast-charging network to 1,000 stations across China by the end of 2024 and operate over 10,000 360+ kW charging piles by 2026.
I keep saying, fast charging is more important than long range, especially if you can charge at home or at your workplace.
Most people don’t need hundreds upon hundreds of kilometers range. They just need to be able to charge fast for the couple of times per year they go on a longer trip.
These sorts of specs get us there.
Theres a point when charging faster isn’t even really needed and we’ve probably already reached that in the faster charging cars today like Teslas that can do 250kw or Hyundais that are at the right charger, assuming you can charge at home anyway…
By the time I need to charge my car, I need to go pee, or stretch my legs, or want a snack, and most of the time by the time I do that, my car is ready to go.
We just need to get everyone up to current fast charging standards and make sure chargers are working.
This 500km in 15m will be nice and I’m not saying we shouldn’t improve, but I don’t think people really appreciate how well it works at current tech levels with a properly equipped car and charger.
Oh absolutely. I was trying to say the charging time is the impressive bit.
My Volkswagen ID.3 charges at 100kW max (maaybe a bit faster since update 3.2 but I haven’t tried) but that quickly goes down to 60/70kW. I would love for it to go from sub 10% to 80% in 15 minutes. Usually I have to wait 30-40 minutes for that (rough estimate). For me that’s a little bit too long for a quick pee if you’re traveling say 1000km/day.
Fast charging is what enables longer trips, not necessarily just having a bigger batter. Here in Western Europe there aren’t really any dark spots where you absolutely cannot go by BEV with just an “okay range” anymore, so range is far less important. And for 95% of my use having it be 80% (250-350km) when I leave for daily activities is absolutely fine.
The moment 800V architecture is generalized any issue with charging times becomes meaningless.
