The Ultimate Supercharger: China’s EV Charging Titan Unveils Revolutionary Technology – Gain a Kilometer Per Second, 300 km in Just 5 Minutes

Chinese electric carmaker X-peng has unveiled its new S5 fast charger with a charging power of up to 800 kW, enabling vehicles to achieve a range of over 300 km after just 5 minutes of charging. The next-generation supercharger will be launched in the market by the end of this quarter, offering significantly faster charging speeds compared to current offerings.

This information was shared by X-peng’s Chairman and CEO, He Xiaopeng. Mr. He stated that the S5 super-fast charger has a maximum output current of 800 A and a maximum output voltage of 1,000 V, allowing for over 1 km of range per second of charging. In comparison, Huawei’s previous record-holding charger had a power output of 600 kW. He also added that the next-generation fast charger takes less than 13 seconds from plugging in the vehicle to the start of charging.

Prior to this, Xpeng’s most powerful charger was the S4, launched on August 15, 2022, which the company claimed could achieve a range of 210 km in just 5 minutes of charging. According to Xpeng, the S4 supercharger has a maximum power output of 480 kW, a maximum current of 670 A, and a peak charging power of 400 kW.

As of the end of July, Xpeng had 1,300 charging stations in operation, including 1,000 fast-charging stations across China. The company is targeting 10,000 self-operated charging stations by 2026, including 4,500 liquid-cooled supercharging stations. In 2023, Xpeng sold a total of 141,601 electric vehicles. This year, the company aims to sell 280,000 vehicles.

According to the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, China had 2.7 million public charging stations at the end of 2023. This number is expected to increase by 40% in 2024, but only a fraction will support fast charging.

Other Chinese automakers developing charging stations include Nio, which has 2,306 fast-charging stations in China, offering 10,532 chargers. Additionally, Nio owns 1,619 regular charging stations, providing 12,385 chargers, and 2,458 battery swap stations. Li Auto is also actively building its charging infrastructure in preparation for the launch of more battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) next year. So far, Li Auto has 701 charging stations and aims to have over 2,000 by the end of this year and more than 5,000 by the end of 2025.

Globally, Tesla has been a pioneer in developing fast-charging networks. The company began installing fast-charging stations in China in 2014 and had over 11,000 chargers as of November 2023. However, most of these stations are only compatible with Tesla vehicles. In 2023, the company announced that it would open its network to other electric vehicles, but this only applies to about 20% of its stations.

According to CNC