Technology and Science24 September, 20262 min read
Geely Unveils Ultra-Fast EV Charging From 10% To 70% In 4.5 Minutes
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Geely unveiled 10% to 70% charging in 4.5 minutes. Geely's system also reaches 97% in 8 minutes 40 seconds.
5 outlets told this the same way.
Geely’s 4.5-minute claim
Geely unveiled an ultra-fast charging system that can charge an electric vehicle battery from 10% to 70% in just 4.5 minutes, and it can take a battery from 10% to 97% in 8 minutes and 40 seconds. Geely’s new battery can charge at up to 2.2 MW and will recharge from 10 to 70 percent in 4.5 minutes. Predictive thermal management uses AI, with an average pack temperature of 55˚C and a peak temperature during charging of 65˚C.
Geely says AI applies micro pulses of current to “reactivate lithium ions accumulated at the negative electrodes during repeated fast charging,” extending battery life by 20 percent. La Voz del Interior framed the same milestone as a move that brings charging closer to the roughly five minutes required to fill up a conventional vehicle.
Race, rivals, and cautions
Lei Xing said, “China is very, very, very far ahead in terms of multiple players involved in the charging race,” as Geely joined BYD and CATL in pushing toward under-five-minute top-ups. Chris Liu warned that “the real challenge is whether the battery can accept that level of current quickly and repeatedly without overheating, excessive degradation or internal bottlenecks,” even as the companies publicized rapid charging figures. BYD’s blade battery can charge from 10% to 70% in five minutes and reach 97% in nine minutes, while CATL’s April technology can charge from 10% to 80% in 3 minutes and 44 seconds and reach 98% in 6 minutes and 27 seconds.
Ars Technica described Geely’s approach as using AI for predictive thermal management and micro pulses, while it positioned the company’s battery as tested in both the Zeekr 001 and Lynk and Co 10. Most public charging stations in China operate below 1 megawatt, even though Geely, BYD, and CATL’s technologies require greater power to operate at maximum capacity.
Infrastructure and what’s next
Stephen Chan described the charging gap as the “final barrier” the industry aims to remove, while he also warned that most public chargers in China still operate below 1 megawatt. Geely’s charging setup boasts a specialised battery and peak output of up to 2.25 megawatts (MW) from a single charging gun, and it described the system as charging from 10% to 70% in 4.5 minutes and from 10% to 97% in 8 minutes and 40 seconds. Geely is deploying an AI technology with deep-learning algorithms running directly on the vehicle so it can anticipate temperature rises 30 seconds in advance.
A Geely executive told Reuters that charging speeds are already hitting a ceiling, and the executive hinted at moving from speed competition to massive infrastructure installations. BYD aims to reach 20,000 ultra-fast charging stations by the end of this year, add another 30,000 in 2027, and 40,000 more in 2028 to reach about 90,000 stations.