Zeekr 001 Becomes Fastest Charging EV In China

Gone are the days when EV owners had to wait for several hours to get their batteries recharged to achieve a decent driving range. Thanks to modern EV architectures spearheaded by Chinese automakers, EV charging time has come down to a few minutes only, while still providing a handsome driving range.

Pushing the boundaries, the Zeekr 001 EV has now become the fastest-charging EV in China. This 001 variant is equipped with a 95 kWh CATL Shenxing super-rechargeable battery, which can be charged from 10% to 80% in 11 minutes and 28 seconds, adding 473 kilometers of drive range in the process.

This feat was achieved using a 600 kW Zeekr V3 supercharger with an ambient temperature of 26°C. Peak charging power reached 546.4 kW. Between 10 and 35% state of charge, the Zeekr 001 maintained a charging power of over 540 kW increasing the range by 264 km in 5 minutes and 432 km in 10 minutes. The new CATL Shenxing battery has temperature control technology to achieve superfast charging across a range of temperatures. Even with a temperature of -10°C, it can be charged to 80% within 30 minutes.

Only the 4WD We variant of the Zeekr 001 gets the 95 kWh Shenxing battery which is a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) unit from CATL. All other variants get a 100 kWh NCM battery, also from CATL. Zeekr is an all-EV brand from Geely and the 001 is the brand’s first car. Zeekr currently sells four models, the 001 and its performance variant the 001 FR, as well as the 007, 009, and X. In addition to China, the brand is already selling in Europe and is moving into other markets including the Middle East and Southeast Asia.