It seems like Geely is not content with sitting at the sidelines watching BYD steal the headlines with its Flash Charging technology. The company is wading in with ultra-fast chargers of its own – and they could very well be headed to global markets, Autocar reports.
Speaking to the British publication at the launch of the EX2 (known to you and me as the Proton eMas 5) there, country managing director Michael Yang said the UK was high on the priority list of overseas locations to receive the technology, given its status as a key market.
“In China we are already developing an ultra-fast charging facility, where efficiency is rated at 1800 kW,” said Yang. “And we also have Zeekr cars that are capable of ultra-rapid 900-volt charging on the roads, so the speed of development is very high.”
The full potential of these chargers will be harnessed by solid-state batteries, which Yang said were “just a few months away” in China. This ties in with another report by CarNewsChina, which stated that Geely is set to begin pilot deployment of these batteries next year, boasting an energy density of 500 Wh per kg and enabling a range of over 1,000 km.
More recently, the portal stated that Geely is working on a 1,000-volt electrical architecture that would help its cars surpass currently-achievable charging performance. The company is already touting BYD-beating charge times with a 900-volt Lynk & Co 10 sedan, which is capable of being charged from 10 to 80% in just five minutes and 32 seconds.
Yang told Autocar not to expect these ultra-fast chargers to be rolled out in the UK so soon. “We are ambitious, but we also have to have a more pragmatic approach to the UK than China, because it’s very different.
“First, we’re aiming to give as many people access to charging as we can, with a wall charger at home. And then we will work to introduce cars capable of ultra-fast charging, which will require us to bring ultra-high-kilowatt chargers here. To do that, we will first have to work with charging partners.”
Geely’s 1,800 kW chargers will use a similar battery energy storage system (BESS) to BYD’s Flash Charging to enable the high speeds without straining the local grid. The technology will be rolled out by its partners and will be open to all EVs and not just Geely’s, because “a charging station is just like a petrol station, and no petrol station can make enough money by providing a service to only brand or model.”
While BYD has earmarked Malaysia as one of the first ASEAN markets to receive Flash Charging, don’t hold your breath for Proton-branded 1,800 kW chargers anytime soon, because the national carmaker likely won’t have any models that can take advantage of them. Instead, any sort of local deployment will likely fall on the shoulders of Zeekr, as a competitor to Denza that is rolling out those Flash Charging stations here.
That’s not bad, existing EV also will enjoy faster charging time, to the maximum capacity charging input for each model.
charge too fast i got no time to pee pee.
you can choose to buy proton emas with lousy 180kw DC which will takes twenty minutes to charge 80%.