CATL has unveiled its third generation Superfast Charging Battery which can do a 10% to 98% charge in just six minutes and 27 seconds.
That makes this the fastest EV battery charging option shown off yet, beating BYD and Geely's recent efforts. Now we just need the infrastructure to access this speed everywhere.
In the EV battery charging race a clear winner has just been shown off. The fastest car battery charging example yet has been revealed in China.
CATL, at its Super Technology Day in Beijing, showed off its new Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery third generation tech.
This battery was able to charge from 10 to 98% in just six minutes and 27 seconds. Or, from 10 to 80% in a mere three minutes and 44 seconds. Impressively, even in minus 30 degrees Celsius conditions, it still went from 20 to 98% in a meagre nine minutes.
Both BYD and Geely showed off superfast charging batteries recently, but this beats both of them for speed quite convincingly. Geely charged in nine minutes while BYD managed a five and a half minute time.
CATL is also clear that its battery will still retain over 90% capacity after 1,000 charges – something that's been in question until now.
When will electric cars actually get this fast charging?
While this fast charging tech is being shown off now, in real world examples, it's still relatively rare to access.
The company also showed off its latest third-generation Qilin battery which can get premium EVs a range of up to 1,000km on a single charge.
Again, when that arrives for mass consumption is less clear.
Rolling out the charging infrastructure to support these fast-charging and long range batteries is the current choke point.
CATL plans to build 4,000 integrated charge and swap station across China by the end of 2026.
How that will translate to international roll-out remains to be seen. Tesla, we're looking at you.
