China's EV makers keep pushing the envelope when it comes to battery charging speeds, just like they are doing with smartphones.

Zeekr, for instance, is already building a network of ultrafast 600 kWor 800 kW chargers, and it now has the cars to match.

The new 2025 Zeekr 001 and 007 EV facelifts offer refreshed design, longer range, faster charging, and start from the equivalent of $29,340.

Faster charging may be, in fact, an understatement, as the Zeekr 007 sedan features the fastest charging on a production EV, too.

The second generation of Zeekr’s LFP Golden Battery takes only 10.5 minutes to go from 10% to 80% charge, which it says is the quickest top-up of all lithium batteries out there. The battery is rated for 5.5C speeds, as that isthe next frontier in ultrafast charging that Chinese battery makers are now targeting.

Zeekr says that those 10 minutes on the charger now add 300 miles of range on the local CLTC cycle, which, however, is more generous than the EPA standard by about a third.

For comparison, the Model 3 takes 15 minutes to restore 175 miles of range on Tesla’s own fast chargers that cap out at 250 kW, unless one is lucky to find one of the V4 stations where Tesla runs 350 kW output trials.

The Model 3 is not a good example, as it is built on the slow 400V powertrain architecture, but even Tesla's only vehicle with a modern 800V platform, the Cybertruck, will theoretically take 20 minutes to charge from 20% to 80%. Theoretically, because for now this is only a claim by Tesla's lead engineer Lars Moravy, and he referred to top-ups at 350 kW V4 chargers. The Cybertruck also comes with a 4680 battery that is still not up there with the best when it comes to thecharging curve, so for now it takes 40 minutes to bring it up to 80% charge.

In China, on the other hand, faster charging networks have been prioritized. Nearly every major EV maker is building powerful stations, ranging from the 480 kWpiles of XPeng or the 500 kW of NIO, to the fastest 800 kWstations of Zeekr and XPeng, which can add 200 miles of range in 5 minutes.

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NEWS: Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr, which is controlled by Geely, today showcased their new in house designed ultra-fast charging LFP battery installed on its new 007 sedan.• 10-80% in 10 minutes. Adds 300 miles of range in 15 minutes• 472kW peak charging speed… pic.twitter.com/bwft0UfJR8

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 13, 2024