Geely, by introducing 2.2-megawatt ultra-fast charging technology in China, has taken the competition to reduce electric vehicle charging time to a new stage.
According to ITNA quoting Arenaev, the company introduced a charging architecture at its comprehensive safety center in Ningbo that is about 50 percent faster in power than BYD’s 1.5-megawatt charging system and even delivers more power than Tesla’s 1.2-megawatt megachargers.
The first vehicle equipped with this technology is the upgraded Galaxy E5. According to Geely, this vehicle’s battery can be charged from 10 to 70 percent in only 4.5 minutes. If charging continues to 97 percent, the required time will be about 8 minutes and 40 seconds. Such speed can bring the electric vehicle ownership experience closer to refueling gasoline cars.
But the sharp increase in charging power raises concerns about battery heat and reduced cell life. To address this issue, Geely uses a system based on artificial intelligence and a digital twin. This technology, with the help of deep learning neural models, examines very small changes in cell impedance and dynamically adjusts the liquid cooling system. It also detects abnormal cell behavior before thermal runaway occurs.
Geely claims that this technology enables up to 3,500 charge and discharge cycles. If this claim is realized, given the vehicle’s 400 to 500 kilometer range, the potential battery life could exceed one million kilometers; however, this figure still needs to be verified in long-term use and real-world conditions.
Geely’s intense competition with BYD shows that charging speed has become one of the main battlegrounds for Chinese automakers. However, developing the power grid and suitable charging infrastructure worldwide will remain one of the main obstacles to the spread of such technologies.