Four and a half minutes. That’s today’s time for a Chinese electric sedan to move from 10 to 70 % battery on a dedicated charger. A figure that, for a driver used to Europe’s 20–30 minute fast-charging sessions, already feels like a full tank… or almost.
Behind this feat sits Geely, locked in a technology showdown with BYD. The Chinese group claims a 10–97 % recharge in under nine minutes, while asserting that ultra-fast charging is already brushing up against its own limits. “Charging speed is approaching its physical limit, and the gains we can achieve by pursuing even faster charging speeds in the future will be increasingly marginal”, Geely executive Zhang Dewang told Reuters. A small line that shifts the narrative of this power race.
Geely’s Ultra-Fast Charging: A Record That Reframes the Time Scale
On paper, Geely’s new ultra-fast charging solution clearly pushes current benchmarks. The automaker announces a 10–70 % charge in about 4 minutes and 30 seconds, and a 10–97 % charge in 8 minutes and 40 seconds, under so‑called “normal” conditions. BYD’s previous record with its Flash Charging hovered around 9 minutes for the same 10–97 %. Geely thus takes the lead, at a moment when the fast-charging capabilities of most European models today typically sit between 24 and 35 minutes for a 10–80 % fill.
To achieve these figures, Geely relies on a new LFP battery dubbed Golden Brick, developed by Energee, paired with a 900‑V electrical architecture that aims to climb toward 1,000 V. Industry press coverage notes peaks near 1,100 kW, with more than 500 kW held up to 75 % charge, and around 350 kW at 97 %. The battery is reportedly rated for more than 4,500 ultra-fast charging cycles, a high figure given this level of stress. Geely also touts a 3D liquid cooling system for the cells, double-sided, which keeps the temperature around 64 °C during peaks above 1 MW.
When Geely Talks of the “Physical Limit” for Ultra-Fast Charging
The Zhang Dewang remark sheds light on the backdrop. According to him, “the charging speed is approaching its physical limit and the gains we can achieve by pursuing even faster charging speeds in the future will be increasingly marginal”. The idea is simple: as technology nears its physical boundaries, every second gained costs more—while the marginal benefit dwindles. The bottleneck isn’t solely the chargers; it starts with the battery itself, its stability, and the degradation risks tied to ever-higher charging intensities.
In China, the GB/T 44500-2024 standard sets a reference threshold of 65 °C for LFP batteries. Tests on BYD’s 1,500 kW recharge have shown peaks around 74–76 °C inside the cells, a temperature level that has sparked questions about durability. Geely, by contrast, stresses that its Golden Brick battery stays at a maximum of 64 °C in comparable conditions, just below the threshold. To reach and maintain that envelope, the group uses an AI system connected to a cloud-based digital twin and onboard vehicle models that dynamically adjust charging power, monitor battery health, control the pack’s thermal management, and assess risk. The AI doesn’t defy physics, but it helps stay as close to the limit as possible without crossing it.
A Technology Already Commercialized, Far Ahead of European Infrastructure
Geely isn’t talking about lab prototypes. This ultra-fast charging solution is already on the Galaxy E5 electric SUV, marketed as the revised Geely E5 in the Chinese market. The previous generation of this model has also been sold in Spain and other European markets. On the charger network side, Zeekr Power, the Geely group’s network, claims roughly 2,100 stations and 10,000 high-power charging points in China, with V4 chargers advertised up to 1,300 kW and projects aiming for up to 2.2 MW per charging point.
BYD has deployed more than 5,000 megawatt-class charging points and is targeting 20,000 by the end of 2026, with a goal of 90,000 ultra-fast charging stations by 2028. The gap with Europe remains pronounced. Across the Continent, the vast majority of charging infrastructure still tops out at around 350 kW, and only a small number of vehicles readily accept more than 300–400 kW. In this reality, China’s 4–5 minute records mostly serve as a technological showcase. For a European driver, the immediate challenge lies in broadening access to 150–300 kW chargers and ensuring that models can exploit them for a 10–80 % fill in roughly 15 minutes—time that already aligns with a typical long-distance highway break.
