Hongqi

It seems that every other month, a new company is coming out with battery-charging tech that’s defying our expectations. A few months back, BYD, the Chinese EV maker, impressed everyone with its “flash charging” system that could take its car from 10% to 97% in nine minutes. Now, Chinese automaker Hongqi has beaten that record. 

How fast is Hongqi’s new battery?

CarNewsChina reports that FAW Group’s Hongqi brand, in collaboration with Lishen Battery, just wrapped up charging tests at 25°C for a new ultra-fast charging battery, and the numbers are wild. The pack went from 10% to 70% state of charge in 3 minutes and 41 seconds, then climbed to 97% in just 8 minutes and 3 seconds.

FAW says the battery reached a peak charging rate of 12C thanks to a high-efficiency ultra-fast charging anode, breaking past previous limits. The team also built a custom electrolyte designed to lower the energy barrier lithium ions face when moving through the cell, and used a composite carbon coating along with bulk doping to cut internal resistance by 15% compared to similar cells, speeding up how fast charge actually transfers.

FAW

Keeping all that power in check requires serious cooling. FAW’s intelligent liquid cooling system keeps the temperature spread across the entire pack within 3°C during fast charging, while a safety-first charging strategy constantly tracks cell temperature and adjusts the power curve on the fly. 

Keeping a check on temperature during fast charging sessions is of paramount importance. We recently saw BYD’s flash-charging technology push battery temperatures to 169.6°F in real-world tests, exceeding the recommended safety limit. Hopefully, Hongqi’s battery with its cooling will fare better in real-world scenarios. 

Who else is chasing the fastest charge?

Apart from Hongqi and BYD, several other companies have joined the fast-charging race, with companies including CATL and Geely posting their own blistering fast numbers. It seems that nobody in the EV world wants to be the automaker charging slowest, and that competition is only picking up speed.

Rachit is a seasoned tech journalist with over ten years of experience covering the consumer technology landscape.