Two weeks after the BYD presented a new charging station for electric vehicles with a capacity of 1 MW (1000 kW)Chinese automaker ZEEKR has unveiled its own ultra-fast charger that delivers up to 1.2 MW of power. ZEEKR’s vice president shared details of the new charging technology ahead of its official debut in a few weeks.
When BYD announced a charging speed of up to 1000 kW, it seemed like an incredible achievement. This is twice as much as the market leaders, including Tesla. In fact, it is three times more than standard fast chargers, as most of them do not exceed 350 kW (and in the US, the average capacity is generally within 200 kW).
Some premium electric vehicles already use platforms with a voltage of more than 800 V, but even they do not always reach 350 kW when charging. BYD plans to support its 1000-volt platform with new megawatt chargers that will be on the market this week.
BYD’s 1 MW charging station was not the most powerful in the world for long – its leadership lasted only two weeks. At a conference in China, a company representative presented a 1.2 MW charger that could become the fastest charging station in the world after its official debut.
The 1.2 MW ZEEKR charging station will make its debut at the Shanghai Auto Show. Even before the event, ZEEKR shared the first images of the new charging station on Weibo after its Vice President Zhao Yuhui’s speech at the China EV100 forum. In his speech, he said that the company has developed a fully liquid-cooled fast charger that will reach 1.2 MW per charging port. It will be released in the second quarter of 2025 and will be the most powerful in the world, surpassing BYD’s charging by 200 kW.
As can be seen in the published graphs, ZEEKR has significantly increased the capacity of its chargers over the past four years: from 260 kW in 2021 to 600 kW in 2022, and then to 800 kW in 2023. According to Zhao, the company aims to bring the electric vehicle charging industry to the level of ultra-fast charging with a capacity of more than 1 MW.
Despite the announcement of the new ultra-fast charger, ZEEKR has not yet introduced a car capable of receiving such power. Unlike BYD, which will release two new models on the Super E-Platform in April, ZEEKR has not yet disclosed the specifications of its future charging system.
During the presentation of its 1-megawatt charger, BYD said it is capable of providing 2 km of range per second of charging or up to 400 km in 5 minutes. At 1.2 MW of power, ZEEKR is expected to surpass these figures, but the final result will depend on the architecture of electric vehicles that can accept such power.
ZEEKR promises to reveal more details during the Shanghai Auto Show in late April, where it will officially unveil its new charging station.
Source: electrek
