Zeekr (NYSE: ZK) has unveiled a new charger that is expected to deliver faster charging speeds than the 1-MW charger released by BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) earlier this month.
The electric vehicle (EV) maker will officially release a fully liquid-cooled charger with a peak power of 1.2 MW per charging gun in the second quarter, and this charging power is the highest in the world, Zhao Yuhui, vice president of Zeekr, said in a speech at the China EV100 Forum yesterday.
The technology will make its debut at the Shanghai auto show in April and will lead the charging industry into the era of ultra-fast charging at the 1-MW level, Zhao said.
Over the past three years, Zeekr's supercharger power has gradually increased from 360 kW to 600 kW, and further increased to 800 kW, according to Zhao.
As of now, Zeekr's energy unit Zeekr Power has 826 supercharging stations, providing 4,007 superchargers, according to Zhao.
A Zeekr spokesperson told CnEVPost that the 1.2-MW charger is for passenger cars. There are currently no passenger vehicles that support 1.2-MW charging.
On March 17, BYD unveiled its ultra-fast charger that supports 1,000 kW, or 1 MW, of charging power, the first time in the industry that charging power has been measured in MW.
BYD said at the time that the charger could add 2 kilometers of range to an EV in 1 second, or 400 kilometers of range in 5 minutes.
The charging power of the supercharger is twice the peak power of Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) latest V4 supercharging pile of 500 kW.
BYD will promote the construction of supercharging stations that support 1,000 kW charging power, and plans to build more than 4,000 such facilities, the company said at the time.
On March 26, BYD's general manager in charge of branding and public relations, Li Yunfei, said that the company's 4,000 1-MW flash charging stations are being laid out, and the first batch of about 500 would be available in early April when the Han L sedan and Tang L SUV (sport utility vehicle) hit the mareket.
Pre-sales for the Han L and Tang L began at a March 17 launch event, and BYD said at the time that the two models would officially be launched in early April.
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