Fintech News on October 9th (Editor: Xiaoxiang) In the increasingly fierce electric vehicle arena in recent years, which company can first resolve consumers' "range anxiety," perhaps whoever can seize the opportunity.

Now, many Asian battery manufacturers are competing to develop a new generation of electric vehicle "super fast charging" batteries, which are expected to make the charging speed of electric vehicles as fast as refueling gasoline or diesel cars:

The industry's leading companies aim to fully charge electric vehicles in about five minutes, making the charging experience nearly indistinguishable from refueling traditional gasoline cars...

Andreas Breiter, Co-Leader of the McKinsey North America Future Mobility Center, recently stated, "One obvious way to address range anxiety is clearly to increase the driving range of electric vehicles, and another way is to make the charging speed fast enough for people to charge during their journeys."

"As the driving range and battery capacity of electric vehicles are limited, speeding up the charging process will be part of the solution, but this requires a trade-off," Breiter said.

Recently, Hyundai Motor Company of South Korea said in a media interview that rapid charging is crucial to boost electric vehicle sales. The company pointed out that expanding infrastructure will provide more convenience to customers. It has formed joint ventures with other automakers to build high-power electric vehicle charging networks in North America and Europe.

Currently, the main challenges hindering the industry from achieving the milestone of "full charge in five minutes" include: super fast charging may increase safety risks and shorten battery life; the availability of grid connections, and the additional costs of installing ultra-fast chargers.

The European and American electric vehicle industry is currently struggling to cope with the trend of consumers turning back to hybrid vehicles or sticking to gasoline vehicles, as the power of switching to pure electric vehicles has decreased. Many potential electric vehicle buyers are still hesitant at the thought of being forced to interrupt their journeys and spending up to an hour at charging stations.

However, there are currently several electric vehicle models with 800V fast charging architecture on the market, which can replenish the battery to around 80% in 20 minutes using L3 chargers—allowing for several hundred kilometers of range.

Charging speed is usually measured by the time it takes to charge from 10% to 80% of the battery capacity, as ideally the battery level should not drop below 10%, and charging speed significantly slows down between 80% and 100%.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, an L1 charger that plugs into a standard household 120-volt AC outlet can provide approximately 1 kilowatt of power, enough to charge an electric vehicle from almost empty to 80% in 40-50 hours. The 240-volt L2 charger used for overnight charging typically provides up to 20 kilowatts of power, with a charging time of 4-10 hours.

The latest ultra-fast L3 chargers can bypass the electric vehicle's onboard charger and directly supply direct current to the battery, with power output reaching several hundred kilowatts, significantly reducing charging time. Tesla Superchargers can provide up to 250 kilowatts of power, replenishing up to 75 miles of range in 5 minutes, while Huawei's top-level chargers can provide 600 kilowatts of power.

China Leads the Way! Global Battery Companies Racing Against Each Other

Bernstein's Senior Analyst Neil Beveridge pointed out that China's leading battery manufacturers are ahead of their South Korean competitors in producing the fastest-charging batteries.

Among them, Contemporary Amperex Technology released the world's first phosphorus iron lithium battery product in April this year—Shenxing Plus battery, which balances a 1000 km range with 4C ultra-fast charging. According to the introduction, this battery can provide users with an ultra-long-range experience of up to 1000 km and replenish 600 km in 10 minutes, truly achieving a super-fast charging speed of "1 kilometer per second."

In addition, this May, Gotion High-Tech also released the Star Morning battery at the company's 13th Technology Conference. The Star Morning battery uses self-developed second-generation silicon-carbon materials and high-speed electrolytes, supporting fast charging from 10% to 70% in 9 minutes. Batteries equipped with this cell can complete a 350-kilometer range charge in 5 minutes and a 600-kilometer range charge in 10 minutes.

Some South Korean battery manufacturers have been determined to narrow the gap.

Recently, Goh Juh-young, Vice President of Samsung SDI, a South Korean battery manufacturer, stated in an interview, "In 2026, we will launch a battery that can be fully charged in 9 minutes."

"Our ultimate goal is to develop an electric car battery comparable to gasoline cars in terms of refueling speed. This battery can drive 600 kilometers after a 5-minute charge," Juh-young said.

Bernstein's Beveridge believes that the automotive battery industry may be approaching a critical point, at which owning an electric car will no longer be considered less convenient than owning a gasoline car.

He pointed out, "If you look at the most advanced cars introduced by China, you will find that being able to drive 700-800 kilometers with a 10-minute charge will soon become the standard. This will be more than enough for the vast majority of consumers, which is why electric cars will eventually prevail."

Of course, many industry insiders have also mentioned some technological drawbacks that need to be addressed behind ultra-fast charging. Lee Hang-koo, Director of the Korea Automobile Fusion Technology Research Institute, stated that there is evidence to suggest that excessive ultra-fast charging can shorten the battery's lifespan and increase the risk of the battery catching fire due to overheating.

For the South Korean electric vehicle industry, which is increasingly focusing on battery safety due to multiple fire incidents, safety is obviously not a trivial matter. Kim Je-young, Chief Technology Officer of LG New Energy, stated that the biggest issue with fast charging currently is the battery's temperature.

One of the reasons why Chinese battery charging speed is leading is that its manufacturers are more focused on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are less prone to overheating compared to nickel-rich batteries produced by South Korean battery manufacturers.

However, South Korean companies are currently trying to find solutions. LG Group, the parent company of LG New Energy, recently announced the development of a temperature-responsive "safety-enhancing layer" with a thickness only one percent of human hair, aiming to reduce the so-called thermal runaway risk - thermal runaway is the main cause of battery fires.