Forget 0-100 km/h times. The real battle in the electric car world is now all about charging speed.
Chinese automotive giant Geely has just revealed its new “Golden Brick” battery, and the numbers are impressive enough to put BYD’s Blade battery under pressure. The announcement could reshape expectations for EV performance around the world.
While European and American brands are still working to improve charging times, Chinese companies are already pushing into flash-charging territory, where recharging an EV starts to feel almost as quick as filling a fuel tank.
Geely Claims 70% Charge in Just Over Four Minutes
Lynk & Co, one of Geely’s brands, introduced the new 900-volt Energee Golden Brick battery pack with a 95 kWh capacity. According to the company, the battery can deliver some remarkable charging results:
- 10% to 70% in just 4 minutes and 22 seconds, slightly quicker than BYD’s claimed 5 minutes
- 10% to 80% in 5 minutes and 32 seconds
- 10% to 97% in only 8 minutes and 42 seconds, beating BYD, which reportedly needs around 9 minutes to reach the same level
The Secret Behind the Speed
The breakthrough is not only about battery chemistry. It also comes down to the supporting hardware.
Geely’s system uses an advanced 900-volt electrical architecture combined with megawatt-level charging stations capable of delivering up to 1,100 kW of peak charging power.
Even more impressive is that the battery can still accept around 350 kW of charging power at 97% state of charge. That is more than the peak charging rate of many current Western electric vehicles.
The Biggest Problem Is the Charger
Despite the headline-grabbing figures, there is one major challenge. These charging speeds require a new generation of ultra-powerful charging stations that are still very limited in number.
Right now, BYD has a much larger charging network, while Geely’s ultra-fast charging infrastructure is estimated to be only around a quarter of the size. That means having the fastest battery in the world is not very useful if there is nowhere nearby to charge it at full speed.
BMW Is Not Fully Convinced
Not everyone is celebrating these new charging records.
Markus Fallbohmer, BMW’s head of battery production, warned that focusing too heavily on one performance figure could create problems elsewhere.
According to BMW, pushing charging speeds to extreme levels could affect long-term battery durability, raise costs, or compromise overall performance.
In other words, BMW fears that repeatedly charging at these ultra-fast rates may reduce battery life over time.
ArabGT Opinion
There is no doubt that China is leading a major technological revolution in the EV sector, and Geely is proving that charging times under 10 minutes are no longer impossible.
This could be one of the biggest blows yet to traditional gasoline engines. However, infrastructure remains the real challenge. A battery that can charge in four minutes means very little if the nearest charger capable of handling it is hundreds of kilometers away.
In the end, the real race may not be about who builds the fastest battery, but who builds the charging network to support it.
