Geely Automobile unveiled a new electric-vehicle charging technology that it says will recharge a battery from low to nearly full in under five minutes, escalating a race among Chinese automakers to slash charging times as demand in the domestic market slows.
The Chinese automaker said Wednesday that its latest charging technology used artificial intelligence to deliver faster charging while reducing heat and improving battery life.
Geely co-developed an AI model called Xingrui PowerMind with Chinese AI startup StepFun, which it says can predict battery temperatures up to 30 seconds in advance and adjust charging power accordingly.
In what Geely described as real-world tests, the batteries used in the Lynk & Co 10 and Zeekr 001 charged from 10% to 70% in four minutes and 30 seconds, and from 10% to 97% in eight minutes and 40 seconds.
That compares to five minutes and nine minutes, respectively, for BYD's second-generation blade battery and flash charging technology, which the Chinese auto giant unveiled in March. BYD has made its ultrafast charging a key selling point for its electric vehicles.
Geely also released its latest smart charging station, which can deliver peak charging power of as much as 2,250 kilowatts per charging gun, the company said. The AI system is designed to keep the battery from reaching excessive levels of heat during charging.
Chinese automakers have increasingly turned to charging speed as they compete for buyers in the world's largest EV market. Faster charging can address one of the main challenges of EVs compared with gasoline-powered cars: that plugging in still takes longer than refueling.
Retail sales of new-energy vehicles, a term used to describe both EVs and plug-in hybrid cars, accounted for a record 65.2% of total passenger car sales in August, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed. Still, the overall new-car market in China is slowing. Retail sales of passenger cars fell 23.6% from a year earlier to 1.54 million units in August, according to association data.
Geely's battery technology also reflects a push by Chinese automakers to gain greater control over batteries and other core EV technologies. Li Auto, Xiaomi, XPeng and Leapmotor are also strengthening their in-house battery capabilities, Macquarie analysts wrote in a recent note.
The push could help automakers improve supply security and control costs as margins come under pressure. Given the capital intensity of cell manufacturing and the differing requirements across vehicle segments, Macquarie expects most automakers to rely on a mix of in-house development, joint ventures and third-party sourcing-a model analysts likened to Geely's own approach-instead of fully integrating battery production.
Geely also plans to expand the charging network to more than 22,000 stations and 100,000 charging guns by the end of 2027. The company said that the latest charging technology is focused on the Chinese domestic market and declined to comment about whether it could be deployed overseas.
Meanwhile, Geely continues to make inroads into the European market. The automaker recently announced a joint venture with Ford Motor to produce and co-develop EVs at Ford's plant in Spain. It has also been expanding sales of its Zeekr and Lynk & Co brands in Europe.
EV sales in the U.S. have plummeted since last year after the Trump administration and Congress ended a $7,500 tax credit for battery-powered cars, and shredded regulations pushing for a mostly electric market by the 2030s. U.S. EV sales were down 48% year-over-year in August, according to Motor Intelligence.