Xpeng Motors to launch 480 kW fast charging technology
After GAC, it’s now time for Xpeng to also announce its plans to build a fast charging network comprised of powerful 480 kW chargers, to fully take advantage of its upcoming 800-volt system platform.
As of September 30, Xpeng already counted with 439 fast charging stations in China.
Xpeng says that its upcoming electric cars built on a new super-efficient 800-volt platform will only require a 5 minutes charge to get enough energy to drive for 200 km.
It’s becoming clear that in a year or two, 800-volt system EV platforms will make most new electric cars not only even more efficient, but also charge a lot faster than they do today. Upcoming 800-volt systems combined with batteries that have silicon/graphene dominant anodes will be the next big step to finally kill the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine).
Soon, when electric vehicles can be fast charged in less than 10 minutes to get enough energy to drive 300-400 km, who will still think that fuel cell or hybrid vehicles are a good idea? Probably only companies that want to sell us hydrogen or fossil fuels…
Anyway, in Europe 350 kW fast-charging stations are the best we currently have, so maybe it’s time to start preparing for higher charging rates. While 350 kW seems great for next generation electric cars, it won’t be enough to quickly charge big electric vehicles that have massive batteries, such as buses or trucks.
Xpeng Motors new 800-volt system platform
What do you think? If you had an electric car that could be fast charged in less than 10 minutes, how much range would you require it to have?
More info:
https://cnevpost.com/2021/10/24/xpeng-tech-day-what-you-need-to-know/
If I had a fast charging 200km car, that would be enough…
Plenty of range to visit the parents, only one stop for a weekend in the beach or mountains.
In a typical long range trip I drive in 200 km legs (or 2 hours) and a short stop and change driver. After 400 Km, stop to eat something, and after 800 km arrive/stop to sleep.
So 250 km highway range will be the minimum range for me taking into account there are plenty of available chargers.
480kw@670A is too much for ccs. I believe even 400 ampere is pushing the limit – and not in a good way… the heat (i.e. energy waste) is proportional to the square of the current. And that is without taking account for the energy need of the active cooling system. Thus even 400A causes energy efficiency to drop.
This could be addressed by designing a larger plug and use huge cables. It would be quite heavy and probably not suitable for granny. And breaking compatibility with css charging networks and cars is a high price to pay in order to lower charging time with ~4 minutes.
Yeah, I think there’s a law of diminishing returns on increasing the output of fast chargers, at least for private vehicles. The Ioniq 5 peaks at around 220kW, so it must be pulling maybe about 300Amps, and it will charge 10-80% in < 20mins. I think once you’re around 15 mins for 200km, then this will be more than adequate for most people. You can only have a pee and get a coffee so fast.
Just like passenger jets haven’t changed much since the 1960s, I suspect there will be a plateau for charging infra. The only reason that I see that it makes sense is that it prevents lineups at chargers because people will be able to charge so fast. But then again, how much will one of these chargers cost and how many 150kW chargers could you install instead?
800V makes a lot of sense, but I’m not sure how much it’s worth it to go much past 250kW.
I suspect the infrastructure for XPeng’s charger must cost a lot more too. If Tesla is building battery packs at some of its chargers to prevent having super high peak current charges, then XPeng’s charger would almost make that a necessity.
Some people seem to belive that EVs can only overtake ICEs once they reach the charging speed and range of ICEs. I disagree. ICEs overtook horseback riding even though horses have lots of capabilities that ICEs cars don’t have (e.g. the ability to reproduce). Why? because ICE were a much more cost efficient and convenient mode of transportation. Likewise I belive that EVs are about to become more cost effeicient and convenient than ICEs – despite charging times.
Yes, they’re very close to being more cost efficient and convenient than ICEs in many places.
EVs have 2 other important things that will push the overtaking of ICEVs even faster: many many people are worried about the unfolding climate crisis, so there is a larger emotional driver of EV sales now.
The other thing is that many governments are now cluing in to how popular EVs actually are, and are starting to pull policy and financial levers for EVs.
Even here in Indonesia, where most of the billionaires are in the oil and coal industries, the government is talking about big programs for EVs. That being said, it is Indonesia, so how effective any government programs will be is a very different story. I expect things to happen like dealers keeping most of the subsidies and not lowering prices, or charging station companies cutting corners and not maintaining their unreliable chargers, skimming as much as they can, etc.
How much range would I need? Well this depends on how many sub 10 minute chargers there are, what the location of the chargers are and if the range is real world. Let’s say I’m using slightly larger tyres, averaging 75mph it is between -5C and +5C it is windy and it is wet the car is fully laden. In these conditions my ideal range is 200 miles+ with no pre charging and no range loss parked /over night. We have relatives in 2 directions that are 100 miles away. 75mph is how fast I like to drive. Niether relatives have ev chargers and there are no public ev chargers in either village. When we had ICE cars I never once stopped enroute to get petrol/diesel and I would not contemplate doing so in an EV to get electricity.
My current solution is to get extension cables through an open window and granny charge very slowly. If we are doing it in a day trip (which is most likely) I won’t go above 70mph on the way and will stay below 65mph on the way back to make sure we can get home (we live on top of a hill so the last 5 miles use 5% of our battery… But we get zero back on the way out as our battery is already full and our car does. Ot want to regen at 95-100% full.
I don´t see the need for 480 kW in cars and light vans. Ionic 5 or Taycan rates look more than enough. For trucks and buses the new Megawatt Charging Standard (MCS) should be finished by the end of 2021. It will allow max charging rates of 3.750 kW playing in another league (1.250V and 3.000A).
https://www.charin.global/technology/mcs/
Exactly, and even Ioniq and Taycan do not use full potential of 350kW chargers, so imao there is no need for bigger rates. Imagine car with Ioniq size battery with perfect flat charging curve at 350kW charger. It would take 10 minutes from 0 to 80% SoC. Such car at 500kW charger probably achieve 80% in 8 minutes, but who cares?
In completely unrelated news of the day, I saw a Porsche Taycan here in Jakarta for the first time. Beautiful car, but it must have cost a fortune to import it here.
Seeing as my Zoe ZE40 only charges at 88 mpkwh, anything faster than 22KW will do! 🙂
I’d be happy with a constant 120KW from 10 – 80% would only need to stop in the ZE40 for 15 mins.
The charge rate would in theory make a difference, but in practice it does not at all. Why would a charging rate of 480kWof the car make any difference if the fastest charger you can find is a IONITY charger at 350 kW that costs a fortune to use? As long as there aren’t enough chargers and the fast chargers that are available costs more than three times as much as charging at home I still would take the car with the largest battery available.
On a three year lease of an Hyundai Ioniq 5 or KIA EV6 the larger battery is less than 1000 Euros more than the standard battery.
The comfortable range depends on the distribution of DC chargers. I’d guess for most people in Europe, being able to drive up to around 2 hours on highway (~120 km/h) between 10-15 minute rest stops is okay convenient.
For Asia, where ‘roadtrips’ are not a cultural habit, probably 2 hours is already much more than most people need.
Some people (e.g. Americans) might pay more for 2.5 or even 3 hours capability (though rarely use it).
For commute, charging for a week (~150 km or less, for most people) in <10 minutes is already possible with E-GMP and soon with many others. But even commuters might want to do an occasional longer trip.