Just a month after Chinese automaker BYD set the bar for EV fast charging with its new Blade Battery 2.0 and flash charging system, rival Geely has already raised it. The company’s Lynk & Co brand has announced that its new 900V Energee Golden Brick Battery delivers even quicker results.
Geely edges ahead on charging speeds
Lynk & Co has unveiled the 10 and 10+ electric sedans, both built to showcase its latest fast-charging tech. According to CarNewsChina, official test data shared by the company shows the Lynk & Co 10 charging from 10% to 70% in 4 minutes and 22 seconds, and from 10% to 97% in 8 minutes and 42 seconds. In contrast, BYD’s flash charging tech achieved the same results in 5 minutes and 9 minutes, respectively. The difference is small, but it’s enough to put Geely in the lead, at least on paper.
The cars themselves are also worth paying attention to. The standard Lynk & Co 10 has a pre-sale price between $29,000 and $33,000, putting it in direct competition with the Xiaomi SU7 while undercutting BYD’s Z9GT. The 10+ is the performance variant, packing 912hp and hitting 0-100km/h in 3.2 seconds, though Geely has yet to reveal pricing details.
What’s the catch?
As with most headline figures, Geely’s results come from controlled testing using Zeekr’s V4 ultra-fast chargers, so real-world results may vary. Geely’s public charging network is also much smaller than BYD’s. The company currently has around 2,100 stations across China, compared to BYD’s 5,000, with the latter targeting 20,000 stations by the end of the year.
The Chinese EV giants are competing on two fronts: battery technology and charging infrastructure. For now, Geely holds the speed advantage, while BYD leads on scale. If Geely can close the infrastructure gap, it could have a genuinely compelling answer to BYD’s dominance. Until then, having the fastest charging means little if there aren’t enough chargers to utilize it.