Chery has unveiled a 1.44-megawatt EV charging system that it says can add 500 kilometers, or 311 miles, of range in five minutes, intensifying China’s fight to dominate ultra-fast charging technology and narrowing a key competitive gap with rivals such as BYD, Geely and CATL.
Chery Unveils 1.44MW EV Charging System
The announcement matters because charging speed is becoming a bigger selling point than range alone, especially in China’s dense urban markets where throughput at public chargers can be a bottleneck. For automakers, battery makers and charging-network operators, the race is now about seconds, not minutes, and the winner can gain an edge in customer adoption, fleet utilization and infrastructure economics.
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Chery said its “Volt-Dragon” battery can charge from 10% to 97% in 6 minutes and 50 seconds, according to CarNewsChina, making it the second-fastest on that metric after CATL’s 6:27 record. BYD and Geely have already pushed into the megawatt-plus class, with BYD saying it has installed 10,000 of its 1.5MW chargers and Geely recently unveiling a 2.2MW unit.
The moves underscore how quickly China’s EV ecosystem is pushing beyond what is available in the U.S., where the fastest public chargers are still around 400kW and 750kW systems are only expected next year. That gap is important for investors because it highlights China’s lead in EV hardware innovation, and the pressure on global rivals to catch up in batteries, charging networks and power electronics.
Chery said its system uses an “AI-Powered” charging management setup called CheryMind to adjust power based on battery temperature and help preserve battery health. It did not release cold- or hot-weather charging figures, though it said the system could still deliver 500 kilometers of range in eight minutes in more conservative scenarios.
Chery also said it will open 100 chargers in 10 Chinese cities soon and plans 20,000 stations worldwide by 2029, a slower rollout than BYD’s target of 20,000 chargers by the end of this year. The next catalysts are whether Chery can move from lab-grade performance to real-world deployment at scale, and whether Chinese EV charging leaders can turn speed claims into a durable commercial moat.
| Entity | Gains | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Chery | ▲Technology credibility | ▼Catch-up pressure |
| BYD | ▲Charger-network leadership | ▼Faster rivals |
| Geely | ▲Megawatt charger momentum | ▼Benchmark rivalry |
| U.S. charging operators | ▲None | ▼Technology gap widens |
