Huawei is introducing a fast charger that can potentially charge a standard electric car in 2.4 minutes. However, there is a catch.
On April 22, Chinese technology giant Huawei will unveil a new supercharger with an impressive power output of 1.5 megawatts.
This comes at a time when the battle for the fastest chargers has intensified in China, and where companies such as BYD and Zeekr are also rolling out megawatt-class fast charging.
However, Huawei is not focusing on ordinary electric cars. The new 1.5 MW charger is developed for heavy electric trucks, where charging time must be reduced to less than 30 minutes if real electrification of the transport sector is to succeed, says Huawei CEO Hou Jinlong.
According to Huawei, the charger can deliver 20 kWh per minute, thus charging a 300 kWh battery in just 15 minutes.
In comparison, Tesla's latest Supercharger V4 has a capacity of 500 kW, while the new Huawei charger can deliver three times that.
But what does this mean for a regular electric car in Denmark?
Theoretically, a 1.5 MW charger could charge a standard 60 kWh battery in an electric car in just 2.4 minutes. However, this requires the car to be able to receive all that power – and no passenger car today can do that.
Most electric cars in Denmark can charge at a maximum of between 100 and 350 kW. This means that the Huawei charger – like the similar solutions from BYD and Zeekr – is primarily aimed at trucks and buses with very large batteries.
But the development shows how quickly charging technology is moving. BYD has previously presented a charger that can deliver 400 km of range in five minutes, and Zeekr is on the way with a 1.2 MW solution.
Huawei also plans to introduce a robotic charging arm that will automatically connect the car to the charger without human intervention.
The system has already been demonstrated with Huawei's existing 600 kW charger, but can be adapted to new chargers.
Although the Chinese megawatt chargers are not yet available in Europe – and are unlikely to be for the time being – the technology points to what lies ahead.
And for the Danish transport sector, it could be important when electric operation in heavy transport really takes off.
