Geely can charge an EV in 4.5 minutes. Britain can't
Geely says its new 2.2MW charger can fill an EV from 10% to 70% in four and a half minutes. It's a real leap, but it's in China, and the UK version of the same car charges at a fraction of that speed.
On Wednesday, at its safety centre in Ningbo, China's Geely unveiled a charging system that it says can take an electric car from 10% to 70% in about four and a half minutes, and to 97% in 8 minutes 40 seconds. The charger runs at 2.2 megawatts. That's roughly 50% more powerful than the 1.5MW system rival BYD has been showing off, and it makes Geely, for now, the fastest in the business.
It's an impressive number. It's also a number that, for the moment, only exists in China.
A charging race measured in seconds
Chinese carmakers have spent the past year trying to turn the EV fuel stop into something that feels like a petrol stop. According to AP, BYD's system does 10% to 97% in about nine minutes and battery giant CATL has claimed 10% to 98% in 6 minutes 27 seconds. Geely's 8 minutes 40 seconds edges both.
The timing isn't an accident. Jalopnik reports that Chinese EV sales have fallen for 11 months in a row through August, so brands are scrapping for anything that sets them apart. Speed is the new horsepower. Geely says the first car to use the system will be an upgraded version of its Galaxy E5 SUV.
There's an AI angle too, because of course there is. Geely says the system uses cloud-based "digital twins" and on-board deep-learning models to watch battery temperature and predict problems during charging. Heat is the thing that actually limits fast charging, so this isn't just buzzword garnish. Geely also claims the battery can survive 3,500 charge cycles with limited degradation, but that's the company's figure, not an independent test.
The bits Geely didn't mention
Electrek's write-up notes what was missing from the launch: no detailed battery specs, no count of charging stations, no rollout timetable and nothing about availability outside China. It also points out that fast-charging claims can be "massaged" by choosing a flattering slice of the battery, which is why everyone quotes 10% to 70% or 80% rather than empty to full.
Even Geely seems to think this race is nearly run. Executive Zhang Dewang said charging speeds are already approaching physical limits, with future gains becoming marginal. When the company setting the record says there isn't much record left to set, it's worth listening.
What it means on a British motorway
Here's where it gets interesting for UK readers. The Galaxy E5 is already on sale here. Geely sells it in Britain as the EX5, launched in September 2025 from £31,990, with a 60kWh battery and a claimed 257 miles of range. Its published DC charging rate is 110kW. So the car in a UK showroom is a close cousin of the one at Ningbo's record-breaking charger, but it plugs in at a very different speed.
Then there's the network. Zapmap counted 121,171 public chargers in the UK by mid-2026, of which 13,996 were "ultra-rapid" at 150kW or more. That category grew 37% in a year, which is good going. But a 2.2MW charger is nearly 15 times more powerful than a 150kW one. Plugging megawatt chargers into British motorway services would need serious grid upgrades, not just a new box on the forecourt.
- If you own an EX5: nothing changes. Your car can't use this, and there's no sign an upgrade is coming here.
- If you're shopping for an EV: charging speed is becoming a selling point, so check a car's real 10% to 80% time rather than its range alone.
- If you're waiting for five-minute charging in the UK: keep waiting. Neither the cars nor the chargers are here yet.
To be fair to Geely
This isn't vapourware. BYD and CATL are chasing the same thing, and the direction is clear. As Jalopnik points out, very fast charging lets carmakers fit smaller, cheaper, lighter batteries and still solve range anxiety, because a stop takes minutes rather than half an hour. That's a smarter answer than bolting on ever-bigger batteries. Geely has also said it wants charging infrastructure that works across brands, like petrol stations. If that happens, everyone benefits, not just Geely owners.
Mind the hype. Five-minute charging is real. It just hasn't found the M6 yet.
Sources: Electrek, Jalopnik, Evertiq, Numlock News (via AP), Zapmap, Electrifying.com, Wikipedia: Geely EX5