What happened
- Chery announced a 1.44-megawatt charging system able to add 500 kilometers of range in 5 minutes, as Electrek reported on October 22, 2026 citing CarNewsChina.
- Charging from 10% to 97% takes 6 minutes 50 seconds with its new battery, which Chery calls «Volt-Dragon». The company says that in conservative scenarios it delivers 500 km in 8 minutes.
- Electrek compares: CATL holds the record at 6 minutes 27 seconds, 23 seconds less, and FAW, Geely and BYD sit between 8 and 9 minutes for the same charge.
- Chery has only just started installing chargers. It says it will open 100 in 10 Chinese cities soon and reach 20,000 stations worldwide by 2029.
Why it matters
- According to Electrek, competition among Chinese makers is now measured in seconds of charging time, not minutes.
- In the United States, according to Electrek, the fastest public chargers are around 400 kW and 750 kW could arrive next year.
- Chery gave no times for extreme cold or heat, unlike other brands, which limits comparison in harsh climates.
The number
6 min 50 s. Time from 10% to 97% charge with Chery’s 1.44 MW system.
Context
Electrek lists other announcements from the past year in China: BYD has a 1.5 MW charger and says it has installed 10,000, Geely unveiled a 2.2 MW unit and CATL an ultrafast-charging battery. Chery added to its system, called CheryMind, an adjustment of power according to the battery’s internal temperature. This note relies on Electrek’s report because Chery’s original statement could not be read; the BYD, Geely and CATL figures come from the same outlet.
What’s next
- The first 100 charging points would open soon in 10 cities; there is no date.
- The goal of 20,000 stations runs to 2029, slower than BYD’s, which targets 20,000 chargers by the end of this year.
Bottom line
Other recent storage and energy projects: Viridi installed a 3.75 MWh battery inside a 105-home building and Rondo and Rio Tinto are designing a 360 MWh heat battery. In battery chemistry, a recyclable sulfur flow battery keeps 98.1% of its capacity over 2,200 cycles. And in the auto industry, Rivian bought Third Dimension to recreate driving scenes.
Sources
- Electrek — Another megawatt-level charger enters China: 300 miles in 5 minutes (October 22, 2026; reports Chery’s announcement citing CarNewsChina; the original statement could not be read)
- Cover image: 中国新闻社, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Edited by Rodrigo Cornejo. How we select and verify: who writes these notes.
