Image: Li Auto
EV charging speeds have been improving over the last few years. Recently Porsche unveiled its 2025 Taycan electric sedan which it says has peak DC fast-charging speeds of up to 320 kW.
Now, a Chinese EV manufacturer, Li Auto, has teased the charging speeds of its upcoming people mover with blistering peak fast-charging speeds that outpace those of the upcoming Porsche Taycan. It says its Mega electric people mover will have peak charging speeds of 552 kW.
According to a report from CNC, a real-world test has achieved 521.2 kW of DC charging speed, showcasing the car’s battery to charge from 10-80% in 10 minutes and 36 seconds.
During this charge test, just after plugging the car in, it was able to quickly ramp up to 400 kW at a 10% state of charge.
It hit its peak charging rate, just a minute into the charging session when the battery had 17% state of charge.
At the 5-minute mark, the car was already topped up to 48%, still receiving over 440 kW.
Over the 10 minutes and 36 seconds charging session, 500 km of range was added with the final range figure of 568 km seen on the display.
That’s very impressive given the size of the CATL-supplied battery pack, which sits at 102.7 kWh in this people mover.
This particular battery is CATL’s Qilin battery which supports what the company calls” 5C ultra-fast charging”. This charging speed rate can deliver up to 500 km of range in just 12 minutes.
Li Auto Mega is based on an 800-Volt architecture, helping it achieve such charging speeds.
The design of the car is aerodynamic with a coefficient of drag of just 0.215. That’s pretty impressive for a 7-seater people mover.
For comparison, the recently launched Kia EV9 has a higher coefficient of drag of 0.28.
The Mega also has a curvier rear section of the roof, making it resemble a Sportback SUV at the rear.
The sleek design helps the Mega achieve a CLTC range of 700 km. It’s closer to just over 500 km under the WLTP test cycle.
Pricing of the Mega is expected to be around 600,000 RMB which is equivalent to $A130,000 in its local market.
Li Auto is expected to announce the Mega and release its pricing and specifications in March.
Watch Li Auto Mega charging at over 520 kW of DC charging speed
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
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