Charge your EV in 6 minutes? China's new battery could change driving forever

A Chinese energy technology manufacturer has unveiled a battery for electric vehicles which takes only six minutes to charge, almost equalling the time it takes to fill a petrol car tank with fuel.

The battery developed by China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) named Shenxing is a lithium-iron-phosphate battery which charges from 10 percent to 98 percent in mere six minutes and 27 seconds. Charging from 10 percent to 80 percent takes only 3 minutes and 44 seconds.

The development marks a major leap forward and it overcomes a major hindrance that had kept people from buying EVs, long-hours of charging to travel, whereas petrol cars' tanks fill quickly and get the engine running within a few minutes.

CATL claims that the battery charges up to 35 percent in under 60 seconds. It also breaks the record of fastest EV battery charging time set by another Chinese EV manufacturer BYD.

BYD charged an EV battery to full in nine minutes in March 2026.

Though the battery charging time is often impacted by temperatures, CATL promises that their “shenxing” battery will have the same charging time in all conditions. 

World's largest EV batteries manufacturer said even during an expedition in the Arctic at -30C, their battery will charge from 10 to 98 percent in nine minutes.

CATL CEO Robin Zeng said, “The boundaries of electrochemistry are still far from being reached, and the possibilities of materials science are still far from being exhausted.”

The lightning-fast charging speed was made possible by reducing the electrical resistance inside the battery to 0.25 milliohms, the lowest in any commercial battery.