In pursuit of Nio, which has launched 500 kW charging stations in China, Lotus is bringing equally powerful infrastructure to Europe: they promise up to 450 kW of power in direct current (DC), thanks to a liquid-cooled technology that prevents overheating of both the charging station and the battery of the vehicle being charged.
As we know, Lotus – which is now approaching also Denmark – will only produce electric vehicles starting from 2028, with the current Emira serving as the last internal combustion engine vehicle. The charging stations, therefore, come to support Eletre and Emeya, with their massive batteries, allowing those who drive them to recharge in the shortest time possible. These charging stations complement those of the Italian company Alpitronic, which launched the Hypercharge400 in recent months, with power up to 400 kW.
Charging stations as powerful as the cars
In full coherence with the electric vehicles it produces, Lotus has already activated several of its ultra-powerful charging stations in China, with the intention of implementing them in Europe in the second quarter of 2024, starting from April 2024 onwards.
With this power, which Lotus harnesses thanks to the 800 Volt technology, an Eletre R can go from 10% to 80% in 20 minutes, recovering just under 150 km in 5 minutes. At 350 kW, it drops to 120 km in five minutes. It is one of the electric vehicles that recharge the fastest, even better than already excellent cars like Teslas that recover 120 km in five minutes, and the Ioniq 5 that recovers 100 in the same time.
Furthermore, the new Lotus charging stations have the peculiarity of being able to support up to four vehicles simultaneously, and they have a liquid-cooled power storage, designed for highway stops.
Lotus like Polestar
Lotus is not the only Geely brand working on very powerful charging solutions. Volvo is expanding infrastructure across half of Europe, but it is Polestar that is more engaged.
The Swedish sports brand, together with StoreDot, is working on a technology that allows the recovery of an impressive 161 km in five minutes. It is called XFC, even faster than the ultra-fast, and is currently in the testing phase, but engineers claim that it will not lead to rapid battery degradation.
