It's happening: charging this Chinese EV takes almost the same time as filling up your car with gas

Leading the industry-wide charge to showcase that electricity is the future, the Zeekr 001 is a Chinese EV that charges in record time, almost as quickly as filling up your car with gas.

It’s always been the big problem with EVs: charging.

The habit of dropping into a gas station for a five-minute fill-up on the way to work is a hard one to break, and it’s leaving electric cars out in the cold with their half-hour recharge times.

But not the Zeekr 001, as this Chinese EV is juicing up in seven minutes flat.

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Zeekr 001 2026 is primed with seven-minute charge times

The Zeekr 001 range is freakishly good; not only has it been cast into the public eye for being a quick charger, but its various editions have shone with 0-60 times of 3.8 seconds, and upcoming models have over 2,000hp.

Slated as the ‘Tesla Killer’ (as is the case with many impressive EVs), the Zeekr 001 has lived up to its mark in many respects, blowing away Americans with its power.

But the new 2026 refresh has moved the Zeekr 001 into unparalleled territory.

With seven minutes on the clock, this impressive Chinese EV can surge from 10 percent to 80 percent – an industry first.

This isn’t just a gimmick either. It’s not a matter of fitting the car with a tiny battery and smashing 10,000 volts through it.

In fact, it has a good-sized battery.

The 95kWh powerbank, giving the Chinese EV a 441-mile range, is the same as a Tesla Model S, but it is capable of withstanding charging speeds of up to 1,140kWh thanks to Zeekr’s ‘Golden Brick’ technology.

How far can this Chinese EV charging dominance be extended?

Zeekr has been active in the pursuit of giving its high-performance cars the best batteries in the world.

Just recently, it announced a new 9X SUV, which is powered by the biggest hybrid battery on the planet.

But with chargers getting better, the batteries are soon catching up.

In fact, in the US, only the Tesla Megacharger for the Semi is capable of the 1,140kWh output that the Zeekr 001 can handle.

But, over in China, Zeekr is already rolling out 1,300kWh charging stations, which could see the charging times for these cars be 12 percent quicker.

That would take the seven-minute 10-80 percent time down to six minutes and ten seconds.

Despite the Zeekr 001 being an anomaly with such spicy speeds, it just shows how much the EVs can come, and why they will soon alleviate the woes of long juicing times, compared to filling up a gas car.

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