Supercharging Station

A supercharging station is a new energy vehicle charging facility equipped with high-power DC charging hardware, capable of replenishing vehicle battery power at speeds significantly faster than conventional charging points. Its goal is to bring the EV charging experience closer to the convenience of refuelling a conventional petrol or diesel vehicle.

Technical Standards and Definitions

Currently, the industry generally defines DC charging facilities with a single-gun output of 250 kW and above as high-power charging facilities, commonly known as superchargers. More advanced technical standards require a single-gun charging output of no less than 350 kW, a maximum output voltage of no less than 1,000 V, and a continuous charging current of no less than 400 A. Some leading supercharging equipment can deliver a maximum output of 600 kW or even over 1,000 kW. In Shenzhen, the rated power per gun for supercharging facilities is required to be no less than 480 kW.

Operating Principle: Two Core Technologies

The extraordinary capability of supercharging stations is primarily driven by two key technologies:

1. High-Power Charging Technology: The output of a supercharger can reach 3 to 4 times that of a standard DC fast charger. Taking a new energy vehicle built on an 800V high-voltage architecture as an example, a 600 kW supercharger can charge the battery from 20% to 80% in approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Megawatt-level supercharging stations in Ningbo, Zhejiang can even achieve a charging speed of "one kilometre of range per second".

2. Liquid-Cooling Thermal Management: High-current charging generates immense heat, and superchargers utilise liquid-cooling technology akin to equipping the hardware with an "air conditioner". By circulating coolant to dissipate heat, the system overcomes thermal dissipation challenges during high-power charging while avoiding the need for thicker charging cables, effectively eliminating the issue of excessively heavy charging cables.

Compatibility Requirements and Current Status

Not all electric vehicles can utilise full supercharging speeds. Whether supercharging can be achieved depends on the maximum charging power supported by the vehicle's battery pack. If an EV only supports lower-power DC fast charging, the system will automatically detect this upon connection and step down output power accordingly, resulting in no increase in charging speed. As supercharging is a relatively new technology, it is currently featured mainly on mid-to-high-end new models priced at RM250,000 and above, though the number of compatible models is expanding rapidly.

Industry Landscape and Trends

Currently, China is vigorously accelerating the rollout of supercharging stations. Shenzhen has announced its initiative to become a "City of Supercharging", with 1,057 operational supercharging stations built by mid-2025, surpassing the number of petrol stations. Under national policy targets, the goal is to deploy over 100,000 high-power charging units nationwide by the end of 2027. Moving forward, the industry trend points towards integrated "Solar-Storage-Charging-Discharging" stations that combine photovoltaic power generation, energy storage systems, and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) capabilities. This enables electric vehicles to act not only as electricity-consuming transport, but also as "mobile power banks" participating in power grid peak shaving.