When people today talk about electric vehicles, a lot of focus remains on driving range, and understandably so. When electric cars began to hit the market en masse about a decade ago, it was rare to find one that could cover significantly more than 100 miles on a single full charge. Nowadays, 500 miles isn’t unheard of.
Although range is indeed an important component to EVs, we believe charging speed is equally if not more important than outright range. Case in point, in our recent 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 versus 2022 Kia EV6 comparison, we observed that a quick 15-minute stop at a charger was enough to add 177 miles of range, boosting our batteries from 10 to 80 percent in the amount of time it typically takes us to fill up and hit the restroom in a gasoline-powered vehicle on a road trip.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the quickest-charging EVs on the market today. To do so, we’re going to look at each vehicle’s manufacturer-provided peak charge rate. What’s a “peak charge rate?” It’s basically the maximum speed at which a vehicle can shove electrons into its battery when connected to a Level 3 DC fast charger. In other words, it tells us how fast an EV can charge and how long you’ll spend waiting at the charger.
A high peak charge rate helps mitigate one of the biggest disadvantages of today’s batteries: the fuller they get, the slower they charge. Think of it like this: Charging an electric car is a lot like trying to find an open seat in a stadium with no assigned seating—it’s quick and easy when you’re the first one through the door but much more difficult when the seats are mostly full. Peak charge rate gives you a look at how quickly you’ll find your seat when you arrive early.
A charge curve, which is a separate figure measuring how long a vehicle can sustain a high-charge rating, is best thought of as how efficiently that stadium can get filled. We won’t get into that today, but it’s a related metric you’re sure to hear about more and more as consumer concern pivots from EV range to EV charging time.
Before you get ready to plunk down a reservation on a new electric car, there are some caveats about these peak charge ratings, which are measured in kilowatts (the higher, the better). Just like the EPA fuel-economy figures you’re used to seeing, these manufacturer-provided figures occur under ideal conditions, which typically means temperate weather, optimal battery temperatures, and an EV charger that delivers the advertised power output.
Your charge rate can (and likely will) vary. Where applicable, we’ll note peak charge rates the MotorTrend staff has actually observed—eventually, this list will be ordered that way. These charge rates are accurate as of publication, but most manufacturers can increase or decrease the rate via over-the-air updates, and they usually do so based on fleet-wide battery health data.
We’re going to focus here on the 10 quickest-charging EVs on the market today, but at the end of this story you’ll find an ordered list of slowest to quickest EV peak charge rates.
Keyword: The Fastest-Charging Electric Vehicles You Can Buy New Today