This is insane. Just a few years ago I was gawking at Chinese battery-swap stations, and now their chargers are pushing FIFTEEN HUNDRED KILOWATTS

Its fairly cool because, in order to deliver current at these rates, battery storage colocation is typically required (as utility power can rarely deliver this current at these speeds). Every fast DC charge station becomes a battery storage node on the electrical grid, and in the aggregate, they become a distributed virtual power plant. They will soak up low carbon energy when cheap, and could potentially discharge for energy price arb distinct from EV fast DC charging, while also acting as distributed grid health support (frequency and voltage support).

Five minute charging and grid support to deprecate thermal generation is solved simultaneously, with batteries that continue to rapidly decline in price.

CATL now sells batteries online for $63/kWh - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49438604 - August 2026 (4 comments)

Battery costs have declined by 99% in the last three decades, making electrified transport a reality - https://ourworldindata.org/battery-price-decline (First published in 2024; updated and rewritten in March 2026)