These Are The Fastest Charging Electric Cars According to Kelley Blue Book
The biggest issue electric cars face as they integrate into our fast-paced lives is how long they take to charge. Gasoline makes filling up a three-minute process, whereas charging takes hours. And it’ll be years before an EV can recharge in the time it takes for a car to refuel. That said, when plugged into a 350v DC fast charger, these EVs will get you back on the road the fastest.
The fastest charging electric car
The ultra-luxurious Lucid Air takes the cake as the EV with insane charging speed. Boasting a 20-mile per minute charge rate, Lucid claims their 1080 horsepower beast can charge 300 miles in just 20 minutes. The shortest of trips to the plug would be excellent for day-to-day driving. But more so, the Lucid Air makes electric car road trips feasible. After all, everyone needs to stop to stretch and pee.
That said, these are all claims. You can reserve a Lucid Air today for $300, but the car won’t be available until late 2021 (assuming there are no more delays). Whether Lucid’s dreaming up these numbers is yet to be determined, but until then it’s all speculation. To balance out their lofty ambitions, let’s look at a car that’s actually available.
The fastest charging electric car on sale now
Snapping back to reality, the Porsche Taycan is the fastest charging electric cars you can actually buy. When first plugged in, Porsche claims the car will charge 62 miles in just 4 minutes, which gives it an average charge rate of 15.5 miles a minute. But there’s a reason the Taycan is one of the fastest EVs to charge: it has one of the smallest batteries.
The range of a Taycan its 282 miles at its best, and 225 miles at its worst. The good news is it wouldn’t take terribly long to charge your car, but the bad news is you won’t get nearly as far as a long-range Tesla. And at $80,000, that’s quite a sacrifice to make.
Granted, the Lucid Air isn’t much cheaper, starting a $70,000. And if you want the fully loaded 1080 hp beat, that’ll cost $161,000. How about an EV with a reasonable charge time and decent mileage that won’t cost an arm and a leg?
The fastest charging EV that won’t break the bank
The Nissan Leaf is the sensible option, a fast-charging electric car people can actually afford (starting at $32,000). The range starts at 150 miles, but for some extra dough that can be bumped up to 226 miles (one mile further than a base model Taycan). And the charging rate is a humble 12.5 miles a minute. Do the math, that’s a 12-minute fast charge for the full 150 miles.
It’ll be a while before EVs catch up to gas-powered cars in terms of range and recharging, but the day will come. Until then, it’s a matter of choice: a long-range electric car that’ll cost you more money and take more time to recharge, or a short-range that you’ll need to charge quite often. When it comes to fast charging EVs, Kelly Blue Book shares a few other options, but in a time-sensitive society, you’ll have to plan ahead.
