The race to charge electric vehicles as quickly as filling petrol

Electric car makers are pushing to lower the length of time it takes to recharge a vehicle's battery, with one company claiming to have achieved a zero to 80 per cent charge in only eight minutes.

Less than a month after announcing its 1000km Aion LX electric vehicle for production, Chinese company GAC has shown off its latest achievements in charging technology, according to website CnEVPost.

At its Technology Day presentation earlier this week, GAC presented the Aion V with two charging versions, called 3C and 6C.

Using a graphene battery pack, the GAC Aion V claims to offer up to 1000km of range, with the 6C version claiming to deliver 800km of charge to an empty battery in just eight minutes. From 30 to 80 per cent charge, the company says it takes five minutes.

For the 3C version – which will debut with a range of 500km – zero to 80 per cent is said to be achieved in 16 minutes, while a 30 to 80 per cent recharge is claimed at 10 minutes.

Despite the significant energy being transferred into these batteries, GAC claims they should last as long as one million kilometres.

In recent years, car companies have been actively developing batteries capable of offering quick charging times, a thousand kilometres of range, and the ability to last a million kilometres. If the claims prove to be true, the GAC Aion V might be the first to achieve all three.

The 2022 GAC Aion V is set to launch in China in September 2021. GAC doesn't sell vehicles in Australia.