Li Auto Starts Construction of Super Charging Stations

With the imminent launch of pure electric vehicles, Li Auto has set itself the goal of building about 300 ultra-fast charging stations within the year, with about 10 stations already deployed on high-speed roadways. According to the previous organizational structure adjustment of Li Auto, the overcharged network business team needs to report directly to CEO Li Xiang, media outlet 36Kr reported.

Li Auto is set to release a new pure electric MPV by the end of 2023, which is expected to feature ultra-fast charging as one of its main highlights. The vehicle will be equipped with CATL’s Qilin battery, enabling it to drive 400 kilometers after just a 10-minute charge.

As a new player in the EV charging market, Li Auto has ambitious plans to build over 3,000 super-fast charging stations across China by 2025. In March of last year, Sun Guangmin, Vice President of Li Auto and head of the charging network business, announced the company’s goal. According to the latest plan, the company intends to build 1,300 stations each year in 2024 and 2025.

During a meeting this spring, Li Xiang revealed the company’s vision for ultra-fast charging stations, which will be built on high-speed roadways and host a power grid capacity of 640kVA to 800kVA. It is estimated that building 3,000 supercharging stations will cost about 10 billion yuan ($1.44 billion).

Tesla has opened more than 1,500 supercharging stations in China since 2014. NIO spent four years expanding its battery-swapping station network from zero to 1,300. XPeng has built 1,011 charging stations in just two years. In an effort to catch up with its rivals, Li Auto aims to reduce the construction time for a similar-scale energy supplement network to just 1-2 years.

SEE ALSO: Li Auto Emphasizes Gross Profit Margins, Competition with Tesla and Apple

Recently, NIO announced that the charging station construction target for this year will be increased from 400 to 1,000, and more than 2,300 battery-swapping stations will be built in 2023. One NIO employee said that the company set a radical goal of building 10,000 charging piles this year, a target Tesla only achieved after 9 years in China. XPeng also planned to add more than 500 S4 ultra-fast charging stations in 2023 and build another 2,000 ultra-fast charging stations in 2025.