XPeng Lowers Battery Fast-Charging Limit to 95% Capacity
On August 9, a Weibo user posted a message saying that he had received a short text notification from XPeng Motors, reading: “In order to ensure charging safety and respond to the guidance of related authority departments, the SOC (state of charge) upper limit of charging facilities in the site was 95%. Now that the charging has been completed, please drive to leave the parking site to avoid being charged an occupancy fee.”
In other words, XPeng Motors will automatically end charging and settle the order when its self-operated charging pile reaches 95% of a car’s charging state limit. The firm said that it attaches great importance to user experience, adding that this adjustment is also intended to better ensure charging safety and effectively reduce potential hazards.
The Weibo user disclosed: “Recently, all fast-charging piles have adjusted their SOC plans according to the requirements of relevant departments. They will automatically stop charging when the battery state reaches 95%.”
Previous reports show that when a new energy vehicle is overcharged, if the vehicle charging management system does not automatically disconnect, this may lead to crystallization inside the battery and breakdown of the positive and negative diaphragms, causing the power battery to short-circuit and catch fire.
Therefore, China Southern Power Grid and the State Grid Corporation of China have issued announcements saying that the upper charging state should be limited to avoid safety accidents. In December, 2020, the State Grid (Beijing) EV Service issued a notice saying that in order to reduce the risk of spontaneous combustion of power batteries after using charging facilities, the DC charging facilities have to be upgraded and add an automatic settlement when the battery charge reaches 95%.
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In recent years, there have been many cases of smoke and spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles in charging stations. In June this year, China’s Emergency Management Department released the fire accident data of new energy vehicles in the first quarter of 2022, showing that there were 640 cases in total, up 32% from the same period last year. This has raised people’s concerns about the charging safety of new energy vehicles. According to information released by XPeng Motors that the charging limit has been adjusted to 95%, there may be relevant policies in the future to further improve the safety requirements for DC fast charging equipment.
