800 volts and more are coming for electric cars > teslamag.de

Image: Tesla

Most electric cars are still designed for a 400-volt system, but it won’t stay that way for long. After Porsche started with the Taycan in the luxury segment with 800 volts, Hyundai and Kia now also offer electric cars with this level of voltage. As for Lucid Air, it is slightly higher, which allows higher charging performance without the need for significant cooling. Tesla has so far stuck to 400 to 500 volts, including in its Superchargers, but with the Cybertruck it could actually go up to 1,000 volts.

1000V confirmed for Tesla Semi

In some cases, 800 volts have already reached the mains, Autohaus magazine reported this week. This can best be demonstrated by the BYD Dolphin, an electric car from China almost in the Golf segment, whose first European deliveries are imminent. Increasing the volume of Chinese manufacturers According to the report There is also excitement, and BMW and Mercedes announced this at the IAA show for new electric cars from 2025.

Tesla could also be ready with its announced next-generation electric vehicle – and in the USA previously with the introduction of the Cybertruck, the first deliveries of which were announced this year. The pickup can also be charged using existing superchargers, as observed several times in test vehicles. But at the end of 2022, Tesla talked about a new megawatt-class charging system for the Semi, which will also be used in the Cybertruck.

When the first models of the Tesla truck were delivered, the battery voltage was explicitly stated to be 1000 volts. It was also said that this was also intended for other vehicles, which leaves only the Cybertruck for now, especially since Tesla chief technology officer Drew Baglino had previously described the increase in the Model 3 and Model Y as inconsequential. The Supercharger specification that Tesla proposes as standard (see graphic above) should also provide 1,000 volts as an option. It does not have specifications for maximum amperage, but in tests it was said that it was possible to get 900 continuous amps.

China charges electric cars with a capacity of 500 kilowatts

At 1,000 volts, that’s 900 kilowatts of power – although the cables inside the electric car and its battery can handle that much power, which is unlikely to be the case with the Cybertruck or other cars in the broader sense. At least in China, electric cars and charging stations with a capacity of up to 500 kilowatts have already been announced.

With Semi in California’s individual superchargers, Tesla has already reached the 750-kilowatt mark, although the plug format is different from superchargers. The latest version of the megawatt charging standard for trucks, which Tesla co-developed, even allows up to 1,250 volts and 3,000 amps, meaning charging at up to 3.75 megawatts.