VW slow-rolls faster EV charging, handing Hyundai an advantage

Volkswagen’s buggy software has gotten a lot of attention, with product delays making headlines and contributing to the ousting of Herbert Diess as chief executive officer.

The automaker also lags behind the competition in another respect that’s flown relatively under the radar: charging times.

The VW ID.4 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 are similarly priced vehicles, starting around $50,000 for their 77 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery versions. But the ID.4 takes more than double the time to charge to 200 kilometers (124 miles) of range, with the two clocking in at 20 minutes and 10 minutes, respectively.

One of the engineering decisions that’s put Hyundai toward the head of the pack in this regard was its adoption of an 800-volt architecture. This enables its car batteries to more quickly take in electricity at higher power by lowering the current, which can be a limiting factor for other vehicles.

The Volkswagen Group brought an 800-volt system to market ahead of others with the Porsche Taycan that debuted in 2019, but decided against offering it across more models, at least for a few years. That decision, presumably having to do with expense, may have lacked vision. BloombergNEF’s latest research into ultrafast charging finds that 24 automakers are adopting 800-volt technology, including established players Stellantis, Toyota Motor and General Motors, and China’s Nio, Xpeng and BYD.

During VW’s Power Day presentation last year, executives described plans to adopt solid-state batteries in certain vehicles after 2025 and said their target was to offer vehicles that charge to 80% from 10% in 12 minutes.