While home charging and low power destination chargers are fine for everyday driving, sometimes you just need a quick charge. We’ve seen huge improvements in charging and battery technology in the last few years, so it’s now not unusual to find a very reasonably priced EV that can deliver a 100 mile top-up in well under 10 minutes.
Even so, there are definitely some headline acts when it comes to charging speeds in modern EV, so these are the fastest charging electric cars that you can buy in the UK right now.
Before we reveal the full list, it's worth remembering we’ve put this list together using official, claimed peak rapid charging speeds. That’s the maximum charging speed that you’ll see from your EV.
The actual speed at which your car will charge at a public charging station will be dependent on a number of factors, including how powerful the charger is, whether there are others charging at the some time, whether you’ve preconditioned your battery, the ambient temperature... There are lots of factors. So treat the below figures as a best case scenario, and you can also check out our guide to public charging an EV.
Price: from £46,615
Battery size: 85kWh
Max charging speed: 320kW
The CLA is as efficient at charging as it is at driving. On release, it stole headlines touting an astounding official efficiency rating of 5.7 miles/kWh and a range of 484 miles. Our real world testing found it a little lower at 4.8 miles/kWh with just over 400 miles of range but still, very impressive.
Charging at a Taycan-matching 320kW means that the Mercedes-Benz can pack on the watts pretty quickly, too, gaining 200 miles of range in a mere 10 minutes. That great driving efficiency means the CLA can extract more miles from the same amount of battery, which is why we placed it just above the equally speedy Taycan
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Mercedes' entry level saloon is no slouch Price: £110,000–£150,000 (est)
Battery size: 122kWh
Max charging speed: 350kW
Mercedes has dropped a few long-range gamechangers in the last year and the all new EQS is no exception. This time, they’ve hit us with a mind boggling 574-mile WLTP range. For all its new innovations, we’d hoped it might charge a little faster when you look at its competition.
That 350kW of fast charging capacity is still nothing to sniff at and it’ll give the big electric Mercedes limo some 200 miles of range in as little as 10 minutes on an 800V charger. Using one of the more common 400V charging stations drop you down to a peak charging speed of 175kW, mind you. Still good for a 100 mile top-up in around 10 to 15 minutes.
The 2026 Mercedes EQS is also capable of bidirectional charging with support for vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid, and also with the ability to power any of your electric devices. Or, indeed, your entire house, should you need to – albeit that will require a compatible home charger.
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The latest EQS won't leave your driver waiting Price: from £56,860
Battery size: 83–117kWh
Max charging speed: 370kW
One of Volvo’s greatest strengths of the last few years has been in its electric line-up benefiting from both Swedish minimalist design and Chinese EV technology – courtesy of parent company Geely. That shows best in the EX60’s impressive range and battery technology.
The EX60 will charge at up to 370kW. Much like the iX3, the Volvo also breaks the 500-mile barrier when it comes to range, claiming 503 miles on the WLTP cycle. Finding a 400kW charger will mean you can charge from 10–80% in as little as 19 minutes with the largest 117kWh battery. That’s 352 miles of range added, by the way. Not bad, eh?
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With more then 500 miles of range, the EX60 will only need to fast charge in a pinch. Still, nice to have. Price: from £83,200
Battery size: 108kWh
Max charging speed: 390kW
The new Cayenne launched with a new battery pack and enhanced cell chemistry aimed at improving energy density and efficiency. So, in theory, you get more capacity for a lesser weight penalty. Sounds like the best of both worlds, to us.
Charging speeds were improved over the latest Taycan too, raising to 390kW. That’ll let you charge from 10–80% in a mere 26 minutes, while a 100-mile top-up will take as little as five minutes. Barely time to find the toilets in the services and grab a coffee, to be honest!
Porsche’s optional Charging Service will even let you link an account to the car and give you a Tesla-esque charging experience without the need for faffing around with contactless payments. That bonus does require a compatible charging station though – not all charge providers are compatible with Porsche’s payment system so you may have to tap your card on the machine. I know – first world problems, and all that.
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The Cayenne Electric is German engineering at its fastest Price: from £39,450
Battery size: 75–100kWh
Max charging speed: 396kW
We’re now reaching the upper limits of currently available charging speeds, which is impressive given the affordability of the MG IM5. The next few are all around the 400kW mark but there’s one big jump yet to come.
The MG IM5 is coming up to its first birthday and yet it still sits right at the top in terms of charging and battery technology. It will charge at up to 390kW and shoot from 10–80% state of charge in just 17 minutes.
WLTP range is just as impressive at 441 miles on a single charge so, you’d better hope that there’s no queue at the coffee shop as this big, luxury MG saloon is capable of adding around 100 miles of range in around five minutes.
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Th IM5 is quick off the line and quick at a service station Price: from £39,800
Battery size: 76–100kWh
Max charging speed: 400kW
First up in the 400kW+ club is the Smart #5. Its fastest charging speeds are available in trims ranging from the luxurious Premium, to the scary-fast Brabus. As long as you get the big battery, you get the big charging speeds. As with the MG, the Smart is giving you world-class ultra-rapid charging for very reasonable prices.
Stepping down to the 76kWh battery unfortunately means stepping down to the 400V architecture which limits you to a 150kW peak charging speed. Real-world efficiency isn’t great, either which isn’t particularly surprising from a near-2.4 tonne box like this one. Our man Mike averaged just over 3.0 miles/kWh in his week with a Brabus. That means just 291 miles on a full charge.
Still, when you put your foot down in the Brabus version and find yourself looking towards the sky, your range anxiety is quickly replaced by abject terror as it claws itself down the road. A worthwhile trade-off, if you ask me.
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There's some pretty clever charging tech at play here Price: from £53,250
Battery size: 82.6–108.7kWh
Max charging speed: 400kW
Ah, our good friend the iX3. Fresh from its overall win at the World Car of the Year awards, it’s now doing its victory lap on Electrifying.com. It's no secret that we love it and no doubt Ginny was singing its praises in the judging chambers in her role as a juror on World COTY.
High on its list of excellent specs is its charging speed. 400kW ultra-rapid charging will add over 200 miles of range in just 10 minutes. Combine that with 500 miles of WLTP-rated range and it’s pretty hard to beat – especially given the competitive pricing.
There’s also added convenience in the fact that the fancy AI systems on board will recognise a charging station when you pull in and automatically open the charging flap. One less thing to worry about when you’re dashing into the services.
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Class-leading in almost every way. Who will challenge BMW first? Price: from £94,950
Battery size: 102kWh
Max charging speed: 402kW
Lotus's new four-door Emeya has the Porsche Taycan in its sights. It certainly can out-charge its German rival in terms of speed, because it came out top in the P3 charging test.
When plugged into the 400kW charger at 10% SoC, the Emeya added a whopping 193 miles of range in just 10 minutes. Between 10 and 20 minutes, it added a further 92 miles of range, meaning that after 20 minutes in total a range of 285 miles had been added to the car's battery.
Amazingly, the Emeya had reached 80% of its battery capacity in just 14 minutes, meaning it is one of the quickest charging cars in the world. Not quite the quickest though, that’s next.
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Geely's influence over Lotus has lightened the load- in terms of the EV transition Price: from £39,990
Battery size: 65–84kWh
Max charging speed: 451kW
The Xpeng G6 is far from perfect, we weren’t particularly impressed by its ride comfort or its lower than average 326-mile range. Part of that is probably down to its below average real-world efficiency, although we haven’t yet spent time with it in warmer months so that may improve drastically in summer.
However, you could be forgiven for wanting to pull in and charge just so you can watch how quickly the thing 'fills up'. The 451kW of ultra-rapid charging is hitherto unheard of in the EV space! Granted, you won’t be finding any charging stations faster than 400kW on British soil and even those are still hard to come by.
Regardless though, if you live somewhere with chargers that support it, or you just want the bragging rights, you won’t find anything that charges faster than an Xpeng G6. A 10–80% charge can take as little as 15 minutes in optimal conditions and you can expect to add 100 miles in less than 10 minutes. Vehicle-to-load (V2L) charging is also included as standard which is always a useful feature if you want to charge your electrical stuff from the car’s battery.
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This G6 really flies when charging Price: £200,000 (tbc)
Battery size: 106kWh
Max charging speed: 600kW
There's lots of fascinating tech underneath the polarising looks of the new AMG GT 4-Door Coupé, but however fast the car might go on the road (or better still the track) it's the high speed it manages when it's not moving at all that really fascinates us. That 600kW charging figure is almost 50% more than even the closest current competition can manage. Sure, there are rumblings of faster batteries coming from China, but the AMG is part of a whole package of cutting edge tech.
Of course, that 600kW charging speed is no good unless you can find a charger to meet its demands, but what Mercedes is saying is that it's future proofing the car for the next generation of charging. And when those chargers come along you'll be able to get from 10% to 80% in 11 minutes or add 268 miles of range in 10. Strangely, it only gets 11kW AC, but you can’t have everything.
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