This £40k electric car can charge its battery in just 12 minutes

You might not have heard much about Xpeng, the Chinese electric car company. But a recent major update to its G6 SUV, destined for the UK from early 2026 and priced from £39,990 ($53,700), is looking like a very big deal indeed.

Xpeng’s operating at what the country’s electric car makers like to call ‘China Time’, and just 18 months after I drove the original G6 in the Netherlands, a heavily revised successor is almost ready.

A clear rival to the Tesla Model Y, the Xpeng G6 is a mid-size SUV with a range of up to 332 miles, a 0-62 mph time of between 4.1 and 6.9 seconds, and a large, 15.6-inch touchscreen on the dashboard.

But what sets this car apart from anything Tesla sells – or what almost any other EV maker on the planet produces today – is the Xpeng G6’s charge speed. It has an 800-volt system architecture that’s capable of charging the 80.8 kWh battery at a massive 451 kW. Find an equally powerful charger, and Xpeng says the G6 will charge from 10 to 80% in just 12 minutes.

That’s almost half the time of the original G6, which could already manage an impressive 280 kW of maximum charge rate. Of course, being able to charge at over 400 kW and finding a charger that powerful are two very different things.

Here in the UK, Gridserve has started to open some 400 kW charge stations, and MFG also has stations capable of 300 to 400 kW. So, while the G6 won’t manage that 12-minute recharge at every stop, it’s a hugely impressive feat – especially for a car costing a shade under £40,000, and therefore avoiding the Government’s outdated ‘Expensive Car Supplement’ threshold.

Xpeng says how the updated G6 uses its Next-Gen 5C battery, which does not use precious metals like cobalt, nickel and manganese. It’s also claimed to deliver a 30% increase in battery lifespan.

For comparison, the 2025 Tesla Model Y uses a 400-volt architecture and has a maximum charge rate of 250 kW (or 175 kW for the smaller battery of the entry-level variant). It takes between about 25 and 30 minutes to charge from 10 to 80%.