GAC promises 8-minute charging for its Aion V SUV

Chinese automaker GAC has announced an upgraded charging device for its all-electric crossover SUV, the Aion V. The company claims charging your car will last barely longer than filling a conventional gas tank.

The charger should go on sale this fall in two different versions, the more affordable one offering a 0-80% charging time of 16 minutes (or just 10 minutes if you go 30-80%). The premium one will need 8 minutes for a zero-to-eighty percent charge-up, and only 5 minutes for a thirty-to-eighty. Impressively enough, GAC says such rapid charging won’t even harm the batteries or affect their life expectancy.

Aside from the above, the Aion V will offer a record-breaking driving range currently estimated at 1,000 kilometers (619 miles). To put things into perspective, even the Tesla Model S Plaid+ was only envisioned with 837 kilometers (520 miles) of range at its disposal – and it never made it to mass production.

The new SUV will eventually provide the foundation for the electric Mitsubishi Airtrek, which will later hit production at the GAC–Mitsubishi Motors joint enterprise. Both models come based on the GAC Electric Platform otherwise known as GAP and make use of a single electric motor driving the front axle with 184 PS (181 hp / 135 kW). Batteries will be available in three sizes: 60, 70 and 80 kWh.

Aion is a premium EV brand founded by GAC. Its only other production car on the market is a sedan named the Aion S.