A few days ahead of schedule, Gentari has removed the 175kW charging cap at its 350kW DC fast charger at X Park Sunway Serene, meaning that electric vehicles that support the high wattage will now be able to charge at full speed. This comes after Petronas’ green energy division completed final tests and a software update that allows the charger to function at its maximum capacity.
Our own Amin Ashaari was on hand at the charger today-along with several other EV owners-to test out the system. In fact, his Kia EV6 GT-Line AWD was the first car to validate the charging speed of the station, said officials from EV Connection (the company that operates the JomCharge network).
Equipped with an 800-volt electrical architecture, the EV6 is claimed to be able to accept up to 235kW of DC fast charging power. Not only was this borne out during the test, but Amin even saw the car briefly reach 237kW at 50% charge. In total, the car went from 8 to 90% capacity in 30 minutes and 33 seconds, putting 66.84kWh of charge into the Kia’s 77.4kWh battery. The car is claimed to go from 10 to 80% in 19 minutes, which means the last 10% would’ve been at pretty low wattage.
As previously reported, the Gentari charger at X Park Sunway Serene is the first in Malaysia to receive Energy Commission's Electric Vehicle Charging System (EVCS) license. This allows the charging stations to charge by kWh instead of parking time, which makes costing fairer for drivers of all types of EVs.
The station is still free to use until December 15, but had Amin had to pay based on the 350kW charger’s rate of RM1.20 per kWh, he would have been charged RM80.26. Contrast that with the Shell Recharge High Performance Chargers (HPC) along the North-South Highway, which would’ve cost a whopping RM128 for the same amount of time spent there-and that still wouldn’t have netted the same amount of charge given the lower 180kW output.
Related reading
- Gentari to remove capacity cap for 350kW EV DC chargers after 15th December
- Gentari's sole 350kW EV supercharger's output appears to be capped by 50%
- EV DC fast charging in Malaysia: kWh vs time-based charging, which is cheaper?
- Gentari offers free EV charging up to 350kW at X Park Sunway Serene for a limited time
- Gentari launches Southeast Asia's first 350kW EV charger, pay by kWh instead of time
