What do 800V and 5C mean, and how fast do you actually charge in Moldova?

400V or 800V: what actually changes

Charging power is simple to calculate: power = voltage × current. A station delivering 200 kW has to push 500 amps into a 400V car, but only 250 amps into an 800V one.

Current is what heats the cables, the connector and the battery cells. Heat grows with the square of the current: at half the current, heating drops to about a quarter. That is why an 800V car can take high power for longer, with thinner and lighter cables.

Most 800V cars use silicon carbide (SiC) chips in the inverter. They lose less energy than classic silicon chips at high voltages. BYD, for example, uses SiC chips rated for up to 1,500V in its 1,000V platform.

Careful: not every version of a model has 800V. The first-generation Xiaomi SU7 had 400V on the Standard and Pro versions and 800V only on the Max. Only the new generation, from 2026, has 752V on the Standard and Pro and 897V on the Max. Many manufacturers write “800V” for 750–900V systems too; it is the same family of technology.

kW and kWh: the speed and the tank

kWh (kilowatt-hour) shows how much energy fits in the battery. It is like the size of the fuel tank. kW (kilowatt) shows how fast the energy goes in. It is like the flow rate of the pump nozzle.

A 100 kWh battery charged from 10% to 80% takes in 70 kWh. At an average of 70 kW, that takes an hour. At an average of 140 kW, it takes half an hour.

At the station you pay for energy, meaning kWh, not speed. At EV Point, the DC rate starts at 9.48 lei per kWh in the Center and South and at 10.44 lei in the North. For those 70 kWh, our calculation comes to about 660 lei at the lowest rate. If you don't unplug the car within 15 minutes after charging ends, you pay 15 lei per hour for occupying the port.

What 4C, 5C or 10C mean

C-rate compares charging power with battery size. 1C means power equal to the battery's capacity: in theory, the battery would fill up in one hour. 2C means 30 minutes, 4C means 15 minutes, 5C means 12 minutes.

Example: the Xiaomi YU7 Max has a 101.7 kWh battery and charges at 5.2C. 101.7 × 5.2 ≈ 529 kW, exactly the peak power Xiaomi announced, 528 kW.

The “C” figure is a peak value, not an average. The battery does not stay at 5C from 0 to 100%. That is why the real 10% to 80% time is longer than simple division would suggest.

Records announced in China have climbed fast. On March 17, 2025, BYD unveiled its Super e-Platform: 1,000V, 1,000 A, 1,000 kW and 10C, with 400 km of range added in 5 minutes. Zeekr answered with a 1.2 MW per-connector station, and the Zeekr 001 updated in October 2025 (900V, 95 kWh battery) claims 10–80% in 7 minutes and a 12C rate, meaning about 1,140 kW at peak. These figures are reached only at the brands' own stations, in China.

Peak or average: the charging curve

Charging power is not constant. It climbs quickly to the peak, stays there for a few minutes, then drops gradually. Above about 70–80%, the battery management system cuts the current sharply to protect the cells. That is why manufacturers quote the time from 10% to 80%, not from 0 to 100%.

A measured example: in a test published by a Chinese car blogger, a Li MEGA (102.7 kWh battery, 800V, 5C) hit a peak of 521.2 kW and did 10–80% in 10 minutes and 36 seconds. Our calculation: about 72 kWh went in, so the average was around 400 kW, almost a quarter below the peak.

The version matters too. The Xiaomi YU7 Standard (96.3 kWh LFP battery) peaks at 250 kW and does 10–80% in 21 minutes. The YU7 Max (NMC, 101.7 kWh) has 528 kW and does it in 12 minutes. The Zeekr 7X for Europe claims 13–16 minutes from 10% to 80%, and the updated one for China, 10–10.5 minutes. It all depends on the battery, the temperature and the station.

What fast-charging stations Moldova has

EV Point, the country's main charging network, has 152 stations and 332 charge points in Moldova and Romania. Its first fast-charging hub, opened in 2023 at 27 Mihai Viteazul St. in Chișinău, has three 150 kW stations and two 120 kW ones. The 120 kW ones also have a GB/T connector, for cars built for the Chinese market.

The 999 network (Simpals) opened a 240 kW station in Sculeni (Ungheni district) in May 2026, the most powerful in its network. That is the station's total power; we could not find out how many kW a single car gets or which connectors it has. We did not find any more powerful stations in Moldova. The national electric mobility strategy plans 150 fast-charging stations by 2030, one every 60 km on national roads.

The good news for 800V: the Circontrol Raption 150 stations used by EV Point deliver 150 kW only between 720 and 920 volts. A 400V car gets at most about 100 kW from them, because the station is limited to 250 amps. So at these stations an 800V car charges faster than a 400V one. If two cars charge at once, the power is split between them, for example 75 + 75 kW.

The less good news: some 50 kW DC stations, like the classic Raption 50, put out a maximum of 500 volts. An 800V car charges from them only if it has a converter (“booster”) that steps up the voltage. Many do, but not all: for example, the electric Mercedes CLA launched in 2025 in some European countries without a booster. Ask and test before a long trip.

Our estimate for an 800V car with a battery of about 100 kWh: 10% to 80% takes around 30–35 minutes at a 150 kW station and around an hour and a half at a 50 kW one. The calculation: 70 kWh delivered at an average of about 120–140 kW and 45–50 kW, respectively. On paper, the same car does it in 10–12 minutes in China.

Does fast charging damage the battery?

A little, and only if you use it very often. Geotab analyzed over 22,700 electric cars (study published in January 2026). Batteries lose 2.3% of their capacity per year on average. Cars often charged at over 100 kW lost up to 3.0% per year, compared with about 1.5% for those charged mostly slowly.

Practical advice: charge slowly, on AC, at home or at the office, and use fast charging on the road. Don't keep the battery near 100% or near 0% for days on end.

Examples from our catalog

• Zeekr 7X800V; the updated Chinese version with a 75 kWh battery does 10–80% in 10.5 minutes, the European one claims 13–16 minutes.
• Xiaomi YU7800V on all versions, but the peak differs a lot: 250 kW on the Standard and 528 kW (5.2C) on the Max.
• Xiaomi SU7The first generation had 400V on the Standard and Pro; the 2026 generation has 752V and 897V. The year and version matter.
• Zeekr 001Updated in 2025 to 900V: 10–80% in 7 minutes, at 12C, meaning about 1,140 kW, only at Zeekr stations in China.
• Denza Z9 GTThe electric version has BYD “flash” charging of up to 1,500 kW (10–70% in 5 minutes, at BYD stations). From 2026, in China, the plug-in hybrid version gets it too; the 2024 plug-in hybrid model charged on DC at only 82 kW.

EVs we bring to order

We have no EVs in stock right now, but we bring them to order. For each one we'll tell you the architecture (400V or 800V) and peak charging power. Prices are final in Moldova.

BYD Dolphin2025 · 4,600 km · Electric€17,700To orderGeely Galaxy E52024 · 6,000 km · Electric€18,000To orderZeekr 0072024 · 4,400 km · Electric · 4x4€25,000To orderPolestar 42024 · 55,300 km · Electric · 4x4€27,100To orderDenza N72024 · 26,000 km · Electric · 4x4€28,990To orderAvatr 112024 · 18,000 km · Electric · 4x4€29,500To order

All cars in stock

Stock changes daily. As of October 5, 2026.

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