October 12, 2025 • 11 mins
Zeekr’s new 001 FR can add 310 miles of range in just over 11 minutes using CATL’s Qilin battery and an 800-volt system. The production model delivers 1,265 horsepower, charges faster than any Tesla or Porsche, and marks a major leap for real-world EV performance.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
the critical crossroads. That shape SpaceX.
Tesla X, The Boring Company and Neurolink.
I'm your host, Will Walden Zeeker.
Has just delivered the first production EV that can add 310
miles of range in about 11 1/2 minutes.
(00:24):
Does the 2025 Zeeker 001 Fr and it is not a prototype.
This is a real thing and it's onsale in China right now.
It's powered by CATL with cattle, new Quillin battery,
QILIN if you're not familiar, and an 800 Volt architecture
that raises the bar for how fastany EV can charge if it's
(00:45):
equipped with this stuff. So how long before Western
Automaker's Tesla in particular,are they going to be able to
match this kind of speed anytimesoon?
We don't know. We don't know the I'm sure
Tesla's working on something similar, but we have no
information about it. So let's talk about this.
(01:05):
Zeker, OK, Geely is a umbrella company.
Zeker is their premium EV brand,and they claim that the 001 Fr
reaches the peak charging rate of 546 kilowatts.
That is a major blow to their competitors.
(01:26):
Tesla Supercharger V3 is 250 kilowatts Porcin 1 of the
fastest charging EVs on the market is 270 kilowatts.
Zeger's new setup more than double S that the car charges
from 10 to 80% in just 11 1/2 minutes and in that time it can
(01:47):
gain about 250 ish miles of range.
And even with real world variations, the scale of that
improvement is huge. This battery, that's what made
this possible. It's cell to pack design removes
the traditional module structure, increasing both
energy density and cooling efficiency.
Heat management has always been the barrier to faster charging,
(02:11):
and this new pack attacks that directly.
Ziker didn't just make an announcement, they have put out
the vehicle. It built this battery into a car
that people can actually buy andthis is a consumer reality now.
(02:31):
The 00 Fr uses a quad motor setup that delivers 12165
horsepower and it's all-wheel drive.
It escalates from zero to 62 mph.
At. 2.07 seconds with launch control active and Zeker
developed its own motors for thecar, giving it precise torque
vectoring in a drift mode that usually belongs in track only
(02:54):
prototype, so this thing is a killer.
Unlike most high performance EVs, this one doesn't trade
charging speed for power, thoughit combines both and it's
already out there. Like I said before, it's in
China and the pricing puts the car in direct competition with
Porsche and Tesla's top models. At around $102,000 USD, it sits
(03:20):
beside the Model S Plaid and theTake Hand Turbo.
Those cars deliver similar acceleration but can't charge
anywhere near as quickly. Zika's claim of 546 kilowatts
dwarfs anything Porsche and Tesla are doing right now.
For buyers who want performance in fast turn around times on
(03:43):
long trips, the difference matters as much as the
horsepower numbers because anything can go zero to 60 in
two seconds now. Not a big deal for EVs.
We getting that 10 minute, 12 minute turn around on charging
time and you don't have to wait 30 minutes anymore.
You just have to wait the 10 minutes.
It's about the same time as a regular gas pump.
(04:07):
I mean, a regular gas pump it's around 5:00 to 7:00 minutes.
And if you wait a couple extra minutes, you can charge your EV
almost all the way. You get up about 250 more miles
out of it. So this is a huge, huge deal.
Zeiger's new V3 charging networksupports the speed too.
This is a big deal too, the charging network.
(04:29):
Without this network, this wouldn't be possible.
Each charger delivers up to 800 amps at 800 volts.
There's over 1000 stations to beexpected across China by the end
of this year. That is insane. 1000 stations
across China by the end of 2025.Zeker says the system will
(04:54):
support other 800 Volt vehicles later on.
So they're ruling it out to their vehicles first, then
they're going to make it compatible with others,
basically using the Tesla Playbook, the test the logic of
controlling the both the car andthe charging ecosystem, but with
a faster hardware curve. Zeker only began building cars
in 2021, but it's already creating its own national
(05:18):
network. This is absurd in the best kind
of way. We need this technology.
Everybody does. So they've tested this thing
from top to bottom. They've done endurance
conditions before any of the deliveries began.
They drove it more than 16,000 kilometers on the Nirburn Ring
(05:42):
and ran it for 24 continuous hours to measure thermal
stability. It worked fine.
Most Chinese EVs are designed for city driving.
Mazeker wanted proof that it's high voltage platform could
handle sustained loads and times.
And those tests show the system isn't just about fast charging,
but it's also durable and it canlast for a long time on long
(06:03):
road trips. So if you're a Rd. tripper, this
is this might be the one for youif you're in China.
But soon Europe will get this too.
They already sell the standard 001 in markets like the
Netherlands in Sweden. And the Fr could follow once
regulatory approvals line up. They would place it directly
(06:23):
against Porsche's strongest EV market.
And if Zika brings his chargers with them, it could shift how
European buyers think about charging convenience and long
distance travel for their EVs. So you're not going to be
waiting 30 minutes for a charge anymore.
You'll wait around 11:50 minutes.
That's a huge, huge change. There's some innovation with
(06:48):
Zeiger. Other companies are going to
follow them and they're going tobeat them.
So I'm assuming in the next fiveyears we will have anywhere
between 5:00 and 7:00 minute charges.
It's how innovation happens. Western automakers have been
promising sub 15 minute chargingby the end of the decade, often
(07:10):
hinging on solid-state batteriesstill under development.
But Zeker skipped the path by refining existing lithium ion
chemistry and cooling design, and the result is a car that
performs right now, you can get it right now.
I just keep saying that because it's wild that this thing
exists. And the zero to 1 Fr shows the
(07:30):
benefit of keeping battery production a car designed under
1 corporate roof. It's like Apple, right?
You have the software, you have the hardware, it all works
together. And that is the most important
part because if you hand this off to a third party, there's
going to be hiccups along the way.
There's going to be Rd. curves, there's going to be speed bumps,
(07:52):
there's going to be gullies, there's going to be ditches,
going to be big hills to climb. Sometimes things won't be
available and that's somebody else's fault.
But luckily they kept it in house and it allows Zeker to
integrate new technology faster.And competitors are going to be
slower because they rely on outside suppliers.
(08:13):
And that alignment compresses timelines from years to months.
They can do everything they wantwhenever they want to do it.
So Tesla, let's compare this to Tesla a little bit.
They've, Tesla built their edge through vertical integration,
just like Zeker's doing. I guess Zeker's doing it like
Tesla did. But Zeker has now applied the
(08:33):
same strategy to charging performance.
So instead of working on the cars as much, I mean, they have
a great car, but they've also worked more so on the charging,
which is the biggest thing that people are worried about.
Like anybody can make an EV. No, you know it.
You can make a a decent. EV for.
(08:55):
You know, $45,000 but if your vehicle, and I'm going to see
this in a weird way, but if it only gets 350 miles, you have to
charge it again. But what if you're in the middle
of nowhere and there's no chargers?
You're kind of, you know, it's not a good idea or what if
(09:18):
you're someplace that you don't want to be, there's a charger
and you don't want to go to thatcharger for some specific
reason. Maybe there's shady people
there. You don't want to go to that
charger. They have to go to the next
charger. What if there's no chargers for
the next 100 miles? And it does happen in rural
areas. I mean, where I used to live, I
used to live in Burlington, Vt, there were three Tesla chargers
(09:40):
in the city and they were scattered about.
Mind you, it's a 50 to 75,000 person city.
But then when you go north towards Canada, 0 Tesla chargers
anywhere from Burlington to Quebec.
So good luck if you forgot to charge when you left Burlington
(10:00):
because and you have like a quarter of a charge and that's
on you. You know, of course, but like if
you had an ICE car, you would just pull over at the next stop
and you'd get some gas, right? Or on your way out of town, you
get some gas and you'd be fine. But the charging network is
super important. Zeker understood that, so they
made that network alongside the vehicle, like 1 to 1 building
(10:23):
the car, the building the infrastructure, the building it.
So it goes super fast to charging and also super fast on
the road. They thought that this was going
to be a future milestone. The Western world has been
working on this for a long time,but Zeker did it ultra fast
charging. It's not development anymore.
(10:45):
It's a real thing. It's parked on the streets, it's
plugged in and it's charging right now.
So if you're in China, take a look at Zeker and if you're in
Europe, also take take a look, see when it's going to be
available. Hey, thank you so much for
listening today. I really do appreciate your
support. If you could take a second and
(11:05):
hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
appreciate it. It helps out the show
tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
support the show even more, go to patreon.com slash.
(11:26):
Stage 0. And please take care of
yourselves and each other, and I'll see you tomorrow.
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
the critical crossroads. That shape SpaceX.
Tesla X, The Boring Company and Neurolink.
I'm your host, Will Walden Zeeker.
Has just delivered the first production EV that can add 310
miles of range in about 11 1/2 minutes.
(00:24):
Does the 2025 Zeeker 001 Fr and it is not a prototype.
This is a real thing and it's onsale in China right now.
It's powered by CATL with cattle, new Quillin battery,
QILIN if you're not familiar, and an 800 Volt architecture
that raises the bar for how fastany EV can charge if it's
(00:45):
equipped with this stuff. So how long before Western
Automaker's Tesla in particular,are they going to be able to
match this kind of speed anytimesoon?
We don't know. We don't know the I'm sure
Tesla's working on something similar, but we have no
information about it. So let's talk about this.
(01:05):
Zeker, OK, Geely is a umbrella company.
Zeker is their premium EV brand,and they claim that the 001 Fr
reaches the peak charging rate of 546 kilowatts.
That is a major blow to their competitors.
(01:26):
Tesla Supercharger V3 is 250 kilowatts Porcin 1 of the
fastest charging EVs on the market is 270 kilowatts.
Zeger's new setup more than double S that the car charges
from 10 to 80% in just 11 1/2 minutes and in that time it can
(01:47):
gain about 250 ish miles of range.
And even with real world variations, the scale of that
improvement is huge. This battery, that's what made
this possible. It's cell to pack design removes
the traditional module structure, increasing both
energy density and cooling efficiency.
Heat management has always been the barrier to faster charging,
(02:11):
and this new pack attacks that directly.
Ziker didn't just make an announcement, they have put out
the vehicle. It built this battery into a car
that people can actually buy andthis is a consumer reality now.
(02:31):
The 00 Fr uses a quad motor setup that delivers 12165
horsepower and it's all-wheel drive.
It escalates from zero to 62 mph.
At. 2.07 seconds with launch control active and Zeker
developed its own motors for thecar, giving it precise torque
vectoring in a drift mode that usually belongs in track only
(02:54):
prototype, so this thing is a killer.
Unlike most high performance EVs, this one doesn't trade
charging speed for power, thoughit combines both and it's
already out there. Like I said before, it's in
China and the pricing puts the car in direct competition with
Porsche and Tesla's top models. At around $102,000 USD, it sits
(03:20):
beside the Model S Plaid and theTake Hand Turbo.
Those cars deliver similar acceleration but can't charge
anywhere near as quickly. Zika's claim of 546 kilowatts
dwarfs anything Porsche and Tesla are doing right now.
For buyers who want performance in fast turn around times on
(03:43):
long trips, the difference matters as much as the
horsepower numbers because anything can go zero to 60 in
two seconds now. Not a big deal for EVs.
We getting that 10 minute, 12 minute turn around on charging
time and you don't have to wait 30 minutes anymore.
You just have to wait the 10 minutes.
It's about the same time as a regular gas pump.
(04:07):
I mean, a regular gas pump it's around 5:00 to 7:00 minutes.
And if you wait a couple extra minutes, you can charge your EV
almost all the way. You get up about 250 more miles
out of it. So this is a huge, huge deal.
Zeiger's new V3 charging networksupports the speed too.
This is a big deal too, the charging network.
(04:29):
Without this network, this wouldn't be possible.
Each charger delivers up to 800 amps at 800 volts.
There's over 1000 stations to beexpected across China by the end
of this year. That is insane. 1000 stations
across China by the end of 2025.Zeker says the system will
(04:54):
support other 800 Volt vehicles later on.
So they're ruling it out to their vehicles first, then
they're going to make it compatible with others,
basically using the Tesla Playbook, the test the logic of
controlling the both the car andthe charging ecosystem, but with
a faster hardware curve. Zeker only began building cars
in 2021, but it's already creating its own national
(05:18):
network. This is absurd in the best kind
of way. We need this technology.
Everybody does. So they've tested this thing
from top to bottom. They've done endurance
conditions before any of the deliveries began.
They drove it more than 16,000 kilometers on the Nirburn Ring
(05:42):
and ran it for 24 continuous hours to measure thermal
stability. It worked fine.
Most Chinese EVs are designed for city driving.
Mazeker wanted proof that it's high voltage platform could
handle sustained loads and times.
And those tests show the system isn't just about fast charging,
but it's also durable and it canlast for a long time on long
(06:03):
road trips. So if you're a Rd. tripper, this
is this might be the one for youif you're in China.
But soon Europe will get this too.
They already sell the standard 001 in markets like the
Netherlands in Sweden. And the Fr could follow once
regulatory approvals line up. They would place it directly
(06:23):
against Porsche's strongest EV market.
And if Zika brings his chargers with them, it could shift how
European buyers think about charging convenience and long
distance travel for their EVs. So you're not going to be
waiting 30 minutes for a charge anymore.
You'll wait around 11:50 minutes.
That's a huge, huge change. There's some innovation with
(06:48):
Zeiger. Other companies are going to
follow them and they're going tobeat them.
So I'm assuming in the next fiveyears we will have anywhere
between 5:00 and 7:00 minute charges.
It's how innovation happens. Western automakers have been
promising sub 15 minute chargingby the end of the decade, often
(07:10):
hinging on solid-state batteriesstill under development.
But Zeker skipped the path by refining existing lithium ion
chemistry and cooling design, and the result is a car that
performs right now, you can get it right now.
I just keep saying that because it's wild that this thing
exists. And the zero to 1 Fr shows the
(07:30):
benefit of keeping battery production a car designed under
1 corporate roof. It's like Apple, right?
You have the software, you have the hardware, it all works
together. And that is the most important
part because if you hand this off to a third party, there's
going to be hiccups along the way.
There's going to be Rd. curves, there's going to be speed bumps,
(07:52):
there's going to be gullies, there's going to be ditches,
going to be big hills to climb. Sometimes things won't be
available and that's somebody else's fault.
But luckily they kept it in house and it allows Zeker to
integrate new technology faster.And competitors are going to be
slower because they rely on outside suppliers.
(08:13):
And that alignment compresses timelines from years to months.
They can do everything they wantwhenever they want to do it.
So Tesla, let's compare this to Tesla a little bit.
They've, Tesla built their edge through vertical integration,
just like Zeker's doing. I guess Zeker's doing it like
Tesla did. But Zeker has now applied the
(08:33):
same strategy to charging performance.
So instead of working on the cars as much, I mean, they have
a great car, but they've also worked more so on the charging,
which is the biggest thing that people are worried about.
Like anybody can make an EV. No, you know it.
You can make a a decent. EV for.
(08:55):
You know, $45,000 but if your vehicle, and I'm going to see
this in a weird way, but if it only gets 350 miles, you have to
charge it again. But what if you're in the middle
of nowhere and there's no chargers?
You're kind of, you know, it's not a good idea or what if
(09:18):
you're someplace that you don't want to be, there's a charger
and you don't want to go to thatcharger for some specific
reason. Maybe there's shady people
there. You don't want to go to that
charger. They have to go to the next
charger. What if there's no chargers for
the next 100 miles? And it does happen in rural
areas. I mean, where I used to live, I
used to live in Burlington, Vt, there were three Tesla chargers
(09:40):
in the city and they were scattered about.
Mind you, it's a 50 to 75,000 person city.
But then when you go north towards Canada, 0 Tesla chargers
anywhere from Burlington to Quebec.
So good luck if you forgot to charge when you left Burlington
(10:00):
because and you have like a quarter of a charge and that's
on you. You know, of course, but like if
you had an ICE car, you would just pull over at the next stop
and you'd get some gas, right? Or on your way out of town, you
get some gas and you'd be fine. But the charging network is
super important. Zeker understood that, so they
made that network alongside the vehicle, like 1 to 1 building
(10:23):
the car, the building the infrastructure, the building it.
So it goes super fast to charging and also super fast on
the road. They thought that this was going
to be a future milestone. The Western world has been
working on this for a long time,but Zeker did it ultra fast
charging. It's not development anymore.
(10:45):
It's a real thing. It's parked on the streets, it's
plugged in and it's charging right now.
So if you're in China, take a look at Zeker and if you're in
Europe, also take take a look, see when it's going to be
available. Hey, thank you so much for
listening today. I really do appreciate your
support. If you could take a second and
(11:05):
hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
appreciate it. It helps out the show
tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
support the show even more, go to patreon.com slash.
(11:26):
Stage 0. And please take care of
yourselves and each other, and I'll see you tomorrow.
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