Chery claims 500km charge in eight minutes with new Rhino battery tech
Chery's next-gen Rhino battery targets the biggest EV pain points with 5,000 charge cycles, multi-layer safety systems and a roadmap to 1,500km solid-state range.
Rob Leigh
Chery has revealed its next-generation battery technology at the 2026 Chery Auto Battery Night in Wuhu, China, and the headline figure is hard to ignore: 500km of range from just eight minutes of charging.
The system is called Rhino and it's built around three core promises - fast charging, long life and safety. Alongside the rapid charge claim, Chery says the battery supports up to 5,000 charge cycles, which is meaningfully more than most current lithium-ion packs on the market.
Safety gets a "three lines of defence" treatment, combining advanced materials, structural protection, and cloud-based monitoring. Chery has also put the battery through six extreme test scenarios, including high and low temperatures, salt exposure, collisions, underbody impacts, and water immersion.
The Rhino family will cover hybrid (H Series), battery electric (E Series), and future solid-state (S Series) variants, so it's designed to sit across Chery's full powertrain lineup rather than replace it.
Solid-state is the longer game here. Chery says it has more than 1,200 specialists working on the technology, backed by over RMB 10 billion in investment. Current prototypes are hitting energy densities of 400 Wh/kg, with a target of 600 Wh/kg, which Chery claims could unlock driving ranges beyond 1,500km. AI is also in the mix, with more than one million simulations used to refine performance across 100-plus battery parameters.
On sustainability, Chery is targeting a 60% reduction in per-vehicle emissions by 2030, operational carbon neutrality by 2037, and full value-chain neutrality by 2047.
No Australian launch timing has been confirmed for Rhino battery technology. Locally, Chery and Omoda Jaecoo are already expanding their electrified lineup across hybrid, plug-in hybrid and full EV models. The Jaecoo J5 EV has surpassed 2,000 orders in its first three months on sale, pointing to growing appetite for the brands in this market.
Most of what was announced at Battery Night remains forward-looking, but the pace of development from Chinese manufacturers is accelerating fast. Australian buyers watching the EV space will want to keep an eye on when, and whether, these figures translate into production vehicles.
