A 1 MW Flash Charger Opens in Hong Kong, and Australia Comes Next

XPeng and Hong Kong charging operator Halo Energy officially opened the world's first X-Energy megawatt flash charging station in Hong Kong on 22 September 2026 — and used the ceremony to confirm where the technology goes next: Australia.

Halo's press release states it plainly. Having landed the system in Hong Kong, the company will work with XPeng to build the Southern Hemisphere's first X-Energy charging system in Australia before the end of this year.

The station itself is at the Tung Po outdoor car park in San Po Kong. It had already begun operating on 15 September — the event on the 22nd was the formal opening. (We covered the switch-on here.)

The clip is the original Chinese-language video from the ceremony, with English subtitles added. Brian Gu, XPeng's vice chairman and president, speaks first (0:00–1:07); John Tsang, Hong Kong's former Financial Secretary, follows (1:07–2:51).

What the numbers actually say

Specification	Figure
Station peak output	1,000 kW (1 MW)
Versus conventional DC fast charging	16× (from 60 kW)
Bays	4
Chargers	1× 1,000 kW liquid-cooled flash + 3× up to 600 kW
Simultaneous guns	4
Single-gun output (multi-gun in use)	up to 250 kW, model dependent
Grid input required	120–240 kW AC
Peak DC output via on-site storage	up to 1,040 kW
Vehicle-side demo	5C — 450 km in 9 minutes, 8.3 km/s, 619.6 kW peak
Voltage range	250–1,000 V
Compatibility	all brands; 99%+ of public charging piles

The 60 kW baseline is the useful part of that table. A decade ago, 60 kW was the ceiling and a full charge took over an hour. The leap to 1 MW is presented as a 16× increase — and the reason it is possible on a constrained urban site is not the charger but the battery.

The engineering trick: storage does the heavy lifting

This is the detail that makes the Hong Kong site interesting rather than just a big number.

A conventional megawatt installation needs a correspondingly enormous grid connection. Traditional indoor car parks can't host one at all — ventilation, fire safety and space all rule it out — and outdoor sites usually don't have the power available either.

X-Energy takes a different route. The site only has to supply 120–240 kW of AC input. An on-site ESS400 energy storage system buffers that, discharging to deliver up to 1,040 kW of DC output. The grid connection stops being the constraint; the battery absorbs the difference between average supply and peak demand.

That is what makes megawatt charging deployable in outdoor car parks, roadside spaces and warehouse sites with weak grid connections — and it is the same architecture XPeng has used for its X-Energy stations elsewhere. The storage cells are LFP, built to automotive-grade safety standards, and are claimed to have passed gunshot, fire, crush and IP68 water-ingress testing. The system carries a C4H anti-corrosion rating, IP54 protection, supports OCPP 1.6J, plug-and-charge, multiple payment methods, V2G and battery health diagnostics.

Hong Kong as a "technical passport"

The most strategically interesting argument in the release is about standards, not power.

Hong Kong EVs predominantly use European standards, and Halo points out that the certification regime there is consistent with the UK, Australia and New Zealand markets. Its chief executive, Tsang Wai-wah, frames the consequence directly: a charging technology that completes validation in Hong Kong has effectively earned a "technical passport" into multiple markets.

That is precisely why the Australia announcement follows this one, and why the choice of Hong Kong as the first city is not sentimental. X-Energy gets tested in a dense, land-constrained, grid-constrained metropolis with European standards — and then gets exported.

Hong Kong's 2026 Policy Address explicitly designates high-speed charging piles as the backbone network and introduces flash charging to the city. Halo went from signing with XPeng at the end of May to opening in September — four months.

What Brian Gu and John Tsang said

Brian Gu, XPeng's vice chairman and president, put the strategy in terms of market access: "Hong Kong is an excellent international window and bridgehead for us. We believe that here, working with Halo, we can take our ultra-fast charging solution and land it — and show it to international users and international markets."

His key point is that the European standard in use in Hong Kong means the system is "compatible with international brands," and he set out an expectation of similar installations in many countries and cities "over the coming months, or next year."

Gu also said the X9 has been Hong Kong's best-selling luxury electric MPV for two consecutive months, and — per the Weibo post from 烟隐烟隐 that carried the video — that XPeng plans roughly 10,000 ultra-fast charging piles across key overseas markets over the next three years.

John Tsang, the former Financial Secretary, spoke in the second half and was candid about what the choice of Hong Kong signals:

"XPeng chose to put this world first in Hong Kong. That in itself is a vote of confidence in this city. It tells the whole world that Hong Kong has both the ability and the determination to become the global hub for showcasing EV charging technology."

"This is a unique solution and technology model that will also be exported to Asia, Australia and other regions, taking Hong Kong's success to the world."

Tsang also mentioned having recently visited XPeng's headquarters and being "deeply impressed," and noted the number of XPeng cars now on Hong Kong streets as evidence the city stays open to new brands.

Attendance included Legislative Council member Elizabeth Quat, the Environmental Protection Department's chief officer for air quality policy, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, and representatives from power companies, bus operators, the minibus and taxi trades, and major property developers — a roster that says the target is commercial and public transport electrification, not just private cars.

Why this matters in Australia

Halo is not new to Australia — the company already lists Australia among the APAC markets it operates in. What changes with the end-2026 commitment is that the megawatt architecture itself arrives, not just conventional AC and DC charging.

Two practical caveats are worth stating before the numbers get repeated.

No production car accepts 1 MW. The 1,000 kW figure is station-side output. The useful vehicle-side number in this release is 619.6 kW peak, and that is XPeng's own demonstration figure from a G9L — a car whose 5C charging was separately shown delivering 450 km in about nine minutes. A 1 MW charger is an investment in headroom, not a description of what today's cars draw.

A four-gun station is not a 1 MW station per car. The release states single-gun output tops out around 250 kW when all four guns are in use. The headline 1 MW describes the site's capability, shared. Subtract that before comparing it to any single-car charging claim.

Caveats

This article is based on Halo Energy's official press release of 22 September 2026 and the Chinese-language video and text published by Weibo user 烟隐烟隐, whose post labels itself as informal sourcing. The 10,000 charging piles over three years figure comes from that Weibo post rather than the official release and should be treated as an executive statement without a published breakdown.

Technical specifications — power ratings, the 120–240 kW grid input, the 1,040 kW peak output, the ESS400 storage system, the safety-test claims and the OCPP/V2G feature list — are manufacturer claims. The 5C charging figures describe a demonstration under favourable conditions, not typical real-world results.

The Australia timeline is a stated intention ("before the end of this year"), not a signed disclosure. No site, location, partner, power rating or station count for the Australian installation has been published. XPeng has no vehicle in production that can absorb 1 MW, so the Australian system will initially operate well below its nameplate capability.

We have referred to Brian Gu by the name and title appearing on screen in the source video (顾宏地, 小鹏集团副董事长兼总裁). Halo's release renders the same role as vice chairman and co-president; XPeng's own usage varies. English subtitles on the embedded video are ours, translated from Mandarin and Cantonese-context Chinese, and are faithful in substance rather than word-for-word.

Source: Halo Energy press release (PR Newswire, 22 September 2026) and 烟隐烟隐, Weibo — translated & adapted for XPENGTech.