Chinese automaker BYD has announced a new high-speed charging technology that allows adding 400 km of range in just 5 minutes of charging. The company also plans to make significant investments in charging station infrastructure and build more than 4000 new fast charging points across China.
The Super e-Platform technology can operate at a peak capacity of 1000 kW, which is twice as much as the Tesla Supercharger V4, which will reach 500 kW when it launches this year. The first electric vehicles to receive the new technology will be the Han L sedan and the Tang L crossover, with a starting price of 270 thousand yuan (approximately $37330).
«To completely solve the charging problem for our users, we aim to make the charging time for electric vehicles as short as the time it takes to refuel gasoline cars»,” said Wang Chuanfu, founder of BYD. «This is the first time in the industry that charging capacity has reached the megawatt level».
BYD has also pledged to build more than 4,000 ultra-fast charging stations across China, although it has not yet specified a timeline for this project. This is especially important because, according to Reuters, most BYD owners in China use charging stations from other manufacturers.
This is not the only big news from BYD. Earlier this month, the company introduced drone platformwhich can be installed on the roof of any of their vehicles. Developed in collaboration with DJI, it allows the drone to launch and land at speeds up to 25 km/h. Earlier, BYD presented a driver assistance system with LiDAR and AI for each car.
BYD is actively catching up with Tesla in sales In 2024, the company sold 1.76 million cars – is only slightly less than Tesla with its 1.79 million, although 90% of BYD’s sales are in China, and a significant portion are hybrids.
Source: The Verge
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