Chinese automaker BYD on Monday unveiled a new high-power charging system which it plans to deploy at thousands of locations in its home country.
As reported by Reuters, the BYD “Super E-Platform” enables megawatt charging—1,000 kw of power—and can add 400 kilometers of range, or nearly 250 miles, in five minutes of charging at that peak, BYD founder Wang Chuanfu said during a livestream from the automaker’s Shenzhen headquarters.
BYD Super E-Platform charging
This charging capability will arrive in relatively affordable models from the outset. It will initially be available in the BYD Han L sedan and Tang L SUV, priced from 270,000 yuan (approximately $37,000 at current exchange rates). BYD also said it would build over 4,000 chargers in China compatible with what BYD is terming the Super E-Platform charging hardware.
Tesla confirmed megawatt charging tech for the Cybertruck and Semi in 2022, but it’s since balked on installing the true V4 hardware to back those rates in anything. It had previously suggested it was looking for infrastructure partners to support megawatt charging.
BYD Han EV
Relatively few U.S.-market EVs today can charge to 80% in 30 minutes or less, even in the best possible scenario, with the highest-power hardware. Recent polling, however, shows that consumers don’t even expect EVs to charge as quickly as gas models are refueled.
The big dual-layer General Motors electric trucks can handle 350 kw, while the Porsche Taycan and Lucid Air (and Gravity) top out above 300 kw. There’s nothing on the U.S. market that approaches 500 kw, let alone 1,000 kw, but Porsche has hinted that it may be going to a 400-kw peak in some upcoming product. But as a number of automakers have suggested, we wouldn’t need such powerful charging infrastructure if EVs took a lighter approach.
