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This story was originally published by The Guardian and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
The leading Chinese electric carmaker BYD has soared in value after it said its latest batteries charge fast enough to add 400km (249 miles) of range in only five minutes.
BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares gained 4.1% on Tuesday to hit a record high of 408.80 Hong Kong dollars ($40.58), as investors bet that the company could strengthen its already commanding market position.
The Chinese company is already the world’s biggest manufacturer of battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric cars that combine a battery and a polluting petrol engine. Investors including Warren Buffett have bet that the company can extend its lead in electric car production – and the sale of batteries to rival carmakers.
Here is what you need to know.
What can the BYD cars do?
The BYD founder, Wang Chuanfu – often described as China’s Elon Musk – said flagship models would be able to receive a megawatt of power, or 1,000 kilowatts (kW), allowing the company to “completely solve users’ charging anxiety”.
The first models to have the super-fast charging technology will be the Han L saloon and the Tang L SUV. At megawatt speed, the new cars achieve “the same speed of oil and electricity” in terms of charging time.
A 10C rating means it can charge to full in a 10th of an hour, or six minutes. Every second adds about 2km in range.
How does it compare with competitors?
Tesla narrowly retained its title as the biggest maker of pure electric cars in 2024, but BYD’s announcement appeared to prompt investors to question whether the company run by Musk – distracted by his allegiance to Donald Trump – could fall behind. Most of Tesla’s “supercharger” network – a key part of its appeal to early electric car buyers – can provide enough charge in 15 minutes to drive 172 miles at a power level of up to 250kW, although its latest chargers will reach 500kW.
Tesla shares fell by 4.8% on Monday, and were down more than 5% after Wall Street opened on Tuesday.
Eunice Lee, the Asian autos analyst at Bernstein, an investment research company, cited Chinese rivals XPeng and Zeekr, whose respective 5C and 5.5C charging systems can add about 280 miles and 342 miles of range in 10 minutes. She was “generally impressed” by BYD’s claims, after it had lagged behind rivals.
For comparison, a mains plug will offer about 2.3kW – compared with the 1,000kW that BYD claims. In the UK, “ultra-rapid” is generally considered to be above 150kW, although there are dozens of chargers on main roads as fast as 350kW.
How is such fast charging possible?
The chargers need to deliver ultra-high voltage and ultra-large current at the same time. But big currents, in particular, cause problems for batteries because they tend to generate damaging heat. BYD said it had managed to reduce the internal resistance of the new battery, allowing the highest charging speeds for any production vehicle.
To handle the high voltages, BYD also had to produce a new generation of silicon carbide power chips, it said.
BYD also said it would install a network of 4,000 “flash-charging stations” across China to allow for the fast charging.
Are there any disadvantages?
The obvious one is cost: the new electrical technology will add to the cost of producing the vehicle – although the speed of the charging could make the cars more desirable for people with “range anxiety”.
Another big problem will be the cost of energy. Faster charging costs more, because more power is needed. That requires expensive connections to power grids, which mean that the fastest chargers command a big premium.
Added to that, it is unclear what effect such fast charging could have on batteries, which degrade over their lifetimes. In existing technology, regular fast charging comes at the expense of reducing overall range.
Will every car have this tech?
No – or not soon, at any rate. Premium carmakers will scramble to keep up with BYD, but in the mass market a lot of the focus is on reducing costs of batteries rather than going for the most advanced. Many drivers – and particularly those with private charging – will rarely need to charge at public chargers except for the occasional long-distance holiday. Otherwise, they can top up overnight when energy prices are lowest.
Comments
I have an IONIQ 5 that can charge in about 15 minutes for about 400km. So, BYD is not unique. The problem is that you need a super charger with a power of 350 kW and there are very few of those because they cost a lot and the local electricity grid is not capable of providing that power. I know of two Canadian Tire locations that offer that power, one in Ottawa and one in Kingston. The Tesla super chargers can obviously also provide that power.
In my experience, cold weather (less than about -5C) seriously reduce the capacity of the battery. That is a big problem for Canada.
On a related matter:
In sympathy with Trump, the federal government has slapped a 100% tariff on Chinese EV's to please the American automakers, and the Chinese have fought back with a 100% tariff on canola, punishing our farmers. In negotiating with Trump, Carney should threaten to reduce our own Chinese tariff in exchange for reduced canola tariff. The entry of some BYD EV's would keep pressure on our own manufacturers to reduce their EV prices.
If we needed to drive more, i.e. if we lived in suburbia and weren't retired, the Ionic 5 would probably be our choice. I would have a charger installed with a minimum of a 30 amp breaker. We don't take long road trips anymore, so an average EV charge will cover them.
However, we live in the inner city and can walk to shop or take a subway for a 5 minute ride to downtown. Our little econobox sits on the street 90% of the time. Buying a $40,000-$70,000 EV is not justified.
However, our neighbours have different transportation needs. There are an increasing number of EVs in our neighbourhood, but the street is full of small lots without lanes, and the houses average 110 years old and predate zoning bylaws and off street parking requirements by 50 years.
Most of the EVs run an ordinary extension cord to the street parking for a Level 1 overnight charge from a 15 amp breaker. Most use a safety crossing "hump" over the sidewalks or run the cord up into a tree and over the sidewalk. About half have Level 2 charge ports installed outdoors and they run a thicker cord to their EV. All these cords reminds me of plugging in cars with engine block heaters in subzero Calgary (where I grew up) and running the cords over the sidewalks on temporary wooden structures.
I completely agree that Canada needs to remove or negotiate the tariffs on Chinese EVs. Slapping a 100% tariff on them seemed kneejerk, and not anticipating a reaction was dumb. The way Trump is acting, it stands to reason that Canada must rethink its entire auto industry. The US may now be politically unstable for a long time to come. Thinking everything will go back to normal after the next election is naive, given the anti-democracy tenets of Project 2025.
Mark Carney said as much recently and talked about rejigging the industry to meet our own domestic transport needs first and track back through the supply chains to our own steel and aluminum.
Federal investment intentions for EVs and battery plants are already in place. Canada needs its own EV brands more suited for cold weather performance, and to break the cycle of building huge SUVs for non commercial urban use while rejecting compact and subcompact cars, delivery vans and cargo trucks. The feds can design rebates and grants around size and commercial licences. No rebates for non commercial pick up trucks or SUVs above a certain weight or size. Cities, which pay for road maintenance and traffic/parking management will probably quickly agree and join up with regulations.
The Chinese have the latest and greatest battery tech, and are about to release sodium and silicon batteries (perhaps hybrids with lithium) which have excellent cold weather performance. The EU was more intelligent about tariffs, which are low enough to allow Chinese EVs into their market while protecting their own automakers. Do we have any other choice than to negotiate with China on this given the likely permanent threat to Canadian manufacturing and now agriculture originating overall from the US and selectively from China?
Allowing Chinese EVs into Canada under negotiated conditions will provide Canadians access to affordable EVs and good battery tech. Total life span recycling needs to be mandatory throughout our auto sector. Canadian companies like Magna should be approached with generous proposals to move into manufacturing EVs of various sizes exclusively, not just parts. Magna already makes high tech EV motors. Canadian EVs may even be in demand as a popular overseas product one day. And who says a car company cannot expand into trains and buses?
These measures dovetail with expanding the nation's power grid to accommodate mass electrification of everything.
While what I have is a 2001 Saturn that is the most eco-car I could have, because it has already been smelted and forged, I'm watching the car industry with great interest. It sounds a lot like the computer industry in the 1980s - every single model year brings visible, sometimes surprising performance gains and values-added.
The notion that this isn't the New Wave of our times - electrification in general - is like imagining that 'computerization' wasn't going to be the theme of the 80s and 90s.
Its multiple facets - vehicles, heating & cooling, industrial energy - remind me of computers affecting text, then sound, then image, then video and communications, as their power grew.
Never mind cars, in some places: apparently in India, 70% of the fuel burned goes into 2- and 3-wheel vehicles, the cycles and tuktuks - they're obviously all electrifying as fast as the factories can turn them out.
It's almost funny that some think they can stand in the way. King Canute demonstrated that you can't command the sea coming in.
Well said.
So, remind me again why we have 100% tariffs on these cars? Oh, right, because the Americans wanted us to. You know, the same Americans that want to TAKE OVER OUR COUNTRY.