BYD says it can recharge an electric vehicle as fast as a full tank of petrol
Chinese carmaker BYD, which showed interest in 2024 in breaking into the Canadian market but had to back down in the face of the 100% federal surtax imposed on Chinese-made electric vehicles, is doing quite well thank you, in its own corner of the globe. And its success will continue with the latest technological advances made by its engineers.
Indeed, BYD has just announced a new 1,000-volt electric architecture, dubbed “Super E-Platform”, capable of recharging a vehicle in five minutes, the equivalent of stopping at a gas station to fill up. It would be able to extract up to one megawatt (1,000 kW) from a direct current charging station.
In North America, the most efficient electric vehicles in terms of recharging currently use 800-volt systems, or even just over 900 volts in the case of Lucid Air and Gravity. What's more, the most powerful charging stations available to drivers deliver a maximum of 350 kW, and vehicle technology doesn't allow them to extract that much.
With what it has just unveiled online on Monday, BYD is talking about a 5-minute recharge that restores 400 km of range, or more than 1 km per second. The new Han L and Tang L will be the first models to benefit.
BYD plans to install more than 4,000 ultra-fast 1,000 kW charging stations across China, but did not specify a timetable. Nor was there any mention of other markets around the world, including Mexico, where BYD has recorded its third-highest sales volume since its launch in 2023.
