BYD announces charging tech that’s twice as fast as Tesla’s

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD has revealed new fast-charging tech that can add 400km (249 miles) of range from a five minute charge. With the announcement, BYD has also promised to make a major investment in charging infrastructure, building over 4,000 of the new fast chargers across China.

The “Super e-Platform” tech is capable of charging at peak speeds of 1,000kW, double the fastest Tesla V4 superchargers, which will peak at 500kW when they roll out this year. The faster charging tech is initially available in two new vehicles, the Han L sedan and Tang L SUV, which start at 270,000 yuan (around $37,330).

“In order to completely solve our users’ charging anxiety, we have been pursuing a goal to make the charging time of electric vehicles as short as the refuelling time of petrol vehicles,” BYD founder Wang Chuanfu said from a Shenzhen launch event. “This is the first time in the industry that the unit of megawatt has been achieved on charging power.”

BYD has also committed to building over 4,000 ultra-fast chargers across China using the new platform, though didn’t specify a timeframe for that project. That’s a notable move, given that Reuters reports that most BYD owners in China rely on other manufacturers’ chargers to keep their cars topped up.

This isn’t BYD’s only headline-grabbing move. Earlier this month it launched a roof-mounted drone launcher compatible with all of its cars, designed in collaboration with DJI, which allows drones to take off and land at up to 25 km/h. The company is closing the gap on Tesla, having sold 1.76 million cars in 2024, just behind Tesla’s 1.79 million, though 90 percent of those sales have been in China, and are led by its hybrid vehicles.