BYD wants to charge electric cars in 5 minutes

Will it soon be possible to load electric cars as quickly as fueling the combustion engine? At least that’s what the Chinese electric car maker BYD promises. In the future, electric cars should be able to charge an enormous range through a new charging technology.

The proportion of electric cars on the car market continues to increase. With the most successful brands, the Chinese car manufacturer BYD, with around four million electric cars sold in 2024, is far ahead of Tesla with around 1.8 million vehicles sold.

Now the Chinese car manufacturer wants to revolutionize the charging process of electric cars. Like the US news agency Bloomberg reports, BYD has presented a new super charging-EV technology that can charge electric cars within a few minutes.

BYD loads e-cars in five minutes

With the new BYD battery system, it should be possible in the future to charge electric cars about as quickly as it takes to refueling with a burner. According to company founder Wang Chuanfu, the company was able to charge the manufacturer’s HAN L limousine at tests with the new technology in just five minutes to a range of 470 kilometers.

According to the company, the charging process can produce up to 1,000 kilowatts of power via the “Super-E-Platform”. For comparison: The Supercharger V3 from Tesla has a peak output of up to 250 kilowatts per loading connection.

With the new quick charging technology, BYD wants to increase the acceptance of electric cars. “In order to completely remove the fear of the users before the store, we have set ourselves the goal of making the loading time of electric vehicles as short as those of gasoline vehicles,” said Wang Chuanfu at an event from the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen. He added: “This is the first time in the industry that the unity of megawatts was achieved in the charging capacity.”

Comparability of the charging results complicated

BYD first wants to install the new battery system in the two models Han L-Limousine and the Tang L-SUV. The sale is scheduled to start in April 2025.

The company also announced that it would build a shop network throughout China. More than 4,000 quick charging stations are to be built.

However, the determined range of 470 kilometers for the HAN L sedan is difficult to compare with other manufacturers. Because the value was probably reached under the conditions of the Chinese cycle CLTC.

In the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC), other conditions apply than in the EU common procedure Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP). For example, other speeds are tested at the CLTC, which of course have an impact on the range.

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