Sometimes, a chart is just a chart. Sometimes, when you’re looking at Tesla and BYD in early 2025, it’s a striking squiggly metaphor.
Tesla, the biggest US electric vehicle maker, has shocked the world this year with its overt politicisation and slumping sales and stock price. BYD, its great Chinese rival, just shocked the world by announcing its newest model can recharge in just five minutes. The symbolism, capturing the lead that China has taken in EVs compared with the US still fighting with itself about the relative wokeness of EVs, could hardly be clearer.
Shenzhen-based BYD just shocked the world by announcing its newest model can recharge in five minutes.Credit: Bloomberg
BYD’s boast of adding 400 kilometres of range to new vehicles sporting its Super-e Platform in as little as five minutes should be treated with the same caution advisable with any auto announcement.
Delivering peak power of one megawatt would be unprecedented for passenger EVs and raises questions about the longevity of the battery and the cost of building that level of charger, including associated upgrades to the grid. On the other hand, this is no start-up scouting for funding but rather the biggest EV maker in the world, including plug-in hybrids.
Incredibly, the first deliveries of BYD’s new vehicles capable of this “flash” charging are reportedly due as soon as April, which would count as flash deployment. Taken together, this would be game-changing – and not in a good way for Tesla or the rest of the US auto makers.
Charging an EV in a time comparable with that of visiting a petrol station would kick away an important obstacle to drivers making the switch from internal combustion engines.
This would be game-changing – and not in a good way for Tesla or the rest of the US auto makers.
Not only does fast charging dispense with having to think about how you will occupy yourself while the battery refills, but it also addresses range anxiety. If charging is as convenient as filling up, there’s even less reason to worry about getting stranded and, therefore, paying up for an oversized battery – which also has implications for critical minerals demand. BYD says it will build 4,000 megawatt-capable chargers across China.
Delivering this, and quickly, would cement China’s lead in an EV industry that had its breakout moment in California’s Bay Area when Tesla launched the Model S sedan a little over a decade ago.
