By The Straits Times | Created at 2025-03-17 14:35:42 | Updated at 2025-03-18 00:06:02
10 hours ago
SHENZHEN – BYD has unveiled a new system for electric cars that the Chinese carmaker says will allow them to be charged almost as fast as it takes a regular car to refuel.
BYD’s new battery and charging system was capable of providing 470km of range in five minutes in tests on its new Han L sedan, chairman and founder Wang Chuanfu said on March 17.
Being able to charge a car in the time it takes a combustion engine vehicle to pull in and out of a gas station could convince drivers who aren’t willing to make lengthy stops to go electric.
The new system, which will underpin many of its future electric vehicles, could provide another boost for BYD, which has come from behind to rival US manufacturer Tesla as the world’s top EV seller.
The speeds would be comfortably ahead of Tesla’s Superchargers, which can add up to 275km of range in 15 minutes. Tesla, however, has a much larger network of more than 65,000 Superchargers worldwide. Mercedes-Benz Group’s new entry-level CLA electric sedan unveiled last week can add 325km in 10 minutes of charging.
BYD’s new EV platform will allow cars to reach 100kmh in two seconds, Mr Wang said at the event at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen.
This is BYD “elevating the game to another dimension”, Mr Xing Lei, an independent China autos analyst, said.
BYD has had a stellar start to 2025. The company, which makes only hybrid and fully electric cars, sold more than 318,000 passenger vehicles in February, up 161 per cent from a year earlier.
It is the top carmaker in China, the world’s biggest car market, with a share approaching 15 per cent. BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares are up about 45 per cent in 2025.
An advanced EV powertrain could further boost demand for BYD’s next-generation cars, said Ms Joanna Chen, a China autos analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. “This could mark the beginning of a new wave of model roll-outs, propelling BYD’s battery-electric vehicle sales to catch up with hybrids after they fell behind in 2024,” she said.
BYD is also starting to set the pace in advanced driver-assistance technology. The company earlier in 2025 said that it’s taking this to the masses by including features like lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control in some of its cheapest models.
BYD’s Super e-Platform may also pose a competitive threat to Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), currently the world’s largest manufacturer of EV batteries. Li Auto, for example, is using one of CATL’s latest-generation batteries to enable charging that gives 500km of range in 12 minutes. Bloomberg
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