Charging is easily one of the biggest issues with electric cars. It’s not just finding the correct charger, especially when traveling, but also getting the fastest charging speed possible so you don’t spend too much time waiting for your battery to recharge.
Electronic car makers and battery companies have been studying faster charging tech for years to give EV owners the ability to recharge their vehicles as fast as fueling a traditional car.
In recent years, we’ve seen reports about battery charging speeds that will cut refueling times to 10 minutes or even 5 minutes, with promises to see the new technology deployed in commercial products soon.
Chinese EV company BYD is the first to realize the dream of recharging an electric vehicle as fast as a combustion car. The company announced the new Super e platform, which can offer charging times as fast as refueling a gas car.
Specifically, BYD announced batteries that support 1MW of power. That’s 1,000kW or support for 1,000V and 1,000A. That’s tremendous news for EV fans looking to buy a car that charges as fast as a gas car.
The BYD charging speed requires new tech, which means it won’t be available in existing models. You’ll have to buy one of the BYD cars launching this year, including the Han L sedan and the Tang L SUV.
Also, the technology will let you replenish your “tank” with a charge that will give you 400km of range, or about 250 miles. But the 5-minute recharge time for the electric car won’t give you a full battery charge. You’ll need to spend a longer time at the charging station to achieve that.
According to New Mobility, the BYD Han L has a CLTC range of up to 701km, or almost double the 400km range you get from a 5-minute charging session. The BYD Tang L is nearly as good, getting a rated range of up to 670km.
Still, those 5-minute bursts of charging that give you 400km of range are enough to ease your mind for those longer trips that require at least one charging break.
“In order to completely solve our user’s 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 at a launch event, per Reuters. “This is the first time in the industry that the unit of megawatt (charge) has been achieved on charging power.”
Comparatively, Tesla’s best charging speed is about 275km (170 miles) in 15 minutes, per Gizmodo. That’s still great, but it requires more time at charging stations to restore range to a comfortable level.
Regardless of the EV platform and battery tech, the current infrastructure is another problem impacting fast battery charging support for electric cars.
Batteries like the ones BYD will use in the new Han L and Tang L models can’t take advantage of that top 1MW charging speed if there aren’t charging stations to support such power.
BYD said it will develop stations to support the new charging speeds. The company plans to build over 4,000 ultra-fast charging units across China. It’s unclear how long that will take. Also, it’s unclear what other markets will get similar fast-charging stations that can cater to BYD cars and other EVs that will start supporting similar speeds.
It’s likely that the Han L and Tang L models that can support the 5-minute charging speeds will be available to buyers in some markets before the infrastructure is ready. The two electric cars are available in China starting at 270,000 yuan ($37,340) for the BYD Han L and 280,000 yuan (€38,723) for the Tang L.
