BYD's Quick Action In Charging One Megawatt Electric Car Battery, Battery Charges Enough 5 Minutes

The launch of Megawatt Flash Charging BYD last March. (Doc. BYD Global)

JAKARTA The innovation of the Chinese auto giant, BYD seems to be endless. BYD has developed a super fast charging technology powered by one megawatt (1,000 kW) which is claimed to be able to charge electric cars in just about five minutes.

BYD is not just announcing this technology. They have operated more than 500 units of charger 1 MW in various major urban centers in China as well as BYD in collaboration with two major players in the charging industry in China, Xiaoju Charging and LongShine, to expand the network massively.

InsideEVs reported, Tuesday, June 3, Xiaoju Charging has pledged to build or increase 10,000 charging points to 1 MW. Meanwhile, LongShine is committed to adding 5,000 similar charging points. While there is no clear time frame of when this target will be achieved, this move demonstrates BYD's seriousness in leading ultra-fast charging infrastructure.

Interestingly, this 1 MW charging technology is currently only supported by cars built on the latest BYD platform, Super e-Platform 2.0. Currently, only two compatible models, namely the Han L BYD sedan and the Tang L BYD SUV, both launched in April. Both models show a positive market response with sales of more than 10,000 units in the first month of sales, indicating that ultra-fast charging is a feature that Chinese consumers are looking for.

Although BYD currently leads in terms of very high-power charger implementation, competitors also do not remain silent. Xpeng has launched a 480 kW fast charger and plans to reach 800 kW in the next generation. Meanwhile, GAC Aion also has 6C charger technology which is theoretically capable of charging the EV 100 kWh with a power of 600 kW. In fact, Zeekr (supported by Geely) is developing a 1.2 MW charger, and technology giant Huawei is targeting 1.5 MW.

However, BYD's current advantage lies in the realization of this technology. They don't just talk, but already have hundreds of 1 MW chargers operating and thousands more in development plans, as well as cars capable of leveraging the charging speed. This BYD aggressive move has the potential to change the landscape of electric car charging globally.