BEIJING (Kashmir English): China’s BYD has unveiled a superfast platform for electric vehicles (EVs) that it said could charge EVs as quickly as it takes to pump gas.
The company also declared for the first time that it is going to build a EV charging network across the country.
The so-called “super e-platform” will take only five minutes to enable cars that use it to travel 400 km (249 miles) as it would charge at a peak speed of 1,000 kilowatts (kW), founder Wang Chuanfu said at an event held at the company’s Shenzhen headquarters. The ceremony was livestreamed.
BYD’s ‘super e-platform’ will be twice as fast as Tesla’s superchargers
Tesla’s superchargers latest version offers up to 500 kw charging speeds half the 1,000 kW charging speeds of “super e-platform”.
Fast charging key to rising EV adoption
Fast-charging technology has been a key to rising Electric Vehicles adoption as it may help assure EV drivers of being able to charge their cars quite quickly.
“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 refueling time of petrol vehicles,” Wang said.
“This is the first time in the industry that the unit of megawatt (charge) has been achieved on charging power,” he said.
The new charging architecture will initially be made available in two new EVs — Tang L SUV and Han L sedan priced from 270,000 yuan ($37,328.91).
The company intends to build over 4,000 ultra-fast charging piles, or units, across China to match the new platform.
BYD, however, didn’t specify the time frame or how much it would invest in constructing such facilities.
To date, BYD owners have mainly relied on other automakers’ charging points or public charging poles run by third-party operators to charge their electric vehicles.
