We EV enthusiasts have heard it all from the haters before. “What are you gonna do with all those batteries?” “There’s just not enough range,” and, of course, “Charging takes so much longer than a gas station visit.” As previously teased, Chinese auto conglomerate BYD has introduced a new 1,000-volt EV platform that can enable charging rates as fast (or perhaps faster) than a trip to the gas station. We’re talking five minutes.
We got official confirmation from BYD this morning (evening in Shenzen, China) following a report we followed last Friday. On its Weibo page last week, Build Your Dreams (BYD) teased some capabilities of a new EV architecture it calls the “Super E-Platform,” sharing that it will enable charging parity with gas station visits.
To achieve that, BYD promised 1,000 kW charge speeds—double the current industry leaders, including Tesla. In reality, it’s tripling the standard as most fast chargers on the market can only reach about 350 kW, and many of them (in the US, at least) are usually more in the 200s.
While there are some ultra-luxe EV models powered by higher voltage platforms, 800V has been the ceiling for a while, and to be honest, most models today cannot even hit 350 kW. BYD plans to change that with its new “Super E-Platform,” which has officially been unveiled and offers 1,000V and charge rates up to 1,000 kW.
BYD delivers charging speeds similar to gas station visits
As promised last Friday, BYD held a livestream event at its headquarters in Shenzen, China, where it officially unveiled its new 1,000V Super E-Platform, capable of charging 1MW+ (1,000 kW) rates. Per its Weibo post (translated from Chinese):
BYD officially releases flash charging battery with ultra-high voltage of 1000V, ultra-large current of 1000A and ultra-large power of 1000kW, achieving global mass production of megawatt flash charging with the highest peak charging speed of 1 second and 2 kilometers, completely solving users’ charging anxiety when traveling.
Top comment by Gussy23
This is sort of a fusion reactor kind of announcement: apparently possible but many, many years away from being the widely adopted norm.
Base your BEV purchasing decisions on today's BEVs and existing infrastructure. If they currently work for you, the future will be just that much better.
As you can see from the images detailing the new platform’s specs above, this is a 1,000-volt, 1,000-amp platform that enables charging up to 400km (249 miles) of range in a mere five minutes. As we pointed out last week, today’s event also marked the launch of BYD’s new Han L and Tang L models in China, which will utilize the new fast-charging platform.
To support future models capable of these industry-leading charging speeds, BYD plans to implement over 4,000 ultra-fast charging stations around China. However, the timeline of that rollout remains unknown to the public. You can watch BYD’s complete live stream, debuting the technology and its capabilities here.
Electrek’s take
While this technology is designed in China, for China (at least for now), BYD’s debut of the Super E-Platform is a momentous day for the EV industry. BYD has developed and delivered platform architecture that is the best in the world on paper and has proven that it is possible to deliver charging speeds that are on par with a trip to the gas station.
Charging times remain a huge hurdle for larger EV adoption, so news like this breaks a ceiling for the current industry and offers a glimpse into the future to a day when more and more electric vehicles can recharge quickly, taking one more argument away from naysayers. Bravo BYD.
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