New EV battery boasts 5-min charge time, adding 250 miles of range

The new batteries can charge at 10C, with fast chargers peaking at 1,000 kW.

Time and again, studies and surveys identify the time it takes to charge an electric vehicle as one of the most significant hurdles affecting EV adoption. For generations, drivers have gotten used to being able to refuel their cars in five minutes using energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons, and plenty of them balk at the idea of having to drive a car where recharging a battery takes half an hour or more. Now it seems that may not be an excuse for much longer—in China, at least.

New tech has been developed by BYD, the Chinese automaker that recently eclipsed Tesla as the leading EV maker by volume. Called the "super e-platform," the new batteries are able to charge at 10C, and the new DC chargers peak at 1,000 kW. BYD says this will add 249 miles (400 km) of range in just five minutes. By contrast, most current Tesla Superchargers peak at 250 kW, with Electrify America's chargers maxing out at 350 kW, and even the powerful new chargers used by Formula E can only reach 600 kW.

"Our goal is to make EV charging as fast as refueling a gasoline car," said BYD chairperson Wang Chuanfu.

BYD says it plans to build more than 4,000 of the new megawatt chargers, and customers will be able to make use of them with a pair of new EVs (the Han L sedan and Tang L SUV), which will go on sale shortly. But only in China.

While the brand sells its EVs in other markets, notably Europe, its presence in the US is limited to batteries and electric buses, and members of Congress from both political parties have been working over the past couple of years to prevent BYD or other Chinese EV makers from entering the US market.

We should also note that the "250 miles" would decrease significantly when using the EPA range estimate rather than the more generous CLTC testing regime used in China. But even under the EPA scheme, BYD's new charging platform sounds like a step above anything else being offered for passenger EVs. Perhaps an automaker that does sell its cars in the US will be able to license it...

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