Shares of Chinese electric vehicle-maker BYD hit a record high on Tuesday after it unveiled fast-charging technology that would enable its cars to run as much as 400 kilometres on just a five-minute charge.
The company described its new fast charging platform — which is twice as fast as Tesla — as similar to filling up a fuel tank at the pump.
The “super e-platform” will be initially available in two new EVs – Han L sedan and Tang L SUV priced from 270,000 yuan ($37,328.91).
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The platform will be capable of peak charging speeds of 1,000 kilowatts (kW), BYD founder Wang Chuanfu said at an event live-streamed from the company’s Shenzhen headquarters on Monday.
“This is the first time in the industry that the unit of megawatt (charge) has been achieved on charging power,” Wang said.
The announcement led Shenzhen-listed stock of BYD to hit an all-time-high price of 384.57 yuan per share. The carmaker has rallied nearly 42% so far this year.
Meanwhile, its biggest rival — Tesla — saw shares tank nearly 10% for the week so far. Tesla stock slumped 4.8% on Monday, and continued its fall on Tuesday falling more than 5.8% in early opening hours on Wall Street.
Compared to BYD’s charging speeds of 1,000 kW, the latest version of Tesla’s superchargers offer up to 500 kW charging speeds. Tesla stock has already been bleeding, with its brand image taking a hit from the controversial politics of its chief Elon Musk and its aging line-up of EVs.
BYD, meanwhile, has also been eating into Tesla’s market-share across the world, including in China, Southeast Asia, Australia and Europe with tech-laden cheap EVs. The Chinese giant has, as a result, taken over Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles.
Building charging network across China
BYD also said it would build over 4,000 ultra-fast charging piles, or units, across China to match the new super e-platform. China is the world’s biggest EV market.
To date, BYD owners have largely relied on other automakers’ charging facilities or public charging poles run by third-party operators to charge their vehicles. That’s even as BYD accounts for more than a third of the EV sales in China.
BYD didn’t specify the timeframe or how much it would invest in building such facilities. But its planned charging network will pose a fresh challenge for Tesla, which has offered its superchargers in China since 2014.
Tesla has built more than 2,000 stations, or 11,500 Superchargers in China as of September.
BYD’s smaller Chinese peers such as Nio, Li Auto, Xpeng and Zeekr have also been investing extensively and building charging facilities for years. Nio has the most extensive charging network in China including nearly 2,700 fast charging stations.
Why is fast-charging important?
Fast-charging technology has been key to increasing EV adoption, as it is seen to help assure EV drivers’ concerns over being able to charge their cars quickly.
Drivers sceptical of EVs have cited worries that their batteries could go flat during long-distance drives. That concern has prompted automakers to come up with fast-charging, as well as battery-swapping technology as solutions.
BYD chief Wang described the carmaker’s decision to develop its fast-charging platform as an effort to “completely solve our users’ 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,” Wang said.
Last year, as part of its push to improve the mileage of its EVs, BYD also upgraded its plug-in hybrid technology that would give its hybrids a driving range of 2,100 kilometres on a fully charged battery and a full tank of fuel.
- Vishakha Saxena, with Reuters
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