Shares in Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD Co (比亞迪) surged to a record high yesterday after it unveiled new battery technology that it says can charge a vehicle in the same time it takes to fill up a car with gasoline.
The company said the battery and charging system, called “Super e-Platform,” boasted peak speeds of 1,000 kilowatts, allowing cars to travel up to 470km after being plugged in for just five minutes.
The new technology aims to “fundamentally solve users’ charging anxiety,” BYD founder Wang Chuanfu (王傳福) said.
Photo: Reuters
“Our pursuit is to make the charging time of electric vehicles as short as the refueling time of fuel vehicles,” he said at a launch event on Monday evening.
BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares jumped more than 6 percent to hit a fresh peak at one point yesterday morning before paring some of the gains.
The announcement positions BYD ahead of archrival Tesla Inc, whose Superchargers currently offer charging speeds of 500 kilowatts.
BYD introduced the Super e-Platform alongside two new EV models that are the first to feature the system — the Han L sedan and the Tang L sports utility vehicle.
The Shenzhen-based company also unveiled plans to build more than 4,000 ultra-fast charging stations nationwide to support the new technology.
BYD’s ambitious expansion comes on the heels of remarkable growth, with sales last month soaring 161 percent to more than 318,000 EVs, while Tesla experienced a steep 49 percent sales decline in the Chinese market during the same period.
Separately yesterday, Chinese EV maker Nio Inc (蔚來) said it had signed a deal with battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (CATL, 寧德時代新) involving cooperation on a passenger car battery swap network.
Battery swapping offers an alternative to ultra-fast charging for vehicle owners worried about range, although the vast infrastructure required and standardization issues present major hurdles.
The new cooperation would see CATL invest a maximum of 2.5 billion yuan (US$346 million) in Nio’s battery swap network.
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