BYD Plans to Build Network of 5-Minute EV Chargers in China

The Chinese EV maker touted charging speeds of 1,000 kW.

March 19, 2025

Chinese EV manufacturer BYD unveiled a new platform for electric vehicles on Monday that it said could charge EVs as quickly as it takes to pump a tank of gas, reported Reuters. The company also said it would build a charging network across China.

The so-called “super e-platform” will be capable of peak charging speeds of 1,000 kilowatts (kW), enabling cars that use it to travel 249 miles on a five-minute charge, founder Wang Chuanfu said at an event livestreamed from the company's Shenzhen headquarters.

“Charging speeds of 1,000 kW would be twice as fast as Tesla's superchargers, whose latest version offers up to 500 kW charging speeds,” wrote Reuters.

BYD said it would build over 4,000 ultra-fast charging units across China. The company didn't specify the time frame or how much it would invest in building the network. 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, Reuters reported.

Car industry execs in the U.S. and Europe have long been concerned that China could become a dominant seller of electric vehicles, wrote Bloomberg. “Yet Chinese automaker associations' data show gas-powered vehicles accounted for nearly 80% of total vehicle exports last year.”

At a conference in February hosted by investment firm Wolfe Research, the heads of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. acknowledged the competitive pressure being brought to bear in developing markets, wrote Bloomberg.

“Our operations overseas are very fit, but the Chinese are coming to those markets now, globalizing the supply chain,” Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, told investors. “In emerging markets like India, especially South America, they’re being dominated by the Chinese,” he said, referring specifically to China-made EVs.

In U.S. charging news, BP and TravelCenters of America (TA) opened a TA site in Jacksonville, Florida, expanding BP’s network of EV chargers in the United States. The charging site is the first of at least 40 set to open at TA locations across the country.