BYD’s new 1,000 kW EV fast chargers are ready and could hit China as early as next week
Less than ten days after BYD unveiled potentially game-changing EV charging technology, the Chinese auto conglomerate doubled down on its implementation plans and has shared that the first 1,000 kW fast chargers examples will be available to drivers as early as next week.
Today’s exciting news dates back to a story that began a mere few weeks ago. We reported that Build Your Dreams (BYD) was teasing a new high-performance EV platform alongside pre-sales of two new all-electric models that will utilize EV faster charger technology capable of rates as high as 1,000 kW.
As promised, BYD confirmed its new 1,000V Super E-Platform on March 17, capable of charging 1MW+ (1,000 kW) rates. The new EV architecture, supported by a new line of BYD fast chargers, enables up to 400km (249 miles) of range in a mere five minutes of charging.
At the time, BYD divulged plans to implement over 4,000 ultra-fast charging stations around China to support EV models capable of these industry-leading charging speeds. However, the timeline of that rollout remained unknown to the public.
Today, however, we have learned that the development of BYD’s new 1,000 kW fast chargers is quite far along, so much so that the Chinese auto conglomerate intends to install hundreds in early April.
1,000 kW BYD fast charger expected in early April
As reported by CNEVPost, BYD’s ultra-fast chargers capable of 1,000 kW rates will be ready for use in April. According to BYD’s general manager of brand and public relations, Li Yunfei, the company’s plans for installing 4,000 of these new EV fast chargers are already underway.
Furthermore, the initial rollout of 500 chargers is said to be ready to go when the recently announced Han L and Tang L EVs, which feature BYD’s new Super E-Platform technology, launch in early April.
While we still don’t have a concrete timeline on when BYD expects to put all 4,000 planned fast chargers into operation, the news that it already has 500 ready to install is encouraging. Since many potential sites don’t have the power capacity to support such tremendous charging rates, BYD also plans to install energy storage facilities onsite (see image above) to ensure its drivers can achieve replenish speeds as close to 1,000 kW as possible.
Li also shared that the two new BYD BEVs on the Super E-Platform will debut with “11 world’s firsts,” including 1 MW fast charging capabilities. As such, Li said many people don’t believe such capabilities are true but invite those naysayers to come and experience the technology firsthand when it comes online in China. Even with charging technology that is unquestionably the fastest in the world, Li relayed a sense of humility and hope for the future in the form of friendly competition:
In some technologies, BYD is currently leading, but it is possible that in time, it will be surpassed by other companies with even better technologies, which is a good thing! The road to electrification and intelligence is wide, and companies with good technology and products can all be accommodated by the market.
We will keep an eye on these planned installations in China and perhaps might be able to experience them in person when we are at the Shanghai Auto Show next month. Stay tuned!
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In a joint statement, French and German economists have called on governments to adopt “a common approach” to decarbonize European trucking fleets – and they’re calling for a focus on fully electric trucks, not hydrogen.
France and Germany are the two largest economies in the EU, and they share similar challenges when it comes to freight decarbonization. The two countries also share a border, and the traffic between the two nations generates major cross-border flows that create common externalities between the two countries.
At the same time, the EU’s transport sector has struggled to reduce emissions at the same rate as other industries – and road freight in particular is a major contributor to harmful carbon emissions issue due to that industry’s heavy reliance on diesel-powered trucks.
And for once, it seems like rail isn’t a viable option:
While rail remains competitive mainly for heavy, homogeneous goods over long distances. Most freight in Europe is indeed transported over distances of less than 200 km and involves consignment weights of up to 30 tonnes (GCEE, 2024) In most such cases, transportation by rail instead of truck is not possible or not competitive. Moreover, taking into account the goods currently transported in intermodal transport units over distances of more than 300 km, the modal shift potential from road to rail would be only 6% in Germany and less than 2% in France.
That leaves trucks – and, while numerous government incentives currently exist to promote the parallel development of both hydrogen and battery electric vehicle infrastructures, the study is clear in picking a winner.
“Policies should focus on battery-electric trucks (BET) as these represent the most mature and market-ready technology for road freight transport,” reads the the FGCEE statement. “Hence, to ramp-up usage of BET public funding should be used to accelerate the roll-out of fast-charging networks along major corridors and in private depots.”
The appeal was signed by the co-chair of the advisory body on the German side is the chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts, Monika Schnitzer. Camille Landais co-chairs the French side. On the German side, the appeal was signed by four of the five experts; Nuremberg-based energy economist Veronika Grimm (who also sits on the National Hydrogen Council, which is committed to promoting H2 trucks and filling stations) did not sign.
You can read an English version of the CAE FGCEE joint statement here.
Electrek’s Take
MAN Trucks’ CEO famously said that it was “impossible” for hydrogen to compete with BEVs, and even committed to building 200 hydrogen-powered semi truck to prove out that hypothesis.
He’s not alone. MAN’s board member for research and development, Frederik Zohm, said that the company is the one saying hydrogen still has years to go. “(MAN) continues to research fuel cell technology based on battery electrics,” he said, in a statement quoted by Hydrogen Insight, before another board member added that, “we (MAN) expect that, in the future, we will be able to best serve the vast majority of our customers’ transport applications with battery-electric trucks.”
With companies like Volvo and Renault and now Mercedes racking up millions of miles on their respective battery electric semi truck fleets, it’s no longer even close. EV is the way.
SOURCE | IMAGES: CAE FGCEE; via Electrive.
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GE Vernova has produced over half the turbines needed for SunZia Wind, which will be the largest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere when it comes online in 2026.
GE Vernova has manufactured enough turbines at its Pensacola, Florida, factory to supply over 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of the turbines needed for the $5 billion, 2.4 GW SunZia Wind, a project milestone. The wind farm will be sited in Lincoln, Torrance, and San Miguel counties in New Mexico.
At a ribbon-cutting event for Pensacola’s new customer experience center, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik noted that since 2023, the company has invested around $70 million in the Pensacola factory.
The Pensacola investments are part of the announcement GE Vernova made in January that it will invest nearly $600 million in its US factories and facilities over the next two years to help meet the surging electricity demands globally. GE Vernova says it’s expecting its investments to create more than 1,500 new US jobs.
Vic Abate, CEO of GE Vernova Wind, said, “Our dedicated employees in Pensacola are working to address increasing energy demands for the US. The workhorse turbines manufactured at this world-class factory are engineered for reliability and scalability, ensuring our customers can meet growing energy demand.”
SunZia Wind and Transmission will create US history’s largest clean energy infrastructure project.
Read more: The largest clean energy project in US history closes $11B, starts full construction
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