Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD has introduced its technology that reduces the charging time to 5 minutes. With the new system, the charging time of an electric vehicle approached the fuel refill time of a petrol car. What will the new system change, and what are the concerns? Here are the details of the technology that is changing the dynamics in the automotive world…Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD introduced its new platform that allows electric vehicles to be charged almost as fast as refueling a petrol car.Due to the announcement, BYD’s shares rose by 6% in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, reaching a market value of $162 billion. As a result, BYD’s value surpassed the sum of Ford, General Motors, and Volkswagen.Electric vehicle drivers who have been cautious about electric cars have been concerned about running out of battery during long journeys. Automobile manufacturers are developing fast charging and battery swapping technologies to address this issue.Chinese car manufacturers try to attract buyers by emphasizing these technologies in the fiercely competitive market. These innovations contribute to the rapid popularization of electric vehicles in China. Tesla also provides ultra-fast charging stations.BYD announced that cars running on the super e-platform with a maximum charging speed of 1,000 kilowatts (kW) can achieve a range of 400 kilometers in just a 5-minute charge.To achieve this performance, BYD stated that it has developed 10C batteries that can be charged at a speed of 10 times the battery capacity per hour, high-power motors, high-voltage silicon carbide power chips, and fast charging devices supporting up to 1,000 kW. For comparison, Tesla mostly uses a 400-volt system that can charge up to 250 kW in their electric vehicles. Among the exceptions are Cybertruck with an 800-volt system and a maximum charging power of 350 kW, and the Semi truck with a 1,000-volt traction system.Geely’s premium brand Zeekr can charge the 75 kWh battery of the Zeekr 007 model from 10% to 80% in 10.5 minutes using its 800-volt platform released last year. Li Auto and Xpeng also have similar technologies that can offer a range of over 400 km with a 10-minute charge.Although BYD accounted for over a third of electric vehicle sales in China, vehicle owners mainly used public charging stations operated by other car manufacturers or companies. The company’s founder Wang Chuanfu stated yesterday without specifying a time frame that only their brand’s fast charging devices can charge the latest super e-platform and they plan to install more than 4,000 such charging stations across China.However, BYD will try to bridge this gap by working with another company to set up these stations. Chinese car manufacturer Nio has the most extensive electric vehicle charging network in the country, including about 2,700 fast charging stations. Tesla has been leading this trend since 2014 and has installed more than 2,000 charging stations and over 11,500 Supercharger stations in China since September.Li Auto, Xpeng, and Zeekr, among car manufacturers with less market share in the industry, are accelerating their efforts to expand their fast charging networks. Huawei has installed liquid-cooled, ultra-fast charging stations that support vehicle models with a maximum charging power of 600 kW and up to 1,000 volts. As of last year, the number of charging stations, including ultra-fast charging devices, exceeded 50,000.Analysts warn that the widespread adoption of fast charging technology could put additional pressure on the power grid and suggest that more work and investment will be needed to strengthen the infrastructure. BYD announced that it plans to overcome this issue by adding an energy storage unit to each fast charging station. However, analysts pointed out that this would increase the cost of such facilities.