Faster Than a Coffee Break: BYD’s New Charger Can Deliver 400km of EV Range in Just 5 Minutes

BYD is flipping the script on EV charging, unveiling a revolutionary megawatt-level charger that delivers an astonishing 1,000kW of power—enough to add up to 400km of range in only five minutes. Yes, five minutes. This isn’t a sci-fi dream—it’s the start of what BYD calls the “kilovolt era” of electric mobility.

At the core of this breakthrough is BYD’s Super e Platform, a next-gen EV architecture that’s as bold as it is fast. The system features automotive-grade silicon carbide (SiC) power chips, a blistering 30,000rpm single-module motor, and a redesigned three-core electrical structure built to handle ultra-high voltage and current. All of this combines to enable charging speeds twice as fast as Tesla’s latest Superchargers.

But let’s be clear: not just any EV can handle this kind of power. The average electric vehicle today would fry under a megawatt blast. BYD’s setup is aimed at a new generation of ultra-high-performance EVs with 1,000-volt architectures—cars specifically engineered to handle the immense heat, electrical load, and power throughput that come with this kind of rapid charging.

That’s why BYD has rolled out this tech in its newly upgraded Han L and Tang L EV sedans—luxury models currently available in China. These vehicles feature a redesigned battery structure with 50% lower internal resistance, made possible by an ultra-high-speed ion channel between the anode and cathode. Internal resistance is a key limiting factor in fast charging, so reducing it by half is a major breakthrough. It allows the battery to accept rapid energy delivery without overheating or degrading.

The result? Less waiting, more driving. According to BYD, drivers will be able to add hundreds of kilometers of range in the time it takes to grab a coffee—potentially eliminating one of the last remaining pain points of EV ownership: charging time.

BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu put it bluntly: “In order to completely solve users’ charging anxiety, our goal is to make the charging time of electric vehicles as short as the refueling time of ICE vehicles.”

This marks a dramatic shift in the EV landscape. While megawatt charging has been discussed—mainly for heavy-duty electric trucks—BYD is the first to position it for mass-market passenger vehicles. It’s a big move, and it could reshape expectations around what’s possible in EV design and performance.

Of course, the infrastructure will need to catch up. Charging stations capable of safely delivering 1,000kW are still rare, and most existing EVs can’t even approach those speeds. But BYD’s tech points to a fast-approaching future where rapid top-ups rival gas station pit stops, and “range anxiety” becomes a relic of the past.