Tesla rival creates electric car you can charge in the 'same time it takes to fill up a tank of gas'
Ellie Kemp
Featured Image Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
A Chinese Tesla rival has unveiled a new electric vehicle battery that can add 250 miles of range in just five minutes.
The revolutionary product could solve long charge-times - a major factor that puts people off purchasing electric vehicles.
BYD's 'Super e-platform’ features new electric cars and a battery pack which is compatible with 1,000-volt technology, meaning one mile of range can be added every second when charging.
These new 1,000 kW chargers are four times as powerful as Tesla's current 250 kW chargers, which can apparently add 200 miles of range in 15 minutes.
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However the Elon Musk-owned automaker is planning on launching 500 kW chargers this year, as per Business Insider.
BYD - which stands for 'build your dreams' - has also developed its own liquid-cooled DC rapid chargers, which can charge at speeds of up to 1,360kW.
Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of the BYD Group, said: “To completely eliminate users’ charging anxiety, our goal is to make EV charging as fast as refuelling a gasoline car - achieving ‘oil-electric parity’ in charging speed.”
BYD adds that the electric motor has increased power to 777bhp and vehicles equipped with the tech will go onto a top speed of 186mph.
The Super e-platform technology has been showcased on the firm’s Han L saloon and Tang L SUV.
Prices for the new models will likely start at around $40,000, BYD's founder, Wang Chuanfu, said during a livestream.
Additionally, the business plans to build 4,000 new charging stations across China.
The company is the largest EV manufacturer in the world, taking the title from Tesla last year - despite a modest European market share and no presence in the US, the Independent reports.
BYD is also the largest EV brand in China, accounting for a third of the country's sales.
Last year, according to a post shared on X, formerly Twitter, BYD said it sold a record 4.27 million vehicles - a 41.3 percent increase on the previous year.
Back in February, BYD executive vice president Stella Li told Yahoo Finance the Chinese automaker has no plans to sell passenger EVs in the US, citing its 'interesting' but 'very confusing' market.
When asked if political complications impacted that decision, Li added: "Everything is complicated.
"Politics are complicated... and it's confusing for the consumer, and then they don't know which to choose."
It comes as a top Tesla investor has called for CEO Musk to step down as the company's market value has plunged by more than $800 billion since December.