Chinese language auto maker BYD made waves this week when it introduced its new Han L sedan might add as a lot as 248 miles of vary in as little as 5 minutes.
Sadly, the corporate was gentle on particulars, and it didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s request for clarification. So as an alternative, we’ve scoured the online for info, filling within the gaps to find out precisely how BYD was in a position to make an EV that apparently can recharge as shortly because it takes to refill a gasoline automotive.
What we discovered principally helps the auto makers claims, with a number of caveats.
Battery pack
Central to the Han L’s quick charging is its inner electrical infrastructure. It begins with the battery, which in line with CarNewsChina citing regulatory paperwork, is an 83.2 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) pack that operates at 945 volts. (In its advertising and marketing supplies, the corporate seems to have rounded up and lists it at 1,000 volts).
The battery chemistry is probably going central to the automotive’s fast-charging functionality. LFP batteries have lengthy been regarded for his or her stability and security; they don’t catch hearth practically as readily as different varieties like nickel manganese cobalt (NMC). They will additionally cost sooner due to some electrochemical quirks inherent within the cathode-anode design of an LFP cell. (There’s an excellent slide deck from the Nationwide Renewable Vitality Laboratory that explains why in additional element.)
To prime it off, BYD has been working with LFP for years, and its newest battery structure, often known as Blade 2.0, is anticipated to debut within the new automotive. That have has in all probability given the corporate’s engineers a very good sense of how far they will push each the batteries and {the electrical} structure.
Electrical system
Feeding the battery pack is a high-voltage electrical system that runs at 945 volts. Automakers have been pursuing ever greater voltages as a result of greater voltages generates much less warmth, permitting extra energy to be delivered safely and effectively. Presently, Lucid runs a 900-volt structure in its vehicles, and several other others like Hyundai Kia and Porsche function 800-volt in lots of theirs. With Teslas, it will depend on the automobile: The Cybertruck makes use of an 800-volt structure whereas the rest function at round 400 volts, give or take, relying on the mannequin.
Add all of it up and the Han L can cost at as much as 1 megawatt, or 1,000 kilowatts. The quickest broadly out there EV chargers within the U.S. right this moment ship solely 350 kilowatts.
However even when operating at 945 volts or 1,000 volts, the quantity of warmth generated by 1 megawatt charging is important, and the cables to assist it must be extremely thick. Even slower, quick, charging cables like those which can be hooked up to 350 kW chargers are wrapped in liquid cooling, additional growing their bulk.
Maybe in an effort to make the charging cables extra manageable, BYD has adopted what it’s calling a twin gun method: The automotive has two charging ports, every of which may plug right into a 500 kW charger concurrently.
Collectively, they ship 1 megawatt.
Vary shenanigans
In response to BYD, that permits the automotive so as to add 248 miles of vary (400 km) in 5 minutes.
Sadly, drivers are unlikely to journey that far after such a fast cost. That’s as a result of the Chinese language equal of the EPA check cycle, the CLTC, is notoriously optimistic. It’s about 35% greater than EPA scores, in line with InsideEVs, which themselves are both spot on or optimistic relying on how a lot freeway driving is concerned.
Realistically, drivers can in all probability count on round 160 miles of vary from a five-minute cost and round 280 miles from a full battery. For a extra apples-to-apples comparability, it’s useful to take a look at how lengthy it takes to cost from 16% to 80% (10 minutes) or from 16% to 100% (24 minutes). Regardless of the way you slice it, that’s fairly quick.
Charging technique
However an EV’s charging velocity is just nearly as good because the chargers and the way broadly out there they’re. To that finish, BYD is pledging to put in greater than 4,000 of them all through China. Every charging station would require vital grid upgrades, although, as a 1-megawatt energy draw would doubtless pressure the prevailing infrastructure.
When will we see this within the U.S.? Don’t depend on having the ability to purchase a BYD Han L anytime quickly, even when the roughly $37,000 beginning value would give the market a welcome jolt. Chinese language-made EVs are at the moment topic to a 100% tariff, elevating costs to the purpose the place they’re not aggressive.
However that doesn’t imply equally quick charging will stay out of attain for Individuals. Vehicles on the market right this moment already can cost from 20 to 80% in 18 minutes, so it’s solely a matter of time earlier than automakers carry these instances down.
