Chinese 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.
Unfortunately, the corporate was mild on particulars, and it didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s request for clarification. So as a substitute, 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 rapidly because it takes to refill a gasoline automotive.
What we discovered principally helps the auto makers claims, with a couple of caveats.
Battery pack
Central to the Han L’s quick charging is its inner electrical infrastructure. It begins with the battery, which in keeping with CarNewsChina citing regulatory paperwork, is an 83.2 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) pack that operates at 945 volts. (In its advertising 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 quick 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 sorts like nickel manganese cobalt (NMC). They may cost sooner due to some electrochemical quirks inherent within the cathode-anode design of an LFP cell. (There’s an incredible slide deck from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that explains why in additional element.)
To high it off, BYD has been working with LFP for years, and its newest battery structure, often called Blade 2.0, is anticipated to debut within the new automotive. That expertise has most likely given the corporate’s engineers an excellent sense of how far they’ll 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. Currently, Lucid runs a 900-volt structure in its automobiles, and a number of other others like Hyundai Kia and Porsche function 800-volt in lots of theirs. With Teslas, it is determined by 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 extensively accessible EV chargers within the U.S. at present ship solely 350 kilowatts.
But even when working at 945 volts or 1,000 volts, the quantity of warmth generated by 1 megawatt charging is important, and the cables to help it must be extremely thick. Even slower, quick, charging cables like those which are connected to 350 kW chargers are wrapped in liquid cooling, additional growing their bulk.
Perhaps 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 might plug right into a 500 kW charger concurrently.
Together, they ship one megawatt.
Range shenanigans
According to BYD, that permits the automotive so as to add 248 miles of vary (400 km) in 5 minutes.
Unfortunately, drivers are unlikely to journey that far after such a fast cost. That’s as a result of the Chinese equal of the EPA take a look at cycle, the CLTC, is notoriously optimistic. It’s about 35% greater than EPA scores, in keeping with InsideEVs, which themselves are both spot on or optimistic relying on how a lot freeway driving is concerned.
Realistically, drivers can most likely 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% (in 10 minutes) or from 16% to 100% (in 24 minutes). No matter the way you slice it, that’s fairly quick.
Charging technique
But an EV’s charging pace is barely pretty much as good because the chargers and the way extensively accessible they’re. To that finish, BYD is pledging to put in greater than 4,000 of them all through China. Each charging station would require important grid upgrades, although, as a 1-megawatt energy draw would possible pressure the present infrastructure.
When will we see this within the U.S.? Don’t rely 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 made EVs are at present topic to a 100% tariff, elevating costs to the purpose the place they’re not aggressive.
But that doesn’t imply equally quick charging will stay out of attain for Americans. Cars on the market at present already can cost from 20 to 80% in 18 minutes, so it’s solely a matter of time earlier than automakers carry these occasions down.
