Chinese vehicle manufacturer by the byd boiled this week when she announced her new sedan Han L could add up to 248 miles in just five minutes.
Unfortunately, the company was easy in detail and did not respond to Techcrunch’s request for clarification. Instead, we have cleared the web for information, filling in the gaps to determine exactly how Byd was able to make an EV that could apparently recharge as soon as it takes to replenish a gas car.
What we found mainly supports the claims of vehicle manufacturers, with some warnings.
Battery
Essential for the rapid charging of Han L is its internal electrical infrastructure. It starts with the battery, which according to Carnewschina citing regulatory documents, is a lithium-phosphate (LFP) package of 83.2 kWh that operates at 945 volts. (In its marketing materials, the company seems to have rounded and ranks it to 1,000 volts).
Battery chemistry is likely to be essential to the ability to quickly charge the car. LFP batteries have long been evaluated for their stability and safety; They do not catch fire almost as easily as other types like nickel manganese cobalt (NMC). They can also charge faster due to some electrochemical quirks inherent in the Cathode-Anoda design of an LFP cell. (There is an excellent sliding deck from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that explains why in more detail.)
To finish it, Byd has worked with LFP for years, and its latest battery architecture, known as Blade 2.0, is expected to debut in the new car. This experience has probably given the company engineers a good understanding of how far they can push both batteries and electric architecture.
Electrical
Battery package is a high voltage system operating at 945 volts. Vehicle manufacturers have followed increasingly higher voltages because higher voltages generate less heat, allowing more energy to be delivered safely and efficiently. Currently, Lucid runs a 900-volt architecture on its cars, and some others like Hyundai Kia and Porsche operate 800-wolt in many of them. With Teslas, it depends on the vehicle: Cybertruck uses an 800 volt architecture while the rest operates with about 400 volts, give or get, depending on the model.
Add all and Han L can load up to 1 megawatt, or 1,000 kilowatts. The fastest available AC charges in the US today offer only 350 kilowatts.
But even when running at 945 volts or 1,000 volts, the amount of heat generated by 1 megawatt charging is important, and the cables should be too thick. Even slower, fast, loaded cables, such as those attached to 350 kW charges are wrapped in liquid cooling, further increasing most of them.
Perhaps in an effort to make the charging cables more manageable, Byd has adopted what he is calling a double weapon approach: the car has two charging ports, each of which can be inserted into a 500 kW loader.
Together, they deliver 1 megawatt.
Shenanigans
According to Byd, this allows the car to add 248 miles of string (400 km) to five minutes.
Unfortunately, drivers are unlikely to travel so far after such a quick load. That’s because the Chinese Equivalent of the EPA test cycle, CLTC, is extremely optimistic. It is about 35% higher than EPA estimates, according to Insideevs, which themselves are either in the country or optimistic depending on how the highway is involved.
Realistically, drivers can probably expect about 160 miles of string from a five-minute load and about 280 miles from a full battery. For a comparison more apples with apples, it is useful to see how long it takes to load from 16% to 80% (10 minutes) or from 16% to 100% (24 minutes). No matter how it cut it, that’s very fast.
Loading strategy
But the speed of charging an EV is as good as the charges and as widely available. To this end, Byd is pledge to install more than 4,000 of them across China. Stationo A charging station will require significant network improvements, although, as a 1 megawatt equation is likely to strain existing infrastructure.
When will we see this in the SH.BA? Don’t trust you to be able to buy a Byd Han L at any time soon, even if the starting price approximately $ 37,000 would give the market a welcome blow. The EVs made by the Chinese are currently subject to a 100%tariff, raising prices to the point that they are not competitive.
But that does not mean that the same way fast loading will remain out of reach of Americans. Cars for sale today can already load from 20 to 80% to 18 minutes, so it’s just a matter of time before the automobiles bring them down.
