5C is about to become popular, BYD's "10C" is here: 400 kilometers in 5 minutes, is it reliable?

Suddenly, as if a spring breeze has arrived overnight, the pain point of "poor charging experience" for pure electric vehicles seems to be coming to an end.

First, the once leading "5C charging" in the industry is gaining popularity: both of XPeng's new 2025 models, the G6 and G9, come standard with 5C batteries, with the peak charging power of the new G6 significantly increasing from the previous 280kW of the 3C cell to 451kW.

In addition to XPeng, some models from brands like Voyah, ZEEKR, and Xingjiyuan also support 5C fast charging—by March 2025, "5C fast charging" is no longer a niche concept.

At the same time in 2024, when discussing "5C charging," we are likely to only think of the Li Auto MEGA priced at 559,800 yuan.

Furthermore, BYD announced at its press conference on the evening of March 17 that based on the "Super e Platform," its new generation of pure electric vehicles has officially entered the "megawatt flash charging" era.

Moreover, the charging multiplier has been pushed to "10C." With BYD's 1000kW ultra-fast charging pile, the peak charging power of the Han L and Tang L built on the "Super e Platform" can exceed 1000kW.

The popularity of 5C and the arrival of BYD's "megawatt flash charging" technology seem to paint a bright future for "charging replenishment." Some netizens even believe that when charging speeds reach such levels, does Nio's battery swapping lose all its advantages?

Is 5C and 10C charging really as "magical" as it sounds?

Charging Speed Comparable to "Refueling"

BYD's "10C charging" indeed sparks imagination, and at the press conference, Wang Chuanfu introduced that achieving this capability requires meeting three conditions: sufficiently high voltage, sufficiently large current, and specialized charging piles.

Higher voltage and larger current are inherent capabilities of the "Super e Platform," with a charging voltage of up to 1000V and a maximum supported charging current of 1000A.

Moreover, BYD stated that they will maintain a "monopoly" on 1000kW charging technology for a considerable period. The reason is that the "1500V/1000A" SiC (silicon carbide power module) on the Super e Platform is fully self-developed by BYD. Other car manufacturers would need to overcome technical challenges and launch equivalent performance SiC to achieve 1000kW charging power

With the "two 1000s" in place, the peak power of vehicles equipped with the "Super e Platform" has reached 1000kW, which is referred to as "1 megawatt" by BYD.

In terms of technical details, BYD stated that they have reduced internal resistance and increased electron migration speed in the battery pack by "building high-speed ion pathways," thereby doubling the maximum current.

At the press conference, BYD set up a demonstration booth, and the BYD Han L EV as the display vehicle indeed exceeded a peak charging power of 1000kW. The official stated that the charging time from 10% to 70% is 4 minutes and 45 seconds, with 5 minutes of charging providing a range of 400 kilometers.

It is important to note the third condition: like other manufacturers, the maximum charging power requires a dedicated charging pile to be achieved.

As a result, BYD has launched their first generation self-built pile, the "Megawatt Flash Charging Pile," which can output 1000kW of power, while the platform power of the pile itself is 1360kW.

What if there is no "Megawatt Flash Charging Pile" nearby when charging is needed? BYD stated that vehicles built on the "Super e Platform" will support "dual-gun charging"—this is also the first time BYD has equipped a model outside of Tengshi and Yangwang with the "dual-gun charging" feature.

If there are third-party brand "super charging piles" nearby, then the Han L and Tang L can also achieve a peak power of 1000kW using "dual-gun charging"; if only "fast charging piles" are available at the third-party charging station, the new generation of pure electric vehicles can also utilize "smart boosting" technology to achieve a total of 500kW, which is a relatively good charging power.

However, BYD has not disclosed all the details regarding "Megawatt Flash Charging," such as the fast charging range of the battery, what percentage will enter trickle charging, and how long it takes to fully charge, etc.

Nevertheless, the emergence of BYD's "Megawatt Flash Charging" technology will undoubtedly significantly raise the upper limit of the charging capability, bringing the charging experience of pure electric vehicles in ideal conditions very close to that of fuel vehicles As the first models of the "Super e Platform," the pre-sale prices for BYD Han L and Tang L have also been announced: the pre-sale range for BYD Han L EV is between 270,000 to 350,000 yuan, while Tang L EV falls between 280,000 to 360,000 yuan.

At the same time, BYD also previewed that these two models will debut the "King Hybrid DM-p." It seems that the B-segment car market is about to stir up a storm.

Is the ideal very full?

From 2C to 5C, and then to BYD's 10C, the exponential acceleration of charging speed suggests that car manufacturers seem to want to declare that the era of "electric vehicle charging anxiety" is over with a series of new technologies.

However, in reality, there are still many shortcomings in the "charging" scenario. Before BYD's 10C flash charging is widely implemented, users who have experienced charging close to the 5C level have expressed their grievances.

Experiencing 5C is not easy

Binge, as one of the first owners of ZEEKR 007, stated that one of the reasons he chose this car was the promotion mentioning "the 75kWh battery pack supports 4.5C charging."

Binge thought that the charging power of 4.5C is not much different from 5C, and according to the official promotion, there is a peak power of 500kW, which is already fast enough.

However, more than a year after picking up the car, Binge stated, "I have never seen a peak charging power of 500kW," and in most cases, when calculating the multiplier, ZEEKR 007 also does not reach the 4.5C level.

In Guangzhou, where Binge is located, the ZEEKR charging stations are mostly based on V1 and V2 levels, with the single pile power of V2 ultra-fast charging stations being 480kW.

"Usually charging at V2 stations, the peak power is around 300kW, with a maximum of 320kW once." After calculation, it can be seen that the charging multiplier is closer to 4C, still a bit short of 4.5C.

"There are still not enough ZEEKR charging stations, and when you go a little further from the city center, there are even fewer." Therefore, Binge mostly charges at third-party charging stations, but many third-party stations marked as "480kW liquid-cooled supercharging stations" rarely exceed 200kW in actual charging power.

After a year of experience, Bing Ge feels that "4.5C charging" is more like icing on the cake.

For most electric vehicle owners, it is unlikely that they can enjoy the "fast experience" brought by high-rate fast charging every time they charge, and the peak power claimed by the official is mostly obtained under laboratory conditions, which for the average consumer is just "nice to look at."

When asked how he views BYD's 10C flash charging, Bing Ge's perspective is very simple: "Let's wait until it's out and see after experiencing it."

Is the "charging pile" the problem?

The poor experience of charging electric vehicles is mainly due to the "charging piles."

First, let's look at the numbers. ZEEKR has announced the construction of 800 "ZEEKR charging stations," Nio has built 2,610 supercharging stations, XPeng has built 1,059 S4/S5 supercharging stations, and Li Auto announced that by January 2025, it has built over 1,800 supercharging stations.

On the BYD side, Wang Chuanfu announced that they will "continue to promote" the construction of over 4,000 "megawatt flash charging stations." From the absolute value of the numbers, if BYD can build so many flash charging stations in a short time, it will undoubtedly lead to a qualitative change in the charging experience, overturning the past "car usage perception."

However, BYD has not specified the timeline for "building 4,000 flash charging stations." Will it be completed within a year? Or within five years? The different timeframes for building stations will lead to vastly different changes in experience.

Secondly, there have been online reports indicating that the first batch of "megawatt flash charging stations" will be built in BYD's 4S stores, prioritizing better energy replenishment experiences for BYD owners.

The idea of "prioritizing owner experience" is not wrong, and BYD has a considerable number of 4S stores. However, if the rumors are true, the charging piles built in the 4S stores may not have the capacity to serve a large number of owners, making it even more difficult to serve owners of third-party brands.

One can imagine that with high foot traffic at BYD's 4S stores and the demand for charging from the models in-store, "charging pile saturation" will be the norm. "Supermarket parking lots" and "highway service areas" are the most ideal construction scenarios for supercharging stations, but when BYD's "flash charging stations" will significantly cover these locations remains unknown.

Beyond site selection, whether third-party brand models can successfully connect with BYD's "flash charging piles" and operate at full power is also uncertain. Additionally, the crucial factors of pricing and whether there are discounts for their own brand models are also important factors affecting the willingness to use charging piles.

In other words, having leading technology alone is not enough to completely eliminate the energy replenishment anxiety of pure electric vehicle consumers; the smooth operation of the energy replenishment system is also very important.

And all of this requires time and the market to test.

A Major Upgrade in Energy Replenishment Experience

The final question is, as some new energy vehicle companies continue to invest in the "charging" track and launch a series of new technologies, the comparison between "charging" and "battery swapping" routes is likely to become a hot topic in the industry once again Especially for BYD, theoretically, being able to match the charging speed with "refueling" is indeed a significant advancement in the refueling experience.

At the same time, one of the core selling points of battery swapping is its high efficiency—just as Nio's Ma Lin said, "Battery swap stations are the gas stations for electric vehicles." When the time taken for charging aligns with that of battery swapping, does the advantage of battery swapping still exist?

At least from the perspective of "refueling speed," the experience of battery swapping is still closer to "refueling," and undoubtedly the better option.

This mainly considers the "average duration" and "stability" of refueling.

Although Nio currently has both third-generation and fourth-generation stations coexisting, the time required for battery swapping varies slightly (theoretical time for third-generation stations is 4 minutes and 40 seconds, while the fastest for fourth-generation stations is 2 minutes and 24 seconds), but both are within 5 minutes and almost never show significant time fluctuations.

On the "charging" side, whether it's "5C charging" or BYD's "megawatt flash charging," many conditions must be met to achieve the ideal state. This means that as the actual experience conditions change, the time required for refueling can also show considerable fluctuations.

Of course, the "battery swapping" model still needs to overcome many challenges. Some potential consumers always worry about "swapping for someone else's used old battery" when mentioning "battery swapping." Additionally, the number of battery swap stations is still insufficient, and the incompatibility of batteries among certain vehicle models makes the "battery swapping" model not as appealing as it seems.

However, the "charging" side also has many issues to resolve: the "discount rate" of input power from the charging pile to the vehicle needs to be improved, and the distribution of charging power under the "dynamic power allocation" mode at the station needs optimization, among others.

More importantly, the number of ultra-fast charging piles (≥360kW) is still not enough.

Looking at it this way, the two routes of "charging" and "battery swapping" each have their strengths, with different usage scenarios and audiences, and are not in a "substitution" relationship.

But undoubtedly, with the promotion of BYD's "megawatt flash charging" related technology stack, the refueling experience for consumers of pure electric vehicles in China will definitely be enhanced.

Whether it's the further popularization and downscaling of the 800V architecture or the continuous increase in the number of ultra-fast charging piles...

The industry goal of "making electric vehicle refueling as convenient as refueling with gas" may not yet be said to be "achieved," but it is certain that we have taken a significant step forward.

Electric Planet, original title: "5C is about to be popularized, BYD's '10C' is here: 400 kilometers in 5 minutes, is it reliable?"

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