EV Charging
Two options for fast charging - Megawatt or battery swap?
Developments in China on fast charging for electric vehicles
One of the key concerns with electric vehicles is the time it takes to “refuel” or charge the batteries. Two developments in China this month take aim at this problem. One is a step change in the maximum power – and therefore rate – or charging to one megawatt, and another is a partnership to increase the availability of battery swapping.
Megawatt Charging - 5 mins for 400 km
BYD recently introduced the Super e-platform with two new EVs with LFP Blade batteries capable of charging at 1,000 volt and 1,000 amp current, which translates to charging rates of up to 1 MW (double the peak power of Tesla’s 500 kW V4 Supercharger).
The Han L sedan has an 83.2 kWh LFP pack with a range of over 600 km. The Tang L SUV has a 100.5 kWh LFP pack. The models are priced at ~ $37,000.
The megawatt charging is touted to deliver 10 C charging to these vehicles (which means that the battery can be fully charged in one-tenth of an hour or 6 mins), while the announcement states that both models can add up to 400 km range in 5 mins.
According to Rho Motion, ~ 90% of all vehicles sold in China had max DC chargign speeds of < 200 kW. So while these entrants are capable of high-speed charging, BYD will have to deliver on a network of MW chargers to enable the technology.
Battery Swapping - 2 to 3 mins for a swap
Nio and CATL have announced a partnership aimed at “building a battery swapping network for passenger vehicles across the full range of products”.
The companies will work on establishing national standards for battery swapping. CATL will also introduce its “Choco-Swap” batteries to NIO’s new firefly small EV brand, which was introduced during the NIO day 2024 (the cars were then priced pre-order at ~ $20K).
Late last year, CATL introduced the Choco-Swap batteries, named #20 and #25, aimed to be analogous to #92 and #95 gasoline (!) The #20 battery is 42 kWh LFP or 52 kWh NMC, while the #25 battery is available as a 56 kWh LFP or 70 kWh NMC pack.
CATL expects 1,000 Choco-Swap stations in 2025, with each battery swap requiring only 100 seconds. The battery swap stations are envisioned to combine swapping functionality with energy storage and battery-to-grid use, serving as distributed energy stodate units.
NIO is the current leader in battery swapping, having built >3,000 Power Swap Stations across 700 cities. The latest Power Swap Station 4.0 completes a swap in 144 seconds and complete 480 swaps per day.
There are challenges with battery swapping, of course, the primary one being the need for standardization: EV manufacturers have their own battery designs which limits their compatibility across models. Still, CATL expects that by the end of this decade, battery swapping will cover 1/3rd of the market.
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Megawatt charging and battery swapping
Two new developments in China which promise to top up your battery in a few minutes, either through very high charging rates or through swapping it out.
