BYD moves fast to rival Tesla Superchargers with hundreds of 1MW stations built in three weeks

It is taking BYD less than a month to deploy hundreds of its new 1MW charging stations in a bid to create a network that beats the performance of Tesla's V4 Superchargers that are still few and far between.

The world's biggest EV maker announced its new 1MW system on March 17, and is now saying that it will have 500 charging stations that can deliver that output in the beginning of April.

The piles will deliver record fast charging speeds, at least for passenger electric vehicles, and are arriving just in time for the Han L sedan and Tang L SUV that are built on the new 1MW architecture which allows adding about 250 miles of range in 5 minutes on the new chargers.

Tesla's newest V4 Supercharger generation currently delivers 325kW output which will be raised to 500kW by the end of the year, and to megawatt speeds at some point for the Tesla Semi.

BYD plans to quickly build a network of 4,000 such chargers, starting with China, as its new 1MW architecture, the Super e-Platform, will be its electric car system going forward. According to BYD's Li Yunfei, "BYD’s style has always been – mass production as soon as it is released," so "500 units of 1000 kW charging stations will be available in [early] April."

The biggest advantage of BYD as an EV maker is its vertical integration as the world's second-largest producer of EV and ESS batteries, too. It demonstrated how it can quickly build 1MW charging stations without waiting for grid connection upgrades or permits by packaging them with energy storage containers on the site, and running them independently.

BYD wants to make sure that when the Han L and Tang L are released on March 27, their early adopters will have a network of 1MW chargers spread around major cities to rely on.

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