BYD Plans Megawatt Charging Network For Europe

Last Updated on: 4th June 2025, 07:06 pm

One of the smartest things Elon Musk ever did was create the Supercharger network to service the charging needs of Tesla customers. That decision came to be critical to Tesla’s success to date. Now that the network is open to drivers of electric cars from other manufacturers, it is helping to convince more people to take the EV plunge without fear of being stranded without a charger nearby. Now BYD is taking a page from the Tesla playbook.

This week in Brussels, BYD Vice President Stella Li told the motoring press the company intends to build its own megawatt charging network in Europe to support the needs of its EV customers. A megawatt charger is one that can supply 1000 kW or more to a vehicle. Typically, megawatt-scale chargers are intended to recharge the batteries of electric trucks, which may have battery packs of 700 kWh or more.

BYD Continues To Excel

BYD is the second largest battery manufacturer in the world, behind CATL. It is aggressively pursuing battery technologies that permit faster charging for electric cars with a goal of making charging about as fast and convenient as filling a gas tank. Earlier this year, it announced a new platform for electric cars it calls Super-E that is based on 1000 volt architecture. That enables much faster charging than cars with 400 volt architecture. Many of the lower level EVs from Hyundai and Kia rely on 400 volts, as do most Tesla models.

Stella Li did not burden the journalists with an abundance of technical information on the number of megawatt chargers that BYD is planning in Europe. In China, BYD has just announced new partnerships to expand its network of megawatt charging stations from the 4,000 units planned today to 15,000 eventually.. According to CNEV Post, the first megawatt chargers in China are already connected to the grid with 500 units over “more than 200 cities.”

The company’s megawatt charging network for electric cars in China was first announced in March ahead of the launch of BYD’s Han L and Tang L electric cars, which the company says are capable of charging within five minutes with its megawatt chargers. Both models are selling well in both China and Europe, according to Electrive. “This will be a game changer that will boost consumer confidence in electric driving,” Li said

Hurdles Ahead For Megawatt Charging

Megawatt charging is not without its drawbacks, Electrive says. The high power chargers require significant electrical power to operate at full capacity, which can place additional demands on the local electrical grid. According to Car News China, real world experiences for electric car drivers do not always match the advertised charging speeds because of constraints imposed on the supply side.

It reported in April that vehicles that promise the ability to charge up up to 80% in 15 minutes or less often actually need 30 minutes or more to accomplish that level of charge. Why is that? Last month, CleanTechnica published a piece explaining some of the facts of life about owning and driving an electric car. One topic we covered is the various factors that impact charging time.

• Battery size
• State of charge
• Ambient temperature
• Battery management systems
• Available charging power

We then delved a little deeper into each topic:

• Battery size — Every battery charges more slowly as it gets closer to being fully charged. Larger batteries, by definition, have room for more electrons than smaller batteries. That means adding enough charge to go an extra 100 miles will take less time with a larger battery than it will with a smaller battery.
• State of charge — Every battery charges slower as it nears a full state of charge. A battery that is at 10 percent SOC will charge faster initially than a battery at a 50% state of charge.
• Ambient temperature — A cold or hot battery charges slower than a warm battery. Some manufacturers — like Tesla — precondition their battery packs to warm them up or cool them down before fast charging begins. Tesla is especially good at this because its charging network is integrated with the battery management system. When a driver selects a Supercharger location, the network knows what the SOC will be when the car arrives and will heat or cool the battery to maximize the charging process when it begins.
• Battery management system — Every EV has a battery management system that controls how fast charging occurs. The BMS is designed to protect the battery and prolong its service life. It’s not good to let the battery charge too fast if that means the battery pack has to be replaced prematurely. According to Bloomberg, the Tesla BMS starts throttling charging speeds at 20% SOC while Audi allows some of its cars to charge at high power all the way to 60% before charging power begins tapering off.
• Available charging power — Early in the EV Revolution, charging at 50 kW of power was considered pretty good. Today, chargers with up to 350 kW of power are in use but most Level 3 chargers are around 175 to 200 kW. A V3 Tesla Supercharger is rated at 250 kW, but as Bloomberg points out, Tesla vehicles start tapering charging power at around the 20% SOC mark, so the 250 kW figure is largely irrelevant.

Solid Sales Growth In Europe

Li said the company is very pleased with how its sales in Europe are growing, with monthly sales totals increasing by 10% on average. If that trend continues, BYD will build more factories in Europe in the future. “We are going to build in Europe to sell in Europe. We are looking at the long term. We are here to stay,” Li said. BYD already is building a factory in Hungary and plans to open a research and development center in Budapest. There are reports that a factory in Turkey is also being considered.

Cars produced in those two countries will be exempt from the tariffs the European Commission has imposed on cars manufactured in China. Europeans do not seem to be quite so infected with Yellow Peril fever as people in the US are. Pretty soon, America will be surrounded by Chinese-made cars in Canada and Mexico, but they better not try to cross the border into Fortress America!

Stella Li added that BYD plans to begin creating its megawatt charging system with the next 12 months. The company will install its charging stations at dealerships and is already in exploratory talks with local partners. Charging power levels above 500 kW usually require advanced liquid cooling for charging cables and equipment, which can add up $15,000 — or more — to the cost of each system. Liquid cooling systems also require periodic coolant replacement, which in turn increases operating costs.

As long as people understand that charging times are affected by a number of factors, this plan should give BYD a significant sales boost in Europe. It certainly is the most ambitious export plan of any Chinese car company. It appears to be ready, willing, and able to finish what Tesla started.