Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD has launched a fast charger which is able to deliver a range of 470 km in just five minutes.

The unprecedented 1 MW charging speed is a game changer when compared to normal fast chargers – which typically take around 30 minutes for the same range, and the new charger is twice as fast as Tesla’s super charger.

BYD says that the electric car charger makes powering up your electric car similar to pulling into a petrol station, and this could remove psychological barriers around charging.

The charger will be compatible with two new BYD electric car models that are not yet available in Europe, and it will be some time before we see the chargers rolled out in Ireland as the manufacturer is set to initially install 4,000 in China.

The Chinese automaker is subject to a number of tariffs in Europe, however the company’s cars remain price competitive in the continent and BYD is set to open factories in Hungary and Turkey in the next 18 months.

Chinese electric car manufacturers are overtaking their European and US competitors when it comes to battery electric vehicles, highlighted by BYD securing its position as the world’s largest electrified car maker towards the end of 2024.

Tesla sales are down in the US where cars have been burned and dealerships shot at, and the company is being undercut in terms of cost in many countries by BYD.

In Ireland, Tesla is also slowly losing market share, albeit more slowly than elsewhere. In Q4 of 2024, Tesla boasted a healthy 38% share of new electric car registrations nationally (and 53% in Dublin), compared to just 3.3% for BYD. Tesla’s Model 3 was the best-selling electric vehicle in Ireland in February according to industry figures.

It remains to be seen if the Musk effect will lead to a decline in Tesla sales in Ireland, but what is clear is that Chinese car makers are serious about expanding its share of sales in Europe, and they could become a dominant force here in the future.

The latest Chinese EV company to enter the Irish market, Xpeng, had its official launch in Dublin in March, featuring a flying electric car – again highlighting the ingenuity of the country’s automakers.

Like BYD’s super charger, Xpeng’s flying car won’t be available in Ireland for some time, with the launch focusing on a new electric SUV, the Xpeng G6, starting from €42,000 including grants.

The SUV’s features include 800-volt supercharging and 435 to 570 km range. Xpeng says that its future production capacity could reach up to 600,000 cars annually, with two further manufacturing plants under construction in Wuhan and Guanghzou.