China’s BYD cemented its lead on Elon Musk’s Tesla in five minutes

Sometimes, a chart is just a chart. Sometimes, when you’re looking at Tesla and BYD in early 2025, it’s a striking squiggly metaphor.

Tesla, the biggest US electric vehicle maker, has shocked the world this year with its overt politicisation and slumping sales and stock price. BYD, its great Chinese rival, just shocked the world by announcing its newest model can recharge in just five minutes. The symbolism, capturing the lead that China has taken in EVs compared with the US still fighting with itself about the relative wokeness of EVs, could hardly be clearer.

Shenzhen-based BYD just shocked the world by announcing its newest model can recharge in five minutes.Credit: Bloomberg

BYD’s boast of adding 400 kilometres of range to new vehicles sporting its Super-e Platform in as little as five minutes should be treated with the same caution advisable with any auto announcement.

Delivering peak power of one megawatt would be unprecedented for passenger EVs and raises questions about the longevity of the battery and the cost of building that level of charger, including associated upgrades to the grid. On the other hand, this is no start-up scouting for funding but rather the biggest EV maker in the world, including plug-in hybrids.

Incredibly, the first deliveries of BYD’s new vehicles capable of this “flash” charging are reportedly due as soon as April, which would count as flash deployment. Taken together, this would be game-changing – and not in a good way for Tesla or the rest of the US auto makers.

Charging an EV in a time comparable with that of visiting a petrol station would kick away an important obstacle to drivers making the switch from internal combustion engines.

This would be game-changing – and not in a good way for Tesla or the rest of the US auto makers.

Not only does fast charging dispense with having to think about how you will occupy yourself while the battery refills, but it also addresses range anxiety. If charging is as convenient as filling up, there’s even less reason to worry about getting stranded and, therefore, paying up for an oversized battery – which also has implications for critical minerals demand. BYD says it will build 4,000 megawatt-capable chargers across China.

Delivering this, and quickly, would cement China’s lead in an EV industry that had its breakout moment in California’s Bay Area when Tesla launched the Model S sedan a little over a decade ago.

That Musk felt compelled to stage a bizarre event at the White House last week with President Donald Trump, who is no fan of EVs, apparently buying a Model S to show support says a lot about where innovation can be found these days.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk speak to reporters with the red Model S Tesla at the White House.Credit: AP

Musk’s politicking damages Tesla’s brand, but the underlying problem is its relatively old line-up of models even as competitors release new ones. While Tesla abandoned plans for a cheap EV, instead launching the Cybertruck priced at six figures, BYD and its competitors churned out an array of models selling for less than $US30,000 ($47,000).

And as much as Tesla’s stock has fallen, it remains expensive at 84 times forward earnings, four times higher than BYD’s multiple.

Tesla’s premium is now justified less by promises of growing EV sales and more by expansive but elusive visions of robotaxis and robots. BYD has also clouded that by releasing an advanced driver assistance system across most of its range as standard. Tesla’s, albeit more sophisticated technology, costs customers thousands of dollars extra.

The challenge extends beyond Tesla, though. I have written before that Big Auto as a whole faces a “made in China crisis,” and BYD’s announcement is a flashing warning of that. Perfecting flash-charging could not only accelerate EV sales in BYD’s domestic market – where two out of every three EVs are sold already – but also provide another powerful vector for Chinese auto companies to compete in or dominate markets overseas.

The US has its tariffs to keep Chinese technology out, of course. Yet, these leave US drivers underserved, with EVs now accounting for all the growth in global auto sales, benefiting from falling battery prices and offering unquestionable advantages in efficiency and emissions.

It is hard to see how better, more innovative EVs can be kept out forever. Moreover, Trump’s taste for tariffs is expansive, and his threats against Canada and Mexico promise severe disruption for the likes of General Motors and Ford. Protectionism for Detroit encourages its reliance on high-priced trucks in its home market and stifles the competitive dynamic required to innovate, all while potentially ripping up its carefully constructed North American supply chain.

The US industry that defined mobility for much of the 20th century sees its chance of doing the same in the 21st slipping away – and fast.

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

Bloomberg

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