Over 400km of range in just five minutes: BYD’s next-gen charging station details leaked as part of post-range-anxiety future

Details of BYD’s next-generation charging hardware have leaked in China, according to reports.

The upcoming stations form part of the brand’s strategy to roll out megawatt-level charging for its range of cars in the near future.

The second-generation megawatt charging stations reportedly will be able to support speeds of up to 1500kW and a maximum voltage of 1000, indicating BYD is future-proofing its new charging hardware for cars that don’t exist yet.

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Currently the fastest charging cars in Australia use an 800-volt electrical architecture, with the Zeekr 7X capable of charging at up to a claimed 420kW.

At the claimed maximum speed, Zeekr says the 7X should be able to charge from 10 - 80 per cent in 13 minutes. Other vehicles with 800-volt architectures, including the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV9, are capable of speeds of up to 350kW for theoretically sub-20 minute charging times.

Very few chargers in Australia are capable of supporting such speeds. Most chargers supporting 800-volt are limited to 350kW, and the fastest public charging station in the country are a set of 400kW ABB chargers at an Ampol AmpCharge site in Sydney.

In previous conversations with charge provider Evie Networks, one major limiting factor for providing ultra-fast charging in Australia is the amount of power available to individual sites. Often the sheer input to support even 350kW is not available.

In China, where power is both affordable and plentiful, charging ‘rest stops’ with tens of ultra-fast DC chargers are common. The largest site is in Shenzhen which has 258 DC fast chargers.

In 2025, China reached a milestone of 20 million charging plugs, with BYD planning to deploy 15,000 MW-level chargers by 2027.

These second-generation chargers look set to supersede the original 1MW chargers, which the brand announced to some fanfare in early 2025. At the time BYD said the 1MW chargers could add up to 400km of driving range to its Han L and Tang L EVs in just five minutes.

BYD’s charging foray is in support of its range of fast-charge capable EVs, which will no doubt expand beyond the Han L and Tang L in the future.

Currently a version of the Tang L is about to become available in Australia, badged the Sealion 8, although it is only sold as a three-row seven-seat plug-in hybrid compared to the EV version sold in China.

BYD does not currently offer charging hardware in the Australian market.

Tesla is one of the biggest players in the charging hardware game , and in China Tesla now offers its V4 pylons capable of outputting up to 500kW.

Meanwhile for BYD locally it would be unsurprising to see the brand launch 1MW capable vehicles, such as an EV version of the Sealion 8 eventually, as part of its strategy to be a top-three automaker by the end of 2026 and beyond.