China’s BYD claims its latest EV charging system rivals the speed of refueling a gas tank.

The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, the company that is a Tesla rival in China is have unveiled a new charging system that it claims is as fast as filling a gas tank. In addition to this, the firm is combining its cutting edge ‘God’s Eye’ autonomous driving platform with AI technology from DeepSeek.

This week, BYD Chairman Wang Fengyun announced the company’s charging platform at a press conference, and revealed the plan to build a nationwide charging network with its ‘super e-platform’, which can provide a 1,000 kW charge. This system is capable of providing an extra 400 kilometers of range in just five minutes, twice as fast as Tesla’s latest 500 kW Superchargers. “We are over the charging anxiety by making the EV charging as fast as filling up a petrol car,” Wang said.

The ultra-fast charging will be available on two models of BYD cars—the Han L sedan and Tang L SUV—starting at 270,000 yuan ($37,330). In order to achieve this leap, BYD plans to build over 4,000 charging units with megawatt of capacity in China. “It is an industry first to achieve the megawatt level of charging power,” Wang pointed out, stressing an important progress in the fast charging technology which is important for the EV adoption.

The latest news is bad for Tesla, which has been facing some recent difficulties. On March 10, its stock price dropped 15% after the CEO, Elon Musk, endorsed far right European movements and pushed for cutting federal jobs under the Trump administration. Up until recently, Tesla’s market value was once $1.5 trillion in December but has since nearly been cut in half due to the company’s failure to meet sales expectations and Musk’s delayed delivery on his decade old promises of autonomous driving. However, BYD and other Chinese automakers are coming up with affordable and feature-packed EVs and are thus, increasing the competition globally.