Chinese company BYD’s new Super-E platform is expected to add 400 kms/250 miles in 5 minutes (chart source: The Independent).
My thesis has been simple and unchanging over the past five years – outside of remote areas, electric vehicles will become the default in 20 years. Not because they’re the “right thing to do” or because they’re good for the environment. Simply because they’re better technology.
A key attribute of better technology is faster speed of innovation and improvement. And, in every sense, EV tech has been on a tear in the past five years.
This breakthrough from BYD might be one of the bigger ones of the decade – it solves the “range anxiety” problem for longer distance commutes and makes it no different that stopping for gas.
The crazy thing about the innovation here is just how quickly BYD has pulled ahead of Tesla. BYD’s latest innovation means their battery technology is four times better than Tesla’s Model Y – which was many times better than any alternative just three or so years ago.
Tesla’s Model Y has been the best-selling car globally in the past two years. But such results are a lagging indicator. These results show Tesla being completely outplayed.
It’ll be a while before we see the results of this play out – but it is inspiring to see the pace of innovation delivered here.
