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2BYD Unveils Battery System that Charges 400km in 5 Minutes
Chess in Asia had been moving yesterday or Monday. The Chinese electric car maker BYD being one of the big movers because it hit record highs again on Tuesday. Investors reacting to news that the company says it has developed a battery that can charge in five minutes about the time it takes to fill up a petrol car.
Promotional video there from BYD and the voiceover saying we strive for speed, more speed, extreme speed. We're racing with technology, giving chase, running at speed never achieved before. Certainly seems to be the case, as Mark Rainford of Inside China Autos told us.
Rainford: Honestly, this was a bit of a shock. It was a very big announcement. The scale of the achievement here is quite astounding for the industry, even for somebody who's deeply embedded in it like myself. They've essentially doubled the maximum charging speed that's currently available on the market with this single announcement. So it's a big for a company that is the largest seller of cars in China, is present in 81 or 80 plus markets around the world. It's honestly quite impressive, yeah.
I ask this with trepidation, not being a scientist myself, But can you explain what it is that makes this battery such a development, as you're saying?
Rainford: It's actually not just the battery. So if I can simplify the terms, the speed at which an electric car is charged is measured in kilowatts. And you can equate that to the speed of fuel through a petrol pump into a petrol tank. So you need both the pump or the charger itself and then the vehicle to be able to receive the charge or the fuel at the same speed.
And this BYD essentially, the platform, which is all the components in it, including the battery and other things that need to be able to charge at a certain speed, it can charge at 1000 kilowatts. Now, the maximum peak charging speed currently available on the market is in the Li Mega, which is another Chinese car, and that's 520 kilowatts. So 1,000 kilowatts, or one megawatt is another name of calling it, is basically double the speed of the fastest charging electric car on the market today.
And so how quickly can it charge an average kind of one of its models up then, total to sort of full charge?
Rainford: So they have said that they can charge from essentially at 400 kilometers of range in just five minutes. So that's about 250 miles in five minutes.
I mean, that's a game changer if they really can do this on a mass level, isn't it?
Rainford: It is. I mean, the best at the moment are basically charging at about half of that speed, so that the really good ones can do about 10% to 80% of a battery in about 10 and a half to 12 minutes, of course, with the right charger. So you do need to have the chargers as well as the vehicle capable of doing it. BYD are currently only rolling out this platform to their two flagship models called the Han and the Tang.
So not every car within the BYD range will get this platform. It's really for the high-end ones to begin with. But the fact that they have now the battery capable of receiving this power as well means that future models will also be able to charge faster than they can today.
词汇表
unveil [ʌnˈveɪl] 揭开，公布，推出
chess [tʃes] 国际象棋（文中指股市情况）
electric car maker 电动汽车制造商
BYD 比亚迪汽车公司（Build Your Dream）
mover [ˈmuːvə(r)] 移动的人或物，推动者（文中指在股市中表现突出、股价波动较大的公司或股票）
charge [tʃɑː(r)dʒ] 充电；收费；指控
fill up 装满，填满（尤指给汽油车加满油）
petrol car [ˈpetrəl] 汽油车
promotional video [prəˈməʊʃənl] 宣传视频，宣传片
voiceover [ˈvɔɪsəʊvə(r)] 画外音，旁白
strive for [ˈstraɪv fɔː(r)] 争取，努力追求
give chase [ tʃeɪs] 追赶，追逐
astounding [əˈstaʊndɪŋ] 令人震惊的，惊人的
be embedded in [ɪmˈbedɪd] 深深融入，扎根于，嵌入
maximum [ˈmæksɪməm] 最大的，最高的；最大限度，最大量
trepidation [ˌtrepɪˈdeɪʃn] 恐惧，忐忑，不安
kilowatt [ˈkɪləwɒt] 千瓦（电功率单位，1000 kilowatts=1 megawatt [ˈmeɡəˌwɒt] 兆瓦）
equate [ɪˈkweɪt] 使等同，同等看待
fuel [ˈfjuːəl] 燃料；给……提供燃料
petrol pump [ˈpetrəl pʌmp] 加油泵（加油站中用于供应汽油的设备）
petrol tank [ˈpetrəl tæŋk] 汽车油箱
charger [ˈtʃɑː(r)dʒə(r)] 充电器
component [kəmˈpəʊnənt] 部件，组件，成分
Li Mega [ˈliː ˈmeɡə] 理想MEGA（理想汽车旗下首款纯电车型）
range [reɪndʒ] （车辆的）续航里程；范围，一系列
game changer 改变局面的事物，变革者
roll out [ˈrəʊl] 推出，推广
flagship model [ˈflæɡʃɪp] 旗舰车型（指最具代表性、最高端的产品型号）
high-end 高端的 ，高档的
