Charging speed for electric vehicles (EVs) doesn't have to be a bugbear if you can plug in at home, perhaps with a 7.2 kilowatt or higher rated supply point. The battery charges up overnight, ideally using cheaper off-peak energy.
However, out and about, it's a definite bonus if you find a high wattage charger and your car supports its speed. There's only so much time in this world, and waiting to charge your car if you're in a hurry gets old quickly.
Charging speeds (or the power rather) continue to go up. Whereas 50 kilowatt chargers not so long ago seemed massive, you can now aim for 150 and 300 kW capable ChargeNet stations, for vehicles that support that level of power delivery. Overseas, Tesla last year unveiled its SuperCharger V4, which is capable of 500 kW.
Recent headlines say Chinese battery and car maker BYD is now talking about building a network of megawatt (1000 kW) chargers, which is next level. At that level of power delivery, a 400 kilometre top-up would only take five minutes on supported cars. It's liquid-fuel kind of speed, and you can appreciate why the EV industry wants to bring in megawatt charging.
Megawatt or 10C (the C stands for capacity, and 10 indicates a full battery in six minutes) charging has been in the works for a while now.
New Zealand's actually gone down the megawatt route already, Liz Yeaman, the managing director of the Charging Interface Initiative for Australia and New Zealand, told interest.co.nz.
CharIN is the global association that promotes standards for EV charging. It has 300 members, and has been developing the MegaWatt Charging System (MCS) since 2018.
MCS can provide really chunky charging rates of up to 3.75 MW, and we're trialling just that locally for electric ferries and lorries.
"There are MCS projects already well advanced in New Zealand" Yeaman said.
"Auckland Transport and CharIN member ABB will be installing a MCS charger in Half Moon Bay this year to charge the new Auckland electric ferries," Yeaman added.
Meanwhile CharIN member Kwetta is a Napier-based company that manufactures high power EV chargers and is developing an MCS charger for trucks and buses, ranging from 200 kW to 1.2 MW.
Kwetta's tech seems to have impressed overseas investors who have put in $10.5 million in Series A funding, for the company's overseas expansion.
BYD's Super-e platform with fast cars and megawatt charging
The megawatt charging is part of BYD's upcoming Super-e Platform that promises insanely powerful cars that the Chinese maker claims can do 0-100 in two (2) seconds. At that level of acceleration, maybe it's time to look into g-force seats and compression suits for EV drivers?
A megawatt is of course a massive amount of energy. There are some caveats dropping all that energy into an EV, including new 1500 Volt car battery technology with silicon-carbide (SiC) power chips being needed.
Naturally, BYD has a semiconductor unit as well to manufacture the SiC chips.
Liquid cooling is required, and batteries as well for the chargers for grid stability, similar to what we've seen Counties Energy deploy in Mercer ,albeit most likely with much higher capacity for the higher rated BYD units.
The Super-e presentation suggests the chargers will be 1000 Volt and 1000 Ampere output; that's up from the 400 and 800 Volt systems available today. Details are unclear at the moment but it may be that BYD's megawatt chargers will need two plugs, one on each side of the car, to get the full capacity.
Here's a clip from CarNewsChina showing the charging speed which, if the video is genuine, is mindblowingly fast:
The mains power feed to megawatt charging stations will need to be substantial as well, limiting the choice of locations for them.
All in all, the above sounds like it might be an expensive proposition, one that's still at the prototype stage but BYD is reportedly planning 4000 megawatt charging stations in China. Related to the above, and probably more relevant for EV users at this stage, is the actual charging experience. EV reviewer Gavin Shoebridge isn't the first to say this:
We can talk about charging breakthroughs all day long but until EVs are as easy to fill up as petrol cars we will always be fighting an uphill battle. I'm sick of installing apps and getting RFID error messages. Why can't I just use my credit card??? pic.twitter.com/LolooYiJIh
— Gavin Shoebridge (@KiwiEV) March 18, 2025
... and it really is something the industry needs to sort out fast. Standing at a charging station staring at a mysterious app authentication error that you can do nothing about is enough to make adults stuff potatoes up their noses in rage.
7 Comments
I can't help but wonder about the ability of our national power generation and distribution network's ability to cope - not with the average, but with the peak loadings created by MW charging stations with multiple plug in points.
Batteries and more generation needed, no doubt.
The briefing to the incoming energy minister was not all rainbows and unicorns... we do not have the power.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/new-energy-minister-simon-watts-….
“Our most immediate challenge is to ensure sufficient electricity generation that can be dispatched when required,” it says.
“The electricity system needs to develop more firm, flexible generation to improve security and lower average prices. There is a lack of new plant being built that can reliably generate to meet peak demand when the wind is not blowing, the sun is not shining and the rain has not fallen.”
It says New Zealand requires gas, coal or diesel generation to provide “firm and flexible generation”. But there are “various challenges for these forms of generation to remain economic, which is driving high prices and the risk of outages during winter peaks”.
New Zealand is likely to get to “very high levels of renewable electricity in the medium-term”, but gas and coal will be needed for some time yet.
However, thermal generation is “ageing and so at [increasing] risk of suffering outages or coming to the end of its life”.
It is “increasingly constrained by declining domestic gas supplies”, and “less likely to attract investors to develop or maintain as it is being used less often”.
The briefing says that gas production is at a 40-year low and “continues to be below the sector’s own forecasts”. Gas reserves are in decline “despite significant investment” and the “challenging supply outlook has risks for both gas users and for electricity supply”.
“Businesses that rely on gas and cannot afford price increases or have no technological options to switch will also face increasing challenges. In some cases this may see business closures,” it says.
Unfortunately also transmission lines, distribution yards, substations, demand management and storage that may not be able to be met by batteries at any reasonable political or capital cost (and no lake Onslow), and...
Our charging network is pretty parlous (c. 50:1 vehicles to charger, the last time I looked), and if that gets noticeably expanded I've yet to see any real information about how much work would be required to cope with peak loadings across the rest of generation, storage and distribution.
I just have a vision of something like a hot day in Auckland before a long Weekend - so everyone's AC is going full blast, and everyone is maximum-charging their EVs for the early start the next day - then there's a flash in a switching yard somewhere South of Auckland and...darkness.
A great improvement in battery technology. Ideally someone also works out how to reduce the difficulty in extinguishing battery fires. Or provide greater protection against fires.
“ do 0-100 in two (2) seconds” - Why ?? What for??
Speed is king when the apocalypse comes. Too bad there won't be any charging capacity.
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