Tesla and its hyper-active boss Elon Musk are having a bad month. On both sides of the Altantic, there have been protests against the ‘Nazi-mobile’ and the ‘Swasti-car’. The electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer’s sales are collapsing across Europe, and its stock is in freefall. On top of all that, its main rival, China’s BYD, has just announced a super-faster charger that allows you to ‘fill up’ your EV as quickly as you once could your petrol car. All companies go through bad patches, especially when they are leading a new industry. But Tesla is losing its technological lead to China. That could prove fatal.
There is growing evidence that China’s EVs are not just cheaper, but better as well
If it works as it says it does, BYD’s rapid charging system could transform the EV industry. Its ‘super-e platform’ takes five minutes to charge a car enough to cover 260 miles, and will be rolled out across China later this year.
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