BYD made range anxiety obsolete with an EV that charges as fast as it takes to fill up a petrol tank
Published on Apr 10, 2026 at 12:14 AM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Apr 09, 2026 at 7:55 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
Range anxiety is still a huge deal-breaker for drivers when it comes to electric cars, but BYD has apparently fixed it.
The Chinese marque is developing a super-speedy charger that means topping off the battery will take roughly the same time as a traditional fuel stop.
That’s good, but possibly not excellent yet.
And that’s for a couple of reasons.
Has BYD finally fixed range anxiety?
With a gas car, you don’t really need to plan ahead.
You don’t have to think about where you’ll find a gas station because, with exceptions, they’re pretty much everywhere.
So, unless you’re part of a Dakar-style expedition in the desert or are in the middle of nowhere in the Arctic, gas stations won’t be a problem.
But charging an electric vehicle, even now in 2026, is something that still requires planning.
BYD has fixed 50 percent of this particular problem by making the charging process as fast as filling up a tank with gas.
That’s what people wanted.
A lot of EV skeptics say that parity is the baseline.
Specifically, some people believe that we can’t really discuss electric cars versus anything else until we reach parity between an electric car’s charging time and ‘regular’ refueling, which we apparently have now.
This only solves part of the problem
BYD’s latest breakthrough is a huge leap forward, but it still doesn’t solve the problem fully.
And this is for a couple of reasons.
First, these chargers are in ‘Beta’ phase, in that they aren’t available everywhere.
They may be eventually, but for now, coverage remains limited.
Second, the other 50 percent of the problem isn’t fixed yet.
With a gas car, you don’t need to plan ahead because you know that whether you’re in Paris, France, or Paris, Texas, you’re only ever a few miles away from the nearest gas station.
The same can’t be said about charging stations.
But, clearly, that’s also changing quite rapidly.
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After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.
