BYD vs. Zeekr: The High-Speed Battle for EV Charging Dominance

April 2025

Sustainability & Smart Cities

Thomas Wilson

Senior Research Analyst

On 17th March 2025, Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD announced it was launching high-capacity EV chargers that are capable of charging capacities up to 1,000 kW. This means that EV drivers could find charging session times reduced to a mere five minutes long; gaining upwards of 400km of range. This illustrates a tremendous leap in terms of technological advancement, with BYD’s primary rival, Tesla, only providing charging capacities of 500kW from its Supercharger network.

This announcement aligned with the unveiling of pre-sales of two new EV models that will utilise this high-performance EV charging platform. The Han L saloon vehicle and the Tang L SUV will be able to mirror charging times that are akin to the time spent at a service station refueling a traditional ICE vehicle. These models will have a battery C rating of 10C; essentially meaning that they are capable of charging to full capacity in a tenth of an hour, or six minutes. This means that for every second of charging, a range of approximately 2km will be added.

Source: Inside China Auto

BYD has further announced that its ultra-fast charging stations will start to become available across China in April 2025, with a total of more than 4,000 stations planned to be installed. 

Zeekr Puts the Pressure On

Zeekr, an EV manufacturer owned by Geely, revealed on 30th March 2025 that it had developed a fully liquid-cooled EV charging station that is capable of a charging capacity of up to 1,200kW; exceeding BYD’s recent innovation.

Source: Zeekr

Due to be officially unveiled on 23rd April 2025 at the Shanghai Auto Show, Zeekr announced that it plans to launch its new charging station in Q2 of 2025. It has been a longstanding goal of Zeekr to improve its EV charging infrastructure, as is evident with the consistent updates it has made to its charging stations. In the past three years, the company has gone from 360kW charging capacity to 600kW, and from there up to 800kW. 

Zeekr has made it clear that these chargers are designed specifically to support the charging needs of passenger EVs, even though there does not exist a passenger EV model that currently supports this rate of charging. It is important that EV manufacturers take their time to get things right, as opposed to getting caught up in a technological advancement race which could ultimately end up costing the consumer. 

Zeekr's announcement of its 1,200kW ultra-fast EV charger is set to intensify the charging race in China; further solidifying the country's dominance in electric vehicle technology. With the ability to charge EV batteries at the fastest rate as of April 2025, Zeekr's innovation not only challenges global competitors like Tesla, but also raises the bar for domestic rivals such as BYD and CATL. This development aligns with China's industrial strategy, which includes substantial government subsidies and a highly developed charging infrastructure; enabling rapid adoption of cutting-edge technologies. 

As Chinese manufacturers continue to compete fiercely for leadership in ultra-fast charging, Juniper Research anticipates that these breakthroughs from BYD and Zeekr will likely accelerate advancements across the sector; driving the country closer to achieving widespread ultra-fast EV charging and reshaping consumer expectations for electric mobility. It may also force EV manufacturers outside of China to rethink their strategies and focus more on charging capabilities, rather than streamlining production and bringing manufacturing costs down.

How Does This Affect the Future of EV Charging?

In our latest research in this area, we identified that one of the primary barriers to further EV adoption was cumbersome charging sessions. The majority of EVs that are, firstly, available to most developed markets, and secondly, affordable for consumers, typically come with charging times of less than 30 minutes to charge from 20% to 80% battery capacity. This, when compared to the time it takes to refuel an ICE vehicle, is extremely slow and can cause major disruptions for long haul journeys.

The report found that a total of 395 million charging sessions will take place in China in 2025, as can be seen in the graph below. This figure is projected to rise to a total of slightly fewer than 1.4 billion in 2029; representing a significant growth of 246% over the four-year period. It is evident from these findings that EV adoption is anticipated to rise drastically in China in the near future, and so providing adequate charging solutions will prove to be imperative to keeping EV owners satisfied.

Total EV Charging Sessions in China (m), 2025-2029

Source: Juniper Research

However, these ultra-fast chargers will only support EV models that are equipped with the necessary battery equipment that is designed to safely handle such charging, which are few and far between. BYD’s newest models are due to officially launch in early April of 2025, which has led to the EV giant discounting the prices of some of its more established models. This will likely see adoption rates grow higher, however consumers that purchase these models will not be able to utilise the ultra-fast charging stations.

Furthermore, accessibility to these specific charging stations may prove to be an issue if their implementation is not handled correctly. BYD has stated that it will install 4,000 ultra-fast chargers across China, with 500 of them ready to installed instantly. However, BYD has stated it must also erect energy storage facilities close by to these chargers so that all drivers can achieve as close to 1,000kW charging speeds as possible; raising some concerns over the availability of such energy, especially in peak times.

In summary, the recent announcements from BYD and Zeekr will not only force other EV manufacturers from around the globe to pour more resources into research and development in order to hold pace with them, but will also begin breaking down a significant barrier that has plagued wider EV adoption up until now. Whilst Tesla has gained significant traction in Europe and North America, BYD is hot on their heels and close to overtaking them as the global EV powerhouse. Although it is expected that many manufacturers will shift their emphasis towards charging solutions, we anticipate that many outside of China must still work on decreasing construction costs in order to compete with BYD in terms of upfront cost, and encourage further adoption outside of Far East & China.

Another key consideration is scalability and charging network fragmentation outside of China. In the UK for example, the roll-out of EV chargers of even much slower speeds has been hampered by many issues, such as a lack of consumer demand, strain on the energy network and planning permission rules. Whilst rolling out current generation EV chargers has been a challenge, rolling out drastically faster chargers will not be an easy process, and will require fundamental changes to numerous processes in the UK. Also, given the risk of tariffs on Chinese vehicles, international roll-outs will need to be carefully considered.

As a Research Analyst at Juniper Research, Thomas provides up-to-date trends analysis, competitive landscape appraisal, and market sizing for industries such as Heat Pumps, Renewable Energy Technologies, and EV Charging & Batteries.