Lightning-charged in five minutes – BYD delivers, Germany watches

The next attack by Chinese automakers is coming. They plan to attract customers in Europe with their own charging infrastructure.

Let's imagine a motorway service station in 2026. A car rolls up to a charging station, the driver plugs in, walks to the coffee machine—and five minutes later, 400 kilometers of range are back on board. Not a vision of the future, but exactly what BYD is currently making a reality.

The Chinese electric pioneer has announced that it will install so-called “flash chargers” in Europe: 1000-volt systems that charge in less time than it takes to fill up a diesel tank.

And how is Europe responding? With research funding, with strategy papers, with charging plans whose implementation is stalled somewhere between ministries, grid operators, and the confusion of responsibilities.

While Brussels is debating how many charging points are "realistic" by 2030, China is supplying the hardware – and soon the infrastructure as well. Not to mention that the battery technologies needed for such charging times also come from China.

The issue of charging infrastructure is not a sideshow in the mobility transition, but rather a pacesetter. Even the best electric car is useless if charging remains a hassle. Customers don't buy range anxiety. And they certainly don't buy long charging times at overcrowded charging stations.

BYD's tech offensive is therefore more than just another Chinese attack on the car market – it's a frontal assault on Europe's understanding of energy and mobility. Flash charging technology eliminates the last argument against electric cars: time. And BYD goes even further. Its own charging stations, its own payment systems, its own software. Whoever controls the ecosystem controls the market.

This is the uncomfortable truth for Europe: The mobility transition is no longer just a question of drive systems, but of platforms. Anyone who only thinks about cars has already lost.

German manufacturers are making efforts. BMW, Mercedes, and even Audi are relying on technologies that also enable fast charging. But while BYD, Nio, and Tesla are thinking of their charging infrastructure as an operating system—networked, controlled, and from a single source—the German manufacturers are leaving the field to others. Ionity? Well-intentioned, but neither widespread nor competitive in terms of user experience.

And this is precisely where the opportunity lies for startups: Those who develop intelligent, modular charging infrastructure today – be it for fleets, cities, or rural areas – will have the key technology in their hands tomorrow. Those who build platforms today can orchestrate ecosystems tomorrow. And those who have the courage today to think of fast-charging technology as a service, not just as hardware, can dominate entire markets the day after tomorrow. But this can't work without the automotive industry.

One of the greatest weaknesses of the German auto industry is its failure to recognize this opportunity. They don't think in terms of ecosystems, but only in terms of pure model sales. Instead of offering customers a mobility ecosystem that encompasses everything related to electric cars, many manufacturers believe that selling an electric car is enough. But that no longer works.

BYD and Tesla have understood that you can't sell an electric car like a combustion engine car. More and, above all, better offerings are needed, a holistic system for e-mobility. And that's exactly what German manufacturers lack. They're only thinking about how to generate additional revenue through the infotainment system, but not how to make e-mobility attractive to customers.

What does this require? The courage to move fast. And to cooperate. Politically, economically, and regulatory-wise. Europe must stop treating charging infrastructure as a secondary infrastructure issue and start understanding it as a strategic asset. Because if 400 kilometers can be charged in five minutes, then every minute we lose counts twice as much. It's only a matter of time before customers realize that other manufacturers offer better service and better offers.