You know, I don’t actually agree with the concept of framing every electric vehicle-related news story around Tesla. Sure, it’s an easy way to put numbers on the board if you run a publication that covers business, technology, the auto industry or the stock market. But it’s more than a little lazy and hackneyed in 2025.
Yet the recent news of Chinese automaker BYD’s breakthrough in five-minute EV fast-charging is turning into an actual problem for Tesla at a time when its investors are looking for some reason, any reason to be optimistic. It’s yet another sign of just how far ahead China is in the EV race these days.
That kicks off this midweek edition of Critical Materials, our morning roundup of technology and auto industry news. Also on tap: Audi and Alfa Romeo both waffle on their plans to go all-electric (at least, anytime soon) and Nissan inks a deal for some batteries in the U.S. Let’s dig in.
30%: BYD Has Tesla Investors Asking: What Are You Doing?
Photo by: BYD
BYD – 1000 kW ultra-fast charging
BYD up, Tesla down. That’s the market’s reaction to BYD’s news of 1,000 kilowatt DC fast charging for its new Super e-Platform EVs, which go on sale later this year in China for around just $38,000. With these chargers, those cars should be able to add about 250 miles (400 km) of range in a mere five minutes.
That handily defeats any “I’ll never buy an EV until it charges as fast as a gas car can fill up” counter-argument. If this technology can scale—especially in markets beyond China—it’s a guaranteed game-changer for EVs everywhere.
And the news actually contributed to Tesla’s dropping stock price yesterday. It’s obviously been declining for some time—public opinion continues to sour on the brand and Elon Musk’s actions in government turn off longtime and prospective Tesla fans. But it also seems to have investors wondering what America’s supposed EV tech leader is actually doing. Via Bloomberg:
Delivering this, and quickly, would cement China’s lead in an EV industry that had its breakout moment in the Bay Area when Tesla launched the Model S sedan a little over a decade ago. That Musk felt compelled to stage a bizarre event at the White House last week with President Donald Trump, who is no fan of EVs, apparently buying a Model S to show support says a lot about where innovation can be found these days.
Musk’s politicking damages Tesla’s brand, but the underlying problem is its relatively old line-up of models even as competitors release new ones. While Tesla abandoned plans for a cheap EV, instead launching the Cybertruck priced at six figures, BYD and its competitors churned out an array of models going for less than $30,000.
[…] Tesla’s premium is now justified less by promises of growing EV sales and more by expansive, but elusive, visions of robotaxis and robots. BYD has also clouded that by releasing an advanced driver assistance system across most of its range as standard. Tesla’s, albeit more sophisticated technology, costs thousands of dollars extra for customers.
I’d add that this isn’t just a Tesla problem, as columnist Liam Denning alludes to in a dek that I wish I had written myself: “The Chinese EV-maker shocked the world with a fast charger, while the U.S. is still figuring out if EVs are too woke.” It’s that the entire Western auto industry is far, far behind China’s technology, and if our supposed tip-of-the-spear EV company can’t keep up, who can?
60%: Audi, Alfa Romeo Waffle On All-Electric Plans
As China pulls ahead, Western automakers are looking for an escape hatch to their once-lofty “all-electric by 2030-whatever” plans. Hey, maybe they wouldn’t have to if they had developed five-minute EV fast charging too, but here we are.
Two reports from our colleagues at Motor1 address this. The first up is Audi, which has said this kind of thing before and reiterated it on a recent investor call:
This week, Gernot Döllner declared: “2032 was the date we had communicated. With the delayed transformation towards electric mobility, we have to assess those dates and deadlines.” Audi intends to “take a look at the life of combustion engines” across the world because switching to an electric-only lineup is “going to be longer than we had originally planned for.”
Of all the major luxury automakers, I’d wager Audi has had the hardest time keeping up. It’s been beset by the Volkswagen Group’s many software-related delays and setbacks and has struggled with scaling its EVs at reasonable costs. This isn’t too surprising. The next is Alfa Romeo:
In 2021, Stellantis said that Alfa Romeo would become an electric-only brand in the Enlarged Europe, North America, and China regions by 2027. Well, that’s not happening anymore. Alfa Romeo’s new CEO has confirmed that the Italian brand will keep combustion engines for the long haul. The next-generation Stelvio and Giulia will be available with gas engines as part of a hybrid powertrain. The duo is also getting purely electric derivatives.
Alfa Romeo and Maserati CEO Santo Ficili announced on LinkedIn that Stelvio will lead the way. The all-new SUV will break cover later this year, but sales won’t start until 2026. A timeline for the Giulia hasn’t been provided, but the head honcho says it’ll come after the Stelvio. Both cars will be assembled in Italy and will be underpinned by the STLA Large platform, meaning they’ll be mechanically related to the new Dodge Charger to some extent.
(I’m a bad EV guy for saying this, but an all-electric Alfa Romeo never sounded all that appealing anyway. I’m personally done with gas cars at this point, but if I were to buy a new Alfa Romeo for some reason, I’d want that signature Alfa engine howl.)
There are lots of reasons for these EV-promise walkbacks. Most automakers would blame the slow rollout of EV charging stations; critics would say that many of their EV offerings just aren’t that good. But more and more these days, it seems like the plan for the future is to move slowly, adjust to the market, focus on hybrids and pray that BYD doesn’t start selling more cars in Europe or any at all in America.
90%: Nissan Secures SK On As U.S. Battery Partner
Nissan may be in trouble without a Honda merger (for now, anyway), but the company still has to move forward while it figures out its exact plans for the future. And that means in-house EVs, made in America, from 2028 onward. Today Nissan announced that South Korean battery giant SK On will supply power cells for that effort:
Under the agreement, SK On, a leading global battery manufacturer, will supply nearly 100GWh of high-performance, high-nickel batteries to Nissan from 2028 to 2033. These U.S.-manufactured batteries will power Nissan’s next-generation EVs to be produced at its Canton, Mississippi assembly plant. This agreement reinforces both companies’ commitment to electrification and sustainable mobility.
This production will support 1,700 U.S. jobs at SK On, and will involve a total investment of $661 million, including equipment purchases. This is in addition to Nissan’s $500 million in investments for EV production at the Canton Assembly Plant.
“This agreement with SK On is a significant milestone for Nissan’s electrification journey and supports further investment in U.S. manufacturing,” said Christian Meunier, chairman, Nissan Americas. “Through this smart partnership with SK On, we can leverage their growing U.S. production capacity to deliver innovative, high-quality electric vehicles that meet the needs of our customers.”
This will be SK On’s first partnership with a Japanese automaker. Nissan says it still plans to launch 30 new models over the next three years, including new EVs from 2028 onward. Whether any of those will really see the light of day depends on what happens in the next year or so, I’d wager.
100%: Would Ultra-Fast Charging Get More People To Buy EVs?
Photo by: CarNewsChina
If two new EVs went on sale in the U.S. tomorrow for under $40,000 and they really could charge up in under five minutes, would they transform the EV market? How would such cars be received here? And would buyers even care if they’re from China if they were getting a good deal? Share your theories in the comments.
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