Guardian editorial contrasts China's megawatt charging rollout with UK grid fragmentation

BYD has announced a battery offering over 600 miles of range and 250 miles of charge in five minutes, requiring chargers delivering around 1.5 megawatts, more than four times the fastest UK chargers. China plans thousands of megawatt charging stations within two years, while Britain's fragmented electricity system across multiple bodies would struggle to support such a network without substation and local network upgrades. The editorial argues that privatisation has made coordinated grid infrastructure harder to build in the UK compared with China's state directed investment.

Why it matters: Megawatt charging infrastructure demands grid capacity equivalent to a small town per charger, exposing how regulatory and ownership fragmentation in the UK may delay the ultra fast charging networks that CPOs will need to remain competitive as battery technology advances.