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China’s BYD Launches EV Charging System It Says Works Nearly as Fast as a Fill Up 

Visitors check the China made BYD ATTO 3 at the IAA motor show in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 8, 2023. (AP)
Visitors check the China made BYD ATTO 3 at the IAA motor show in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 8, 2023. (AP)
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China’s BYD Launches EV Charging System It Says Works Nearly as Fast as a Fill Up 

Visitors check the China made BYD ATTO 3 at the IAA motor show in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 8, 2023. (AP)
Visitors check the China made BYD ATTO 3 at the IAA motor show in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 8, 2023. (AP)

China’s energy and auto giant BYD has announced an ultra fast EV charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a fill up at the pumps.

BYD, China's largest EV maker, said Monday that its flash-chargers can provide a full charge for its latest EVs within five to eight minutes, similar to the amount of time needed to fill a fuel tank. It plans to build more than 4,000 of the new charging stations across China.

Charging times and limited ranges have been a major factor constraining the switch from gas and diesel vehicles to EVs, though Chinese drivers have embraced that change, with sales of battery powered and hybrid vehicles jumping 40% last year.

BYD's news appeared to give Tesla a jolt on Monday, as the US EV maker's share price sank 4.8%. BYD, which stands for build your dreams, began pre-sales of its Han L and Tang L models, which are upgraded versions of earlier models.

The Chinese company started out making batteries and has been refining its battery and energy storage technology while building an auto empire that is expanding outside China. It says its 1 megawatt flash chargers can provide power for 400 kilometers (nearly 250 miles) in five minutes.

Ultra-high voltage and a large current are required to maximize charging speeds, BYD's founder Wang Chuanfu said in a statement.

“To completely solve users' anxiety over charging, our pursuit is to make the charging time for EVs as short as the refueling time for fuel vehicles,” Wang said.

The company also said that its flash-charging system relies on silicon carbide power chips with voltage levels of up to 1,500V that it developed on its own. Its Blade lithium-ion phosphate battery is perhaps the world's safest and most efficient EV battery, with Tesla opting to use it in some of its EVs, industry analyst Michael Dunne said in a recent report.

BYD reported it made just over 4.3 million “new energy vehicles” last year, up 41% from a year earlier, including 1.8 million battery electric vehicles and 2.5 million plug in hybrids. The price of its shares traded on China's smaller market in Shenzhen has surged nearly 50% in the past six months.

While BYD's fanciest, latest premium models are expected to sell for up to about $40,000, it also makes much less expensive EVs including the Seagull, which sells for around $12,000 in China.

BYD barely nudged ahead of Tesla in production of battery-powered EVs in 2024, making 1,777,965 compared with Tesla's 1,773,443.

In early January, Tesla said its sales dropped in 2024, a first in more than a dozen years, as rivals such as BMW, Volkswagen and BYD gained market shares with competitive EVs.

But BYD has weaknesses as well, Dunne said, noting that JD Power's 2024 China New Energy Vehicle Initial Quality Study ranked the BYD Seal and BYD Song Plus battery electrics at the bottom of its rankings.

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Technology

How Safe Is Signal Messaging App Used by Trump Aides to Share War Plans?

The Signal messaging app logo is seen on a smartphone, in front of the same displayed same logo, in this illustration taken, January 13, 2021. (Reuters)
The Signal messaging app logo is seen on a smartphone, in front of the same displayed same logo, in this illustration taken, January 13, 2021. (Reuters)
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How Safe Is Signal Messaging App Used by Trump Aides to Share War Plans?

The Signal messaging app logo is seen on a smartphone, in front of the same displayed same logo, in this illustration taken, January 13, 2021. (Reuters)
The Signal messaging app logo is seen on a smartphone, in front of the same displayed same logo, in this illustration taken, January 13, 2021. (Reuters)

Top Trump administration officials used messaging app Signal to share war plans and mistakenly included a journalist in the encrypted chat, spurring calls by Democratic lawmakers for a congressional investigation into the security breach.

Under US law, it can be a crime to mishandle, misuse or abuse classified information, though it is unclear whether those provisions might have been violated in this case.

Below are some of the main facts about Signal:

HOW SAFE IS IT?

Signal is an open-source and fully encrypted messaging service that runs on centralized servers maintained by Signal Messenger.

The only user data it stores on its servers are phone numbers, the date a user joined the service, and the last login information.

Users' contacts, chats and other communications are instead stored on the user's phone, with the possibility of setting the option to automatically delete conversations after a certain amount of time.

The company uses no ads or affiliate marketers, and doesn't track users' data, as stated on its website.

Signal also gives users the possibility to hide their phone number from others and use an additional safety number to verify the safety of their messages, it adds.

Signal does not use US government encryption or that of any other governments, and is not hosted on government servers.

The messaging app has a "stellar reputation and is widely used and trusted in the security community", said Rocky Cole, whose cybersecurity firm iVerify helps protect smartphone users from hackers.

"The risk of discussing highly sensitive national security information on Signal isn't so much that Signal itself is insecure," Cole added.

Actors who pose threats to nation states, he said, "have a demonstrated ability to remotely compromise the entire mobile phone itself. If the phone itself isn't secure, all the Signal messages on that device can be read."

HOW DOES SIGNAL WORK?

Signal is a secure messaging service that uses end-to-end encryption, meaning the service provider cannot access and read private conversations and calls from users on its app, therefore guaranteeing its users' privacy.

Signal's software is available across platforms, both on smartphones and computers, and enables messaging, voice and video calls. A telephone number is necessary to register and create an account.

Unlike other messaging apps, Signal does not track or store user data, and its code is publicly available, so security experts can verify how it works and ensure it remains safe.

Signal President Meredith Whittaker on Tuesday defended the app's security: "Signal is the gold standard in private comms."

She added in a post on X: "WhatsApp licenses Signal’s cryptography to protect message contents for consumer WhatsApp."

WHO FOUNDED SIGNAL?

Signal was founded in 2012 by entrepreneur Moxie Marlinspike and Whittaker, according to the company's website.

In February 2018, Marlinspike alongside WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton started the non-profit Signal Foundation, which currently oversees the app.

Acton provided an initial funding of $50 million. Acton left WhatsApp in 2017 due to differences around the use of customer data and targeted advertising.

Signal is not tied to any major tech companies and will never be acquired by one, it says on its website.

WHO USES SIGNAL?

Widely used by privacy advocates and political activists, Signal has gone from an exotic messaging app used by dissidents to a whisper network for journalists and media, to a messaging tool for government agencies and organizations.

Signal saw "unprecedented" growth in 2021 after a disputed change in rival WhatsApp's privacy terms, as privacy advocates jumped off WhatsApp on fears users would have to share their data with both Facebook and Instagram.

Reuters lists Signal as one of the tools tipsters can use to share confidential news tips with its journalists, while noting that "no system is 100 percent secure".

Signal's community forum, an unofficial group which states that its administration is composed of Signal employees, also lists the European Commission as a user of the tool. In 2017, the US Senate Sergeant at Arms approved the use of Signal for Senate staff.

"Although Signal is widely regarded as offering very secure communications for consumers due to its end-to-end encryption and because it collects very little user data, it is hard to believe it is suitable for exchanging messages related to national security," said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight - alluding to the breach involving top Trump aides discussing plans for military strikes on Yemeni Houthi militants.

Google's message services Google Messages and Google Allo, as well as Meta's Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, use the Signal Protocol, according to Signal's website.