September 24, 2026 - China Keeps Racing Ahead

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for September 24, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry. 

US President Donald Trump is meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week, and there has been speculation that the two will reach a deal that would allow Chinese automakers to produce and sell their vehicles in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, US-based automakers are pushing back on this idea and desperately don't want it to happen. The U.S. is already a very competitive automotive market, with GM currently having the highest market share at just 16.7 percent and seven companies having more than 6.5% share. But if the Chinese automakers are allowed into the US market, they are likely to demonstrate conclusively that there is indeed a market here for electric vehicles if companies would just offer products that consumers actually want at a competitive price point. With New Energy Vehicles, which include battery electric, extended-range electric, and plug-in hybrid vehicles, now at over 56% of the Chinese market, the companies there have had to move aggressively to make their vehicles and infrastructure better. 

The latest announcement came this week from Geely, which claims to have moved past BYD's 1.5 MW flash charging with a new 2.2 MW capability. Debuting on the new Galaxy E5 SUV, the new charging system is claimed to go from 10 to 70% charge in just four minutes and to 97% in 8 minutes and 40 seconds. Geely has developed a new battery to support these higher speeds and is using AI in the vehicle and the cloud to monitor and manage the charging and thermal management to avoid damaging the battery. Currently, in the US market, the fastest available charging speeds are about 400 kW on the Lucid Gravity and Porsche Cayenne and most EVs sold here top out at 200 kW or less. 

If Chinese manufacturers are allowed to offer vehicles here, they will likely have to follow the same strategy they are doing in China and Europe and build out charging networks to support their vehicles. BYD has already deployed 10,000 of its Flash chargers in China and plans to have double that many by the end of the year, with 90,000 by 2028. BYD is also planning 3,000 chargers for Europe. 

Detroit may be terrified of this competition, but it could be the best thing to happen to American car buyers, with potentially a huge increase in charging infrastructure that makes the experience little different from filling a gas tank. 

Thanks for listening.