BYD, a Chinese carmaker once dismissed by Tesla’s CEO, claims to have outpaced western rivals with charging tech that’s as fast as filling petrol engines
Tesla’s boss, Elon Musk, once thought the idea that China’s BYD could compete with his company was laughable. In 2011, he smugly dismissed the Chinese carmaker as unimpressive, its products unattractive and its technology “not very strong”. He’s not laughing now – and not just because Tesla’s stock has plummeted amid a boycott by motorists protesting against his embrace of far-right politics. More pressingly, Mr Musk, like other western carmakers, has been outpaced by BYD.
Last week, the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer unveiled new charging technology that, it says, is capable of delivering 400km (249 miles) of driving range in just five minutes – as quick as filling up a petrol car. The system, released next month, will be fitted in two EVs, priced from 270,000 yuan (£29,000) – comparable to Tesla’s most affordable model in China. Yet BYD claims to quadruple Tesla’s kilometres-per-minute charging rate. Technological supremacy at a competitive price may help to explain why BYD now sells seven times as many cars in China as Tesla.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/23/2025 - 13:30
03/23/2025 - 09:00
Exclusive: Australia’s top green organisations suspend anti-nuclear power ads to fund campaign against Labor’s move to protect salmon industry
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Australia’s leading environment organisations have abruptly suspended advertising campaigns attacking the Coalition’s plan to introduce nuclear power and are instead funding ads accusing Anthony Albanese of signing “the death warrant” of an endangered species.
The shift from criticising Coalition to Labor policy on the cusp of an election campaign was agreed by the bosses of green groups – including the Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace and WWF Australia – at what campaigners described as an emergency meeting on Saturday.
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03/23/2025 - 01:00
MPs claim during her 2022 party leadership campaign she promised them she was committed to green targets
Kemi Badenoch has been accused of breaking a promise made to Tory MPs during her leadership campaign after abandoning the party’s commitment to reaching net zero by 2050.
Speaking to the Observer, Chris Skidmore, who served as a government minister between 2016 and 2020, said that Badenoch had made clear to a group of Tory MPs and other Conservatives at a leadership hustings in 2022, when she was seeking their votes in the race to replace Boris Johnson, that she backed the policy.
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03/22/2025 - 14:00
Australia’s world heritage-listed reefs – Ningaloo on the west coast and the Great Barrier Reef on the east – are being hit by simultaneous coral bleaching, with teams of scientists on both coasts monitoring and tracking the event across thousands of kilometres of marine habitat. On Western Australia’s Ningaloo reef, waters have accumulated the highest amount of heat stress on record during an extended marine heatwave that has hit coral reefs all the way along the state’s vast coastline
AI-driven weather prediction breakthrough reported
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03/22/2025 - 05:00
Giant blobs along 5,000-mile-wide sargassum belt has killed animals, harmed human health and discouraged tourism
Scientists in Florida believe they have identified a “tipping point” in atmospheric conditions in the Atlantic Ocean they say caused giant clumps of toxic seaweed to inundate beaches around the Caribbean in recent summers.
Previous theories for the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt that has killed marine animals, harmed human health and plagued the tourism industry in several countries include a surfeit of nutrients in the water, such as nitrogen and phosphorus in runoff from intensive farming and carried into the ocean in the Congo, Amazon and Mississippi rivers.
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03/22/2025 - 00:00
Conservationists find critically endangered species thriving on Indian Ocean island of Aride
Record numbers of Wright’s gardenia, one of the world’s rarest and most fragrant trees, have been counted on the tiny tropical island of Aride in Seychelles.
The only place in the world where the critically endangered tree occurs naturally is on the 72-hectare granite island in the Indian Ocean. The tree was once found on other, larger islands in the Seychelles archipelago but its sturdy wood was harvested for firewood, leading to its disappearance from everywhere except Aride.
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03/21/2025 - 18:31
Bird of prey’s violent reign in Flamstead could soon come to an end, according to parish council
It stole two woolly hats from the head of a 91-year-old pensioner. It clawed a jogger’s scalp and left him reeling. It is said to swoop in from behind without making a sound, has a penchant for tall men’s heads and – so far – has evaded capture.
But the violent reign of the Flamstead hawk, which has made men in the Hertfordshire village of Flamstead afraid to go out without covering their heads, may soon be at an end.
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03/21/2025 - 18:00
Low waste doesn’t have to mean no fun – with a little creativity you can celebrate an occasion without hurting the planet
Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint
Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com
When planning a big bash to celebrate my 40th last year, I wanted a stylish and memorable celebration that didn’t cost the earth.
Between food waste, plastic packaging, single-use decorations and fast fashion, the environmental footprint of festivities can quickly add up. Thankfully though, low waste doesn’t have to mean no fun.
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03/21/2025 - 12:50
A new prize recognises the power of storytelling to address the biggest issue of our time
No novelist should ignore the climate emergency, Paul Murray, author of the bestselling novel The Bee Sting, told the Observer last year: “It is the unavoidable background for being alive in the 21st century.” In recognition of the vital role of literature in responding to the Anthropocene moment, this week the inaugural shortlist was announced for the Climate Fiction prize.
The five novels include Orbital by Samantha Harvey, set during one day on the International Space Station and the winner of last year’s Booker prize; time-travelling romcom The Ministry of Time from debut novelist Kaliane Bradley; eco-thriller Briefly Very Beautiful by Roz Dineen; And So I Roar, about a young girl in Nigeria, by Abi Daré; and a story of migrants in an abandoned city in Téa Obreht’s The Morningside. All the shortlisted authors are women.
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03/21/2025 - 12:13
Researchers spot orange Maori octopus clinging to back of large shark off coast of New Zealand in December 2023
Footage of an octopus riding a shark has stunned scientists – and delighted marine animal enthusiasts.
Researchers spotted the orange Maori octopus clinging to the back of a large shortfin mako shark in the Hauraki Gulf off the northern coast of New Zealand in December 2023. The University of Auckland research team was searching the ocean for feeding frenzies at the time.
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