Thermal management of the battery during fast charging is crucial for charging time, energy consumption and safety. To address this challenge, this paper introduces a novel battery thermal management strategy for fast charging of battery electric vehicles based on nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC). First, a control-oriented model is parameterized using measurement data of a state-of-the-art battery electric vehicle (BEV). The optimal thermal management strategy for fast charging under a wide range of conditions is then calculated. Based on the optimization results, battery temperature thresholds as functions of the state of charge are used as references within the real-time capable controller. The controller’s performance is subsequently tested using a validated high-fidelity simulation model. Compared to the baseline rule-based strategy, the NMPC can save up to 51% in auxiliary energy consumption at medium and high ambient temperatures through efficient cooling, while reducing charging time by up to 4.5% at low ambient temperatures through aggressive heating.