- BYD’s ultra-fast charging isn’t just for China
- The company is demonstrating a five-minute charge at its UK headquarters
- Only one European model will be compatible, but more will follow
BYD showcased its five-minute EV Flash Charging technology at its West London headquarters this week, inviting guests and journalists to watch a Denza Z9 GT – the Porsche Taycan rival from BYD’s premium brand – charge its batteries from 10 to 100% in just nine minutes.
The flash chargers, which can deliver a peak power of 1,500kW (1.5 megawatts), far exceed the performance of today’s ultra-fast chargers, which in most places top out at around 350-400kW.
This next-generation technology has, in the words of BYD’s UK boss Bono Ge, the potential to “change people’s perception of electric cars”.
During the demonstration, BYD invited a member of the audience to grab the charging gun, which is a standard CCS 2 connector (therefore usable by most EVs), and plug it into a Denza GT 9 with a dead battery showing 10% on the infotainment display.
To help with the heavy, actively cooled cables required for such speeds, BYD has designed its Flash Charge system to look a bit like regular fuel pumps, with a pulley system that keeps the cables overhead and off the floor, as well as making them easier to move.
Once connected, the charging session began automatically and a BYD representative started the stopwatch. Within minutes, the Flash Charge technology had added 200 miles of range, with 10-70% charging taking just five minutes. Four minutes later the battery was at 97%.
“Ready in five, full in nine, and if it’s cold, add three minutes,” explained BYD’s EV charging manager, Diego Pareschi, at the launch, claiming that even in the harshest climates, it will still only take 12 minutes to fully charge a battery, not the hours it can take some competitors.
A massive European rollout
According to Bono Ge, BYD plans to introduce around 6,000 Flash Charging bays outside of China by the end of 2027, with 3,000 operating in Europe and around 300 earmarked for the UK.
“We are already working with BYD dealers, established Charge Point Operators (CPO) and special partners, such as supermarkets, fast food restaurants and other high-traffic areas to set up Flash Charging locations,” Bono Ge told us.
When pressed on the logistical and planning challenges such high-power charging points face, Ge said BYD’s on-site battery storage solution makes it easier to navigate red tape.
A flash charging box uses a huge 400kW battery stack to help deliver such high charging speeds, meaning BYD doesn’t have to make such huge demands on the local grid.
It also means that the batteries on site can be recharged overnight when electricity is cheaper, with the savings potentially passed on to customers.
“I think the ideal situation we want is to be under 50 pence per kilowatt hour,” Ge said during our discussions.
That’s between 30-40p (30¢-40¢) cheaper than most ultra-fast public chargers currently located in high-traffic areas of the UK.
Ge added that the company was looking to “prioritize” its customers initially and had to find ways to appease CPOs so it didn’t undercut them. But he went on to stress that Flash chargers are universal and therefore available for any electric car to use, albeit at much slower charging speeds.
The trickle-down effect
BYD’s head of EV charging, Diego Pareschi, stated that all BYD cars with the second generation of its Blade Battery technology will be capable of Flash Charging, but the company stopped short of revealing exactly which models are coming to the UK and Europe.
Right now, the Chinese company is preparing to launch its premium brand Denza outside of China, with the Z9 GT poised to offer Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT levels of sophistication and performance at a lower price.
Pareschi said Denza customers will benefit from 18 months of free flash charging when they buy a Z9 GT, in a move that echoes Tesla’s previous incentives.
BYD continues to post record sales figures in the UK and Europe, but says it is reinvesting back into those markets, with €2bn earmarked for the Flash Charge rollout alone.
According to Ge, each charging station costs around £500,000-£1 million (about $670,000/AU$955,000) to install, depending on the complexity of the building.
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