- BYD’s ultra-fast charging is not just for China
- Company demonstrates a five-minute charge at its UK HQ
- 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 witness a Denza Z9 GT — the Porsche Taycan rival from BYD’s premium brand — charge its batteries from 10 to just shy of 100% in 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-rapid chargers, which in most places peak 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 perceptions of electric cars”.
During the demonstration, BYD invited a member of the audience to take hold of the charging gun, which is a standard CCS 2 connector (therefore can be used by most EVs), and plug it into a Denza GT 9 with a pre-depleted battery that showed 10% on its infotainment display.
In order to assist with the heavy, actively cooled cabling 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 away from the floor, as well as making them easier to move.
Once plugged in, the charging session automatically began, and a BYD representative started the stopwatch. In a matter of minutes, the Flash Charge technology had added 200 miles of range, with the 10-70% charge 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,” BYD’s EV charging boss, Diego Pareschi, explained during the launch, claiming that even in the harshest climates, it will still only take 12-minutes to fully top-up a battery, not the hours it can take some rivals.
A massive European rollout
According to Bono Ge, BYD plans to introduce some 6,000 Flash Charging stalls 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, like 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-permission challenges that such high-power charging outlets face, Ge said that BYD’s on-site battery storage solution makes it easier to navigate the red tape.
A Flash charging stall uses a huge, 400kW battery stack to assist in delivering such high charging speeds, meaning BYD doesn’t have to place such a big demand on the local grid.
It also means that the on-site batteries can be charged overnight, when electricity is cheaper, with the savings potentially passed on to customers.
“I think in the ideal situation we want is to be sub-50 pence per kilowatt hour,” Ge said during our discussions.
That’s between 30-40p (30¢-40¢) cheaper than most ultra-rapid public chargers that are currently situated at high traffic areas in the UK.
Ge did add that the company was looking to “prioritize” its customers at first 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 are therefore available for any EV to use, although at much slower charging speeds.
The trickle-down effect
BYD’s EV charging boss, 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 what models will be coming to the UK and Europe.
Right now, the Chinese company is gearing up 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 that Denza customers will benefit from 18 months of free Flash Charging when they purchase a Z9 GT, in a move that echoes Tesla’s previous incentives.
BYD continues to post record-breaking sales figures in the UK and Europe but says that it is reinvesting back into those markets, with €2 billion set aside for the Flash Charge rollout alone.
According to Ge, each charging stall costs around £500,000-£1 million (around $670,000/AU$955,000) to install, depending on the complexity of the build.
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