BYD Flash Charging network to bring blistering 1,500kW EV charging speeds to the UK

BYD has unveiled the world’s fastest EV charger. Its new ‘Flash Charging’ stations can deliver up to 1,500kW of power, allowing them to almost fully recharge an electric car in less than 10 minutes, and they’re due to come to the UK later this year.

The Chinese goliath’s new all-liquid-cooled Flash Charging points are more than four times as powerful as the 350kW units found at most UK service stations now. 

BYD has also developed the second generation of its famous Blade Battery, which is more energy dense to allow for more than 621 miles (1,000km) of range and enable cars to reach the high speeds its Flash Chargers can deliver. 

The Denza Z9GT shooting brake estate will be the first model fitted with the new ‘Blade Battery 2.0’ to come to the UK. Denza is BYD’s premium, tech-focused sister brand which will arrive here this year to fight heavyweights such as Mercedes and Porsche.

For comparison, the Porsche Taycan is one of the fastest-charging EVs currently on the market, but a 10-80 per cent top-up takes around 20 minutes. Whereas, with the new battery and plugged into one of BYD’s Flash Chargers, the Denza Z9GT will go from 10-97 per cent in only nine minutes. Even when the temperature drops to minus 30 degrees, recharging from 20-97 per cent takes just 12 minutes. 

BYD already has more than 4,000 of its mega-fast charging stations in China, but is aiming to have 20,000 up and running by the end of the year. Soon it’ll be introducing them to other markets as well, with BYD’s executive vice president Stella Li telling Auto Express last year at least 200 to 300 will be installed in the UK by the end of 2026. 

We don’t know yet when the first Flash Charging station in Britain will go live, but we’ve been promised the network of fast charging points will be open to all EV drivers and more affordable to use than most other rapid chargers.

Interestingly, the chargers won’t be branded as BYD or Denza, as with rival Tesla’s Superchargers, instead it’s simply going to be called the Flash Charging network. 

In an exclusive interview with Auto Express last year, BYD’s UK country manager Bono Ge revealed how the company would build its network of cutting-edge chargers so rapidly: batteries. 

That’s hardly surprising considering BYD has been making batteries for 30 years, but the latest packs will help make its rapid chargers quicker and less expensive to install. “The challenge is upgrading your power supply, because we need to deliver one megawatt,” Ge explained.

“For example, our office here only comes with a 250 kilowatt power supply. If you want to deliver one megawatt, you have to upgrade the power grid, which probably would take us at least 12 months. Very likely 18 months to 24 months. That's something we don't want. 

“I think our solution will be to get batteries in between to store the energy needed. That way you don't need to upgrade your power supply and can install the charger much more swiftly. That will also make the cost reasonable.”

Ge added that for Flash Chargers “you only need to give us a space for a parking bay that's already good for the charger and energy storage together. We’ll have a low input, but you'll get a megawatt output”.

Being able to install its chargers faster and being cheaper than the competition will enable BYD to charge customers less to use them. “If we set up these things, we don't need to charge them 89p per kWh, we’ll probably only charge them 60p,” Ge added.

But rather than only allowing BYD or Denza buyers to use its chargers, Ge wants them to be open to all electric-car owners, pointing to how the Tesla Supercharger network is no longer exclusive to its customers. 

While the Denza Z9GT will be the first car with the new Blade Battery 2.0, it’s possible the technology will eventually trickle down to more affordable BYD vehicles – like the Dolphin Surf electric city car, which is available through our Buy A Car from just £16k – but that’s not been confirmed yet. 

However, Ge said: “We understand in the UK, a lot of customers are concerned about electric vehicles, about range. There's really two solutions. One is to put more batteries in the cars and the other one is to increase the charging speed. 

“More batteries is the direction some people are going down, but there is a limit on how many batteries you can carry, because you eventually want to develop a car to carry people, not carry batteries. So charging might be the better answer.”

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