Chinese automaker BYD announced earlier this month that its Flash Chargers can now charge some electric vehicle batteries from around 10 to 70 percent in five minutes, and from 10 to full in about nine minutes. The upgraded chargers, first rolled out a year ago, deliver up to 1,500 kilowatts per charge compared to the 350 kW “hyper-fast” chargers more typically seen in the US.
BYD has built more than 4,000 of the chargers in China so far, with plans to construct 16,000 more by the end of the year, plus 2,000 in Europe. The company doesn’t sell in the US because of high tariffs and national security concerns.
Currently, only BYD’s Denza Z9GT will be able to utilize the Flash Chargers’ maximum speed in Europe, due to make its Paris debut next month. The vehicle uses BYD’s newest generation Blade battery with lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) chemistry, which increases energy density by 5 percent compared to the previous lithium-iron phosphate version. According to Chinese language media, BYD has redesigned all battery elements including electrodes, electrolytes, and separators.
The charging system requires vehicles’ software and wiring built to handle the high electric current. BYD’s vertical integration of cars, chargers, and batteries gives it advantages over competitors in achieving these speeds, similar to Tesla’s integrated approach.
Gil Tal, who directs the EV Research Center at UC Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies, characterized the development as “a good, marginal improvement in technology” but noted “it’s not something that changes most people’s daily life.” BYD plans to incorporate the new chargers into existing charging banks and use storage batteries at charging sites to supplement the electrical grid.
