BYD’s radical breakthrough! Next-gen Blade battery 2.0 is as fast to top up as petrol: 10-70 per cent charge will take just five minutes!
Chinese EV giant BYD claims it has taken a major step towards eliminating one of the biggest barriers to electric car adoption by unveiling a new battery and charging system capable of refilling an EV in minutes.
Revealed at a technology event in Shenzhen, the company’s second-generation Blade Battery and new “FLASH Charging” system are claimed to deliver recharging speeds approaching those of a conventional petrol stop.
According to BYD, the new Blade Battery 2.0 can recharge from 10 to 70 per cent in as little as five minutes when connected to the latest FLASH Charger.
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A 10 to 97 per cent recharge is claimed to take just nine minutes under optimal conditions, with BYD saying the system represents the fastest charging speed yet achieved by a mass-produced electric vehicle.
Cold-weather performance is also said to have improved significantly. Even in temperatures as low as –30°C, BYD claims the FLASH Charger can take the Blade Battery 2.0 from 20 to 97 per cent in around 12 minutes.
Helping enable the ultra-fast charging speeds is BYD’s new Super e-Platform, which introduces a 1000-volt electrical architecture capable of supporting peak charging rates of up to 1500kW.
The platform is expected to debut in upcoming models including the 5.2-metre-long Great Tang SUV and the Denza Z9 GT.
As well as improving charging performance, BYD says the second-generation battery brings a five per cent increase in energy density compared with the original Blade battery.
That improvement enables driving ranges of more than 1000km on the Chinese CLTC test cycle, with BYD claiming the Denza Z9 GT can achieve up to 1036km.
The larger seven-seat Great Tang SUV is expected to deliver around 850km on the same test standard.
Supporting the new battery technology is a new generation of FLASH Chargers capable of delivering up to 1500kW through a single connector — almost four times the output of the fastest public chargers currently operating in Australia.
BYD says it has already installed 4239 of the high-power chargers across China and plans to expand the network to around 20,000 stations by the end of the year as part of its FLASH Charging rollout.
Australia will also feature in the rollout. BYD has previously confirmed it is developing plans to introduce ultra-fast charging infrastructure locally, potentially starting with megawatt-level chargers installed at dealerships supporting its premium Denza brand.
BYD says the Blade Battery 2.0 also delivers improved durability and safety compared with the original Blade battery, including passing a series of extreme safety tests such as simultaneous flash charging and nail penetration without thermal runaway.
