BYD is about to solve the great EV charging dilemma. Why the Chinese brand’s radical new Flash Charge technology is a game changer

It’s the equivalent of Toyota opening its own service station franchise, but BYD Australia has admitted it could open its own public electric vehicle charging network.

It’s one of a number of options on the table for the Chinese brand as it introduces its proprietary ‘Flash charging’ system to Australia. The initial rollout will focus on its Denza premium brand dealers in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide before expanding to BYD dealers in the future, but beyond that the options are wide open.

“We’re working through that, but we'll have them in public spaces,” explained Stephen Collins, BYD Australia chief operating officer.

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“Now, whether it's next to a KFC or a shopping centre or a standalone [site]... the ones in China, for example, are basically standalone, so they're basically like the old petrol station. But it's just electric, a mega charging- electric service station.”

Collins said creating standalone charging ‘service stations’ is possible thanks to the Flash charging technology, which can recharge at up to 1500kW and take a compatible battery from zero to 97 per cent capacity in just nine minutes. Currently the most powerful chargers in Australia are 400kW.

Because of the speed of charging, Collins said this opens up the possibility of specific charging locations, instead of so-called ‘destination chargers’, such as those at shopping centres and hotels.

“ I think that what they've shown in China is… ultimately having a public charging station, like the old petrol station, you literally drive in and in six, seven, eight, nine minutes, bang you're full,” he said.

BYD Flash charging station in China

The BYD boss also said that Flash charging should help reduce another factor in buyer hesitation towards electric vehicles.

“ I think ‘time to charge’ has been a barrier, and that's what this technology solves,” he explained. “So I think it will be a big factor, next year and into the following years is that time to charge.”

The technology is specific to BYD and Denza and requires the company’s latest generation Blade Batteries with 1000V capacity, so cars from other brands will not be able to use the Flash chargers.