Say what you like about electric cars, but one of the biggest hurdles for convincing people to get one is the charging – particularly out on the road. Things are getting better but Chinese car make BYD wants to make the task even simpler with its Flash Charger technology, which has the potential to take on Tesla’s visionary charging infrastructure worldwide. BYD even plans to bring it to the UK and, boy, do we need it.
BYD’s Flash Chargers are just that; fast with electricity being dispensed at up to 1,500kW per connector using a compatible vehicle, which is up to three times as much as some of the best outlets can provide currently. The system works in tandem with a power reservoir located close by that stabilizes the grid while a power amplifier helps enable the Flash Charging. According to BYD, this makes them ten times more efficient than a conventional charger.
I recently saw them in action, and they took 5 minutes to get from a 10 percent to 70 percent state of charge and 9 minutes to get from 10 percent to 97 percent charge.
The other bonus, though, is the convenience. Flash Chargers boast a new T-shaped design gantry, with lanes either side plus charging guns that hang from a sliding rail. The charging guns and supporting cables are light, as in very light, which means that hooking up and commencing a charge is about as easy as it gets. Payment, at least in China, is via a fuss-free digital handshake and there’s a neat app for your smartphone. It’s all very simple but incredibly effective.
I took a look at the Flash Charger facility in Shenzhen and the covered outlet boasted a shop and toilets too. No Greggs though.
Another benefit of Flash Chargers is their ability to work anywhere, as long as it’s a compatible car able to handle those higher charging speeds, like the Denza Z9 GT, for example. Earlier, BYD showcased one seemingly frozen over inside a booth cooled to minus 30. A man in a thick winter coat went inside, waved to us onlookers and, after stabbing his heavily gloved fingers at the charging cover, plugged in one of the charging guns before making a swift exit.
The charge time in this extreme cold went from 10 percent to 97 percent in just 12 minutes compared to the charge dispensed outside in 30-degree heat. Roughly speaking, I’d say this is about the same time it takes to buy the average Greggs sausage roll here in the UK then. I was impressed.
Of course, BYD knows everything there is to know about batteries and charging them. After all, before building cars, the once small, but now huge company started out as a battery-producing specialist, first using hand assembly and lots of hard work before evolving into one of the biggest automated battery manufacturers on the planet and subsequently making cars too.
Later that day, as the eternally effervescent Stella Li, Executive Vice President of BYD, fielded questions about the company’s multi-pronged strategy that includes expanding the Flash Charger network, I couldn’t help but wonder if BYD could hatch a plan to help the UK with its own crumbling infrastructure. In typically Chinese fashion, she explained BYD plans to have 20,000 Flash Charging stations operational by the end of 2026.
Better still, the good news is, BYD does have plans to bring its clean, covered and super convenient Flash Charging facilities to these shores. It can’t happen soon enough. Can we have a Greggs though please?
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