BYD to reach 10,000 flash-charging stations in China

At 9 a.m. in Shenzhen on August 28, BYD will hold a ceremony at its Longhua flagship station as its flash-charging network reaches 10,000 sites in China. The milestone comes less than five months after the company reported 5,000 stations in operation on April 1, putting the network on a markedly faster buildout path.

The stations are designed around BYD’s second-generation Blade Battery. BYD’s next-generation charger can deliver up to 1,500 kW through a single connector, with each unit equipped with two connectors. BYD says a vehicle paired with the Blade Battery can charge from 10% to 97% in 9 minutes. Those are the manufacturer’s figures; charging performance for other vehicles will depend on what each car can accept.

The scale is visible, but so is the remaining challenge. BYD reported 7,018 stations as of June 30 and still wants 20,000 operating in China by the end of the year. Reaching that goal would require completing about 80 stations a day from August 29 through year-end, a faster pace than the network has sustained so far. BYD says Chinese charging-network operators will develop 18,000 of the planned sites, while 2,000 will be installed along highways.

For drivers, the practical change is access: a growing number of locations where compatible BYD models could replenish most of their battery in minutes. Other brands will be allowed to use the network, but the headline charging speed will not automatically transfer to every car. BYD has also signed a framework agreement with Sinopec to use more than 30,000 integrated energy service stations as rollout locations.

The company plans to take the network overseas by the end of 2026. Its first batch of stations has been deployed in the UK, where BYD plans to install 300 by year-end. BYD says it carried out extensive cycle and reliability testing before making the technology available for large-scale vehicle installation.