LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) – BYD announced on Friday that it will launch a premium electric vehicle in Europe next month that can be recharged in just a few minutes, much faster than anything else on the market today.
With a range of up to 800 kilometers, which is well above most electric car models available, BYD’s Denza Z9GT model illustrates the competitive advantage of Chinese automakers over European manufacturers when it comes to vehicle electrification technology.
Using ‘instant charging’ features of the latest battery technology unveiled last week by BYD, the Chinese automaker says the Denza Z9GT can recharge from 10% to 70% in five minutes and from 20% to 97% in 12 minutes.
One of the challenges to the mass adoption of electric cars has been the fact that fast-charging models still need around 45 minutes to refuel, while the Denza Z9GT is much closer to the time needed to refuel a conventional combustion engine model.
BYD will also begin installing flash chargers across Europe – where its sales will grow by almost 270% in 2025 – in the middle of this year, as there is no equipment on the market that can support the 1,500 kW needed to recharge the Denza Z9GT’s battery in minutes.
Although BYD went from selling 420,000 cars in 2020 to 4.6 million in 2025, making it the fifth largest automaker in the world by sales, it has been facing difficulties for months in China, where in January and February it was overtaken by local rival Geely.
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The end of the tax exemption on the purchase of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in China helped traditional automakers, such as Volkswagen, which regained its position as sales leader in China in January.
