Recharging the battery on an electric vehicle (EV) today takes a lot longer than refilling the gas tank, making charging times one of the significant barriers to widespread EV adoption. But what if your EV could get fully juiced up in just 10 minutes?
That’s about how long it takes to recharge the newest version of the Blade EV battery from Chinese automaker BYD. The company is one of Tesla’s biggest challengers in the EV market, and it just unveiled a breakthrough in its fast-charging capabilities. Using one of BYD’s “Flash Charging” stations, the new Blade Battery 2 can go from a 10 percent charge to 97 percent in just 9 minutes at room temperature. Lower temps will increase that time, with a 20 percent to 97 percent charge at –20 degrees Celsius taking 12 minutes instead.
The first vehicles to get the new battery will be BYD’s high-end vehicles such as the Yangwang U7. The company is working to build out its network of Flash Charging stations across China, with 20,000 expected to go online by the end of this year.
