BYD reports 10,000 Flash Chargers installed in China
In spring, BYD unveiled the second generation of its Flash Charger and announced the goal of installing 20,000 of these stations by the end of this year. The T-shaped charging stations each feature two charging cables and 1,500 kW of charging power. BYD now reports having reached half of this target.
BYD is working intensively to reduce charging times for its electric vehicles and has developed its Blade Battery to do so. The Chinese manufacturer launched the second generation of the battery in March. When combined with a compatible dual-gun charging station, it is claimed to charge from 10 to 97 per cent in just nine minutes.
BYD also unveiled the matching charging station in March – the second generation of its Flash Charger. These T-shaped charging stations feature two charging cables, both of which can be connected to the same vehicle. A rail system enables the cables that hang from above to be moved easily, despite their considerable weight due to cooling requirements at a charging power of 1,500 kilowatts.
In contrast, installing such charging stations is said to be very simple. BYD CEO Wang said in an earlier statement that installing these stations is as simple as installing an air conditioning unit. BYD has developed a plug-and-play solution for the Flash Chargers that are installed as a "station within a station". This means the Flash Chargers use their own energy storage systems to provide the extremely high charging power for short periods. Without this kind of buffer storage, these charging stations would overload the grid. These energy storage systems are charged on-site by the existing electrical infrastructure when no electric vehicle is charging. This approach allows BYD to expand its network of "Flash Chargers" without placing a significantly greater burden on the power grid than the current charging infrastructure.
Of the 20,000 units of the second-generation Flash Chargers that BYD announced for this year, 10,000 are now installed. Several Chinese media outlets report that BYD has just opened its 10,000th Flash fast-charging station in Shenzhen. BYD did not start from scratch in March when it launched the new generation because the new Flash Chargers had already been spotted at some locations in China before the launch, where BYD had installed the first units. At the March event, BYD also confirmed that it had completed 4,239 of these charging stations in the first two months of 2026.
The roll-out is now set to accelerate by the end of the year. In the remaining four months, BYD plans to install an additional 10,000 units with the help of partners. The manufacturer reaffirmed its target of 20,000 Flash Chargers, according to CN EV News. To achieve this target, the network would need to add around 80 stations per day, which CN EV News notes is more than double the average of the last five months. BYD's roll-out partners include Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC, Teld, and JD.com.
The Flash Chargers are not part of a proprietary network but are also open to other brands (although the actual charging speeds depend on the charging capabilities of the respective vehicle). BYD states that around one-third of the charging sessions recorded on its network so far have been from non-BYD brands.
BYD also aims to expand its Flash Charger network abroad. According to CN EV News, the company has already installed its first stations in the UK and plans to have 300 stations operational there by the end of the year. In Germany, a temporary Flash Charger was briefly seen during an internal event in early summer but was subsequently removed. So far, BYD's technology has had little presence in Europe, though indications suggest that the roll-out may begin soon.