BYD is installing thousands of 5-minute electric vehicle chargers across Europe

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has announced plans to accelerate its foray into the European car market by rolling out ultra-fast flash chargers across the continent. BYD has already installed the first new chargers in Germany and the UK, and plans to roll out 3,000 across Europe by the end of next year.

At an estimated cost of €580,000 (about $670,000) per shipper according to Financial TimesThis means a total expenditure of about US$2 billion to install the network. 1500 kW charging stations are much more powerful than Tesla’s 500 kW V4 SuperchargersAlthough Tesla already has 20 thousand chargers installed in Europe. BYD, which was It steadily outperforms Tesla in global salessays its chargers should not add undue strain on the power grid, because they will charge cars from batteries that can be charged overnight.

Any car equipped with a standard CCS charging port can use flash chargers, although only BYD cars equipped with the company’s new Blade battery can reach the top speeds. There is currently only one of these devices in Europe – the €115,000 ($133,000) Denza Z9 GT – which charges 70 percent in five minutes using the new chargers.