While electric cars are wonderful commuters if you’re able to charge at home, they still face some limitations when it comes to long-distance road trips. Even though DC fast charging in North America has come a long ways since the days of 50 kW CHAdeMO stations, fast charging an EV still takes far longer than filling up a combustion-powered car. On a properly long trip, that can add hours to the travel time, presenting a significant turn-off. However, that’s about to change in some parts of the world. Thanks to BYD, megawatt charging is starting to get surprisingly convenient.
Let’s start with the big number: 1,500 kW. That’s more than four times the power of the 350 kW stations generally considered to be the gold standard in America. It’s a big number for a charging station, but it’s only usable because of the wild C-ratings on BYD’s Blade battery 2.0 cells. A battery’s C-rating is a measure of how quickly it can charge or discharge, and BYD’s latest chemistry supports an 8C charge rating. That means these cells can theoretically charge from zero to 100 percent capacity eight times in an hour. We’ve seen megawatt charging before, but the big deal with BYD’s Flash Charging setup is that it can deliver all that power through one connector. Some previous megawatt charging setups required two cables for connection, and that just gets a bit cumbersome.
The other historical problem with megawatt charging is simply pulling that much power from the grid. Let’s say you have a bank of just two 1,500 kW DC fast chargers. If they’re just hooked up to the power system, each one only needs to see about four hours of use per day for the station to consume the same energy as the Walmart in Covina, Calif. before it received renovations to reduce power consumption in 2023. A big bank of megawatt chargers may require expensive direct transmission, but BYD’s using battery banks to spread the load.
These battery banks can pull a maximum of 560 kW from the grid, and provide charging support while reducing power transmission needs. They top off when things aren’t tapped-out, then discharge when plugged-in EVs need a boost. We’ve seen this sort of system in use by many EV charging station companies, but BYD is taking it to a different scale.
This all results in charging speeds that seem like science-fiction come to life. With BYD’s Blade Battery 2.0 on this charging network, the marque claims five-to-70 percent in five minutes and 10-to-97 percent in nine minutes, with an extreme -22ºF (-30ºC) cold 20-to-97 percent charging session done in as little as 12 minutes. The thing is, BYD doesn’t cite battery pack sizing with this claim, but third parties have already tested these megawatt chargers with interesting results.
Out of Spec Reviews plugged a Flash charger into a slightly crashed Denza Z9 GT that was sitting around the back of a dealership in China and saw it charge the EV from 30 percent to 97 percent in eight minutes and 53 seconds. Impressive stuff for a 122 kWh battery pack. That’s hundreds of miles added in about the same time it takes to fill up a regular gasoline-powered car.
I’m also rather impressed by the design of the charging station itself. You’d expect something capable of flowing that sort of power to have a huge cabinet and a cable the diameter of a drainpipe. Not so. Instead, the cabinet’s a tall T-shaped thing with fairly normal-sized charging cables hanging down from above so they don’t drag on the ground and get dirty. Dual heads and relatively long cables should mean that no matter where on a car a charging port is, these charging stations will reach. The only miss is that cabinets in certain markets seem to lack credit card readers. Probably fine for a car you own with plug-and-charge capability, but it may make paying for a charge in a rental car more complex.
Ah yes, markets. It shouldn’t be surprising that the Flash charging setup first launched in China, but BYD’s been aggressive about expansion. Not only has the automaker recently opened its first Flash charging station in Germany, it just demonstrated its first megawatt charging station in Britain. A total of 300 megawatt stations are slated for the United Kingdom by the end of the year, with aggressive expansion also planned for other markets. Don’t be surprised if they end up coming to Canada soon enough, given how BYD’s been eyeing the Canadian market.
Pending rollout, it seems that the biggest dig against electric vehicles may now be solved. With megawatt charging, the time gap between charging up and filling up shrinks dramatically, and that should make long-distance road trips far easier. While BYD’s early to this thanks in part to its battery chemistry, it certainly won’t be the sole player in the megawatt charging field. Given how the technology’s already being deployed, it’s only a matter of time before the future becomes the present.
Top graphic image: BYD
This is good and theoretically fixing *a* problem but it’s not fixing the bigger problem which is access to slow charging where people park cars.
Isn’t this solving things in the correct order then? If I’m going to park for some length of time such that charge rate is immaterial, I’d rather have (if I had to pick one) slow charging there than slow charging when I’m just passing through and trying to go on my way.
Topshot: I know I should be thinking Queen, but I’m stuck on The Nightman Cometh.
Yah gotta pay the troll toll… to charge your EV Kia Soul.
Cautiously optimistic as these would solve range anxiety if deployed at scale.
Let’s hope.
I’m waiting for the Donut Labs version where they slow it down because drivers were getting upset they didn’t have time to do more than slam an espresso while charging.
This is great, truly. Now, who has the extra power and infrastructure ready for these things? Anyone? Anywhere in the USA?
Okay okay, you have power. Are they going to outbid a data center for it?
America needs to stop fucking around and fix our bones. They are old, frail and breaking with every stumble. No more grifting, no more buddy buddy contracts, no more lost billions with no tracking of funds in sight….. Okay I’m dreaming I know. But that’s the only way these will ever happen so anyone else who wants them is dreaming too.
I heard it reported the other day that data center projects are bigger than all other infrastructure projects in the US now.
It’s infuriating how this country fails its citizens in every way.
The battery backbone helps a LOT with those issues, but doesn’t totally solve them.
Sorry was replying to something else originally. Thanks!
This would be fantastic in the US just because of the size of the country, I know these would come to the US at some point but 10 minutes from 10% to 80% is fast enough for me and 90% of the people, by the time you use the facilities and buy a drink or whatever, your car is waiting for you to move it. This would also change the game in trucking or hauling big stuff, having this kind of speed is what we need to make EVs the population choice.
“Let’s say you have a bank of just two 1,500 kW DC fast chargers. If they’re just hooked up to the power system, each one only needs to see about four hours of use per day for the station to consume the same energy as the Walmart in Covina, Calif.”
By that math, you’re saying that an entire energy-hog Walmart uses the same amount of energy as 64 EV’s?
Wait ’til you find out the energy density of oil, and how much it takes to refine before it’s able to be burnt in a vehicle.
At least could, in theory, have a small field of solar panels that’ll keep them going with minimal work.
The point I was getting at was how much energy it takes to move a car
That’s definitely a step in the right direction.
This charging speed also means we could do with smaller batteries. Faster charging means smaller ranges more workable.
Seeing some of the comments complaining of basic infrastructure outlines and highlights some of the issues for practical implementation.
I can only imagine how many times the cables on this one will get stolen in certain areas – they’re going to have a hefty gauge of copper.
Simple solution – keep the cable energized at all times. If any tries to cut it….
LOL that will get the owner sued ASAP by the survivors family. No one is going to agree to that on their land.
Oh, I know.
My dad used to be director of transmissions for our regional power company. Which meant that any time some idiot got electrocuted to death trying to steal copper from a substation, he had to go to the scene. We called it natural selection.
I know nothing about this stuff.
Doesn’t fast charging at high wattage wear batteries out faster? I thought I had read that a long time ago when fast charging started becoming a thing in cell phone batteries.
A few things:
1) battery chemistry changes
2) phones and cars are nothing alike.
3) your phone has only a few cells. Cars have thousands.
4) car battery cells are actively cooled. Your phone’s battery is not
5) cars don’t charge and discharge all cells at the same time. The car’s internal systems cycle through charging cells based, on part, on cell temperatures
okay, but that didn’t answer the question. Does super fast charging, add more wear to the battery than a level two or similar.
Yes. Yes it does, but given the batteries are actively cooled, less than you would think. Charging fully to 100% is probably worse.
Thanks. I figure there is a trade off for everything, and for most, that is worth it! The second or third user has more worry, but that industry should be maturing for replacement packs and people able to do it.
It does but it’s much more mitigated in modern EVs due to active cooling while charging. Would you see an increased degradation in an exclusively fast charged EV at a fast charger? Likely yes. Would it be significant? Unsure, and the answer will depend on how the battery cells were engineered.
Thanks!
Probably, but new chemistries are always improving and it’s becoming less and less of an issue.
The pouch cells in cellphones tend to see significant degradation because they are the absolute minimum size needed for the phone, and often get charged up to 100% and then down to near zero on a daily basis. This cycling is really hard on the battery, they are only rated at like 350 cycles anyway.
The cylindrical cells used in EVs and power tools are much more durable, and the EV batteries have shown very low degradation over 1000s of cycles.
Realistically through, this megawatt charging is for road trips only, at least for the foreseeable future. You don’t need to do this on a regular basis for daily driving. The best value electricity is always going to be charging at your home, or place of business.
My little town sits at the end of. a 40+ mile feeder line and all it can give us is 440 volt 3 phase. Thusly we got no EVs ’cause plugging in two EVs at once would probably brown us out and two other towns on this tired rural grid. So where we supposed to get the megawatts for these fast chargers?
Check out the article again- The charger pulls energy from the grid at a normal rate, preferably during off-peak hours. The energy is stored in a large battery, which can then discharge at megawatt speeds. If anything, this setup is actually better for your town than a typical L3 DC fast charger.
This is the same principle as the 12v battery in your car- Trickle charged by the alternator at just a few amps, but able to discharge hundreds on demand.
Is your little town one of those off a major interstate with 6 gas stations and 8 fast food restaurants as soon as you exit the highway? If yes, the grid can probably accommodate this setup. If no, you weren’t ever going to get one anyway.
Oh come on we all know nobody has 5 minutes to wait to refuel, and they also need the ability to drive 500 miles without stopping, /s
And haul multiple sheets of drywall, and their entire family, and tow a horse trailer at the same time.
Through two feet of snow
Uphill
Both ways
In your father’s pyjamas
Please, I need to drive 900 miles wearing a catheter to confront my romantic rival in our astronaut love triangle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Nowak
I would have some concern about hurting the battery life charging that fast
I don’t need 1500kW. Hell I’d be happy as a pig in mud pit if I can reliably and consistently get 200kW here in Northeast US and Southern Ontario.
For the rare instances my wife has had to plug in to a fast charger, the 150kW the EVquinox can accept is good enough. That getting cut in half when another car plugs into the same charger is really not good enough.
So so many times, when I visit my parents just north of Toronto, I’d arrive at the hotel after midnight and need a recharge.
That I’d be the only car in a 4-bank, 200kW-rated charger, and I’d be lucky to pull 75kW out of it.
There’s a dozen Tesla Superchargers across the parking lot but I refuse to use them unless there are no options.
I continue to be big mad that the US is lagging so far behind in this kind of infrastructure and EV tech.
It’s almost like it’s by design…..
Crazy, huh? Who would have thought.
How long until the local crackheads cut off the cable?
One 0f the great jokes is “Rich man/Poor man”. Knows the market price for copper.
“This is why we can’t have nice things”
Sadly, like catalytic converter theft, there’s a whole industry behind this. It’s not just ‘crackheads’.
We need to teach the crackheads about data centers.