Chinese EV colossus BYD has announced plans to accelerate its conquest of the European auto market with the rollout of superfast flash chargers across the continent. BYD has already installed the first new chargers in Germany and the UK, and plans to install 3,000 chargers across Europe by the end of next year.
At an estimated cost of €580,000 (about $670,000) per charger, according to financial TimesThis would mean a total cost of approximately $2 billion to establish the network. The 1,500kW charging stations are significantly more powerful than Tesla’s 500kW V4 Superchargers, although Tesla already has 20,000 chargers installed in Europe. BYD, which has consistently overtaken Tesla in global sales, says its chargers should not put undue strain on the energy grid because they will charge cars from batteries that can be charged overnight.
Any car with a standard CCS charge port can use the flash chargers, although only BYD cars equipped with the company’s new Blade battery can reach top speeds. Right now, there’s only one of them in Europe, the €115,000 ($133,000) Denza Z9 GT – it charges to 70 percent in five minutes on a new charger.
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