"In China, BYD is currently building 4,000 1.5MW charging stations across the country, with plans to roll out 20,000 by the end of this year.
Although not quite as ambitious, a BYD spokesperson for the European side of the business told me that the company is targeting 2,000 1.5mW Flash Charging stations across Europe before 2026 comes to a close."
I’m fascinated by the economics of this. How does BYD make money on this? Do they run the chargers at a profit? How much will this work out per km for drivers compared to diesel or gasoline?
People think of BYD as a budget car marker, but this to support its luxury brand Denza. The Denza Z9 GT EV has a range of 1,036 km (644 miles) on these chargers. I’m guessing having the best charagers is going to be seen as premium/luxury too.
1.5 Milliwatts? Are these meant for ant cars?
You’ll need at least three times more power than this.
the company is targeting 2,000 1.5mW Flash Charging stations across Europe before 2026 comes to a close
Wow 1.5 mW, I wonder if they use 1 cm^2 solar cells to feed them.
But seriously how did nobody catch this.
How does BYD make money on this
The same way Tesla makes money with their own supercharger network - they sell cars and electric via the chargers.
The reason BYD is building these specific chargers is because their future cars will be able to use them to charge at insane speeds but only if a charger can handle it. Right now most “fast” chargers max out at about 350kW, even the bran d new ones. There’s a few omising 400kW or even 500kW but BYD is marketing cars that can do 1000kW.
They need some chargers to exist so they can sell those cars, it’s better for them to start building it than waiting years for the rest of the industry to catch up.
Does charging that fast reduce the life of the batteries?
Probably not much. So far from studies it seems fast charging at worst causes 2% degradation. BYD put a lot of high tech in that battery for longevity.
The BYD Blade 2.0 is engineered for extreme longevity, supporting over 3,000 charging cycles. This translates to a total vehicle mileage lifespan of approximately 1.2 million kilometers
Damn. That’s 750,000 miles in Freedom* Units. Too bad they’ll never be allowed to sell to the US.
Yeah, the German car manufacturing sector is having a “Oh come on!” moment over this.
Knowing nothing about these specific setups, but knowing how charging lithium ion and LiFePO4 batteries work and my own experience with charging at different rates, yes.
It definitely reduces the battery life to jam that much current in and out of it, the higher rate you charge, the less accurately you’ll get to 100% charge, and you don’t want to overcharge or repeatedly undercharge it. This will more rapidly degrade the battery.
That said, with battery prices plummeting, and presumably only doing this when you absolutely NEED the charge ASAP, it might be worth it to have the ability to charge that fast.
Plus it would make for some sick EV racing, when you have set battery sizes and 10-30 second pit stops for more power being part of the race.
I want to believe BYD. But my Civic is 20 years old and still idles like a purring cat. I would like 1 year/£1k spent and I don’t have faith im getting that in a BYD. 20k for a Dolphin Surf is a minimum 20 year car, and I just don’t see it.
Granted my Civic wasnt bought new, it was brought for £1300 a year ago and I could probably get another 100k miles out of it. Im almost certain that the new market is outside £1k/year budget, bunch of old Leafs around though.
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make, other than “used cars are cheaper than new cars, and I won’t buy a new car until that changes”.
Sure. My point is that I don’t believe BYD makes cars that will last as long as I would want them to last.
I want to believe BYD. But my Civic is 20 years old and still idles like a purring cat. I would like 1 year/£1k spent and I don’t have faith im getting that in a BYD. 20k for a Dolphin Surf is a minimum 20 year car, and I just don’t see it.
Dolphin Surf is 20k, for me I would like it to last 20 years. My current car has already survived 20 years, so I don’t think that’s an unreasonable expectation. I don’t believe the dolphin surf will last 20 years.
I could have been more clear.
That’s fair.
They do seem a bit more on the discount side, quality wise. But then again, lots of the usual discount cars, also don’t make it much past 10-15 years. My Nissan Micra is 11 years, and there is no way it’ll still be driving in 9 years, might not even survive the next 2.
£1k/1y is both an easy and challenging target to hit. It’s really easy to hit at the bottom end, bouncing from £500 lemon to the next. Occasionally finding a gem that’ll last a few years.
Nearly impossible to hit on a new car though I think. 20 years for 20k I don’t think is findable beyond winning the lottery on a well made car, from a well designed model, from a reliability focused manufacturer, and giving it an easy life.
Well, 1.5 milliwatts doesn’t sound a lot… But seems like for TECH(sic!)radar somehow it does.
Yes, it should be 1.5 MW. I corrected the headline.
