Chinese automaker BYD, the largest electric vehicle maker in the world, which is planning a Canadian market entry, says it will also bring its Flash Charging technology.

BYD hasn’t provided a date of when it will begin auto sales in Canada, but it says it will happen soon.

Speaking with AutoTrader, BYD executive vice president Stella Li said the company’s EV Flash Charging systems are coming to Canada. No timeline was provided.

What is BYD’s Flash Charging?

At charging rates of up to 1,500 kW, BYD’s Flash Charging promises to charge electric vehicles – the ones that can handle such charging speeds anyway – in a time span that is similar to stopping and filling up your car with gas.

To put into context just how fast 1,500 kW is, let’s go over the various EV charging technologies out there.

Level 1 is if you were to simply plug your electric car into any old outlet. This would charge your vehicle at a rate of between 1 to 2 kW. It would take several days at this pace to charge your car up from nearly empty to nearly full.

Level 2 is what most EV owners have at home. These are dedicated chargers installed at home using 240-volt AC power. These systems top out at rates of 19.2 kW but most vehicles and chargers offer somewhere in the range of 7 and 12 kW. You can get a complete charge of your vehicle overnight with such a system.

Then there is DC fast-charging, also known as Level 3. These are dedicated fast-chargers installed in public places. You might recognize Tesla Superchargers but there are others as well. On the low end of the spectrum, these might offer charges of around 50 kW. At the top end, DC fast-chargers in Canada max out at around 350 kW, and that’s when the conditions are good. With Level 3 charging, you might get a complete charge in 20 to 40 minutes.

BYD’s Flash Charging technology promises to offer charging rates that are much faster than what Level 3 currently offers in Canada.

BYD says drivers could get a 10 to 97 per cent charge in nine minutes. Even at temperatures of -30 C, the system could recharge an EV from 20 to 97 per cent in 12 minutes, the company said.

Do you want to make a quicker stop? BYD says a charge of 10 to 70 per cent can happen in five minutes.

Keep in mind, it’s not just the charging station that must be capable of such charging rates, the car must also be able to handle it to take advantage of BYD’s Flash Charging.

More information is available on BYD’s website.

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