- BYD confirms that Denza will bring its Flash charging to Europe
- The 1,500 kW plugs can deliver a 10 to 70 percent charge in just five minutes.
- Chinese Z9 GT can go 644 miles on a single charge
Denza, billed as the “premium technology-oriented automotive brand” in the BYD Group, has confirmed that its headline-grabbing Z9 GT high-performance EV will be heading to Europe, along with equally impressive 1,500 kW charging capabilities.
Already in use in China, BYD’s Flash charging stations offer more than three times the power of rival ‘ultra-fast charging’ plugs, enabling a 10-70% charge in just five minutes and a 10-97% recharge in just nine minutes, even in temperatures of -30°C, it says.
The Denza Z9 GT rides on a bespoke e3 platform, with the Shooting Brake Grand Tourer featuring a 122 kWh Blade battery and up to 800 km (almost 500 miles) on a single charge in the rear-wheel drive edition.
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There’s also a more performance-focused version that uses three electric motors to generate more than 960 horsepower and a 0-62 mph acceleration time of under three seconds. Both models will go on sale in April this year.
According to Car News China, the Z9 GT became the fastest new energy luxury GT to deliver 10,000 vehicles in China when it went on sale early last year, with more than 5,000 orders placed within 36 hours of its launch.
There’s no word on European pricing yet, but the cheapest cars start at just 443,900 yuan ($45,900 / around £35,000 / AU$65,000) and top out at 384,800 yuan ($52,600 / around £40,000 / AU$75,000) in China.
Even though those figures are likely to rise when import costs and taxes are taken into account, the Denza brand could still dramatically undercut premium rivals from established players such as Porsche, Audi and BMW.
Analysis: Megawatt charging is coming
While Denza’s Z9 GT offers some impressive statistics, perhaps the most pertinent are its headline charging figures, with the company promoting the principle of “ready in 5, full in 9, cold add 3”, meaning if it’s cold outside, add three minutes to those figures.
This is all well and good, but it only works with the right charging sockets. In China, BYD is currently building 4,000 1.5mW charging stations across the country, with plans to deploy 20,000 by the end of this year.
Although not that ambitious, a BYD spokesperson for the European part of the business told me that the company is targeting 2,000 1.5mW flash charging stations across Europe before the end of 2026.
Initially, this will focus on the big five European countries, with the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain receiving the majority of those chargers.
But with most of Europe’s fastest charging points currently maxing out at 350 kW (there are some 500 kW outlets), BYD’s plans look set to take the fast charging game to the next generation.
As with Tesla and its Supercharger network in the early days of electric vehicles, only BYD and Denza owners will be able to make use of these supposed five-minute charging times, leaving rival premium carmakers and the EV infrastructure as a whole scrambling to catch up.
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