BYD confirms Flash Charging for Malaysia - Denza Z9 GT seen going from 10-70% in 6 minutes, 97% in 9 minutes

The race to build electric vehicles with longer driving range may soon take a back seat as BYD shifts its attention towards something that could prove even more important to future EV buyers – dramatically reducing charging times to the point they’re comparable with filling a tank of petrol or diesel at the pumps.

During a recent media gathering in China, BYD Malaysia confirmed that the company's impressive  Flash Charging technology will make its way to Malaysia, with deployment set to begin in phases.

The announcement comes after BYD demonstrated just how quickly its latest charging technology can replenish an EV's battery, which can operates up to 1,500 kW. Using a Denza Z9 GT starting with a battery state of charge of approximately 7 percent, the vehicle added an estimated over 150 km of driving range in well under a minute once plugged into this Flash Charger.

The charging curve remained equally impressive. BYD claims that a 10-70 percent charge can be achieved in approximately 6 minutes, whereas a topping it up further to 97 percent would take around just 9 minutes. 

According to BYD Malaysia Managing Director Jacob Ma, the initial rollout will prioritise selected BYD and Denza showrooms as well as authorised service centres before the charging network is gradually expanded to public locations.

With a camera mounted facing the dashboard screen for live monitoring of the charge level, we witnessed the rapid replenishment of the Z9 GT’s battery. After slightly more than one minute, the displayed driving range had exceeded 200 km. 

Around three-and-a-half minutes into the session, the vehicle showed more than 500 km of available range, enough to comfortably cover the roughly 350 km journey between Kuala Lumpur and Penang. And By the end of the demonstration, which lasted around 9 minutes, the battery had climbed to over 93 percent while displaying over 900 km of estimated driving range.

While those figures sound almost too good to be true, BYD Malaysia stressed that not every existing BYD EV will be capable of achieving such charging speeds. The limiting factor isn't the charger itself, but the vehicle's electrical architecture. 

To unlock the technology's full potential, vehicles must be built around BYD's latest hardware, including its new second-generation Blade Battery and an 800-volt electrical platform. One of the first models expected to benefit locally is the aforementioned and upcoming Denza Z9 GT, which is scheduled to arrive fairly soon into the Malaysian market.

Naturally, questions surrounding battery longevity were raised, particularly given the extremely high charging rates involved. According to Jacob Ma, BYD has engineered the system so that Flash Charging itself does not introduce additional battery degradation compared to conventional DC fast charging. 

As with every lithium-ion battery, capacity loss over time remains inevitable, but the company maintains that repeatedly using Flash Charging will not accelerate that natural ageing process.

In China, Flash Charging-compatible vehicles continue to receive standard battery warranty coverage, although warranty terms vary by market. For Malaysia, BYD has yet to announce the battery warranty details for models equipped with the new technology.

Likewise, several other key details remain under wraps. The company has not revealed how many Flash Charging stations will be installed nationwide, how much charging sessions will cost, or the timeline for the broader public rollout, indicating that the project is still in its early stages.

The original Blade Battery, currently found in models such as the Atto 3, Dolphin and Seal, earned widespread recognition for its safety-focused lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry, blade-shaped cell design and Cell-to-Pack construction, all of which improved structural rigidity while maintaining excellent thermal stability.

Its second generation successor builds upon those foundations with a stronger emphasis on charging performance. Improvements in energy density, heat management and cell design enable the battery to safely accept significantly higher charging power than before.

However, BYD emphasises that ultra-fast charging isn't achieved through the battery alone. Delivering these headline-grabbing charging times requires a complete ecosystem comprising the second-generation Blade Battery, an 800V high-voltage architecture, upgraded power electronics, compatible ultra-high-output charging infrastructure, and perhaps some proprietary secret sauce thrown into the mix. That said, BYD has repeated expressed interest in allowing cars from other brands to use Flash Charging, but details remain vague. 

Still, if the technology performs as promised when it reaches Malaysia, EV ownership could become noticeably more convenient, bringing charging times ever closer to the few minutes motorists are accustomed to when refuelling a conventional petrol or diesel vehicle.