- BYD confirms that Denza will bring its Flash charging to Europe
- The 1,500kW outlets can deliver a 10-70% charge in only five minutes
- Chinese Z9 GT can manage 644-miles on a single charge
Denza, which is considered the ‘premium technology-orientated automotive brand’ in the BYD Group, has confirmed that its headline-grabbing Z9 GT performance EV will be heading to Europe, alongside the equally impressive 1,500kW charging capabilities.
Already in use in China, BYD’s Flash Charging stations deliver more than three-times the output of rival ‘ultra fast-charging’ outlets, enabling a 10-70% charge in only five minutes and a 10-97% refill in just nine minutes, even in -30°C temperatures, it claims.
The Denza Z9 GT rides on a bespoke e3 platform, with the shooting brake Grand Tourer boasting a 122kWh Blade Battery and up to 800km (almost 500 miles) on a single charge in the rear-wheel-drive edition.
There is also a more performance-focused version that uses three electric motors to deliver more than 960hp and a 0-62mph sprint time of less than three seconds. Both models are due to go one sale in April of 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 within 36 hours of its launch.
There’s no word on European pricing just yet, but the cheapest cars start at just 443,900 yuan ($45,900 / around £35,000 / AU$65,000) and tops out at 384,800 yuan ($52,600 / around £40,000 / AU$75,000) in China.
Despite those figures likely increasing when factoring in import costs and taxes, the Denza brand could still drastically 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 is its headline charging figures, with the company promoting the principal of "ready in 5, full in 9, cold add 3" — as in, if it's cold outside, add three minutes to those figures.
This is all well and good, but it only works with the appropriate charging outlets. 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.
This will focus on the Big Five European countries at first, with the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain due to receive the majority of those chargers.
But with most of the fastest charging outlets in Europe currently topping out at 350kW (there are a smattering of 500kW outlets) BYD’s plans look set to push the fast-charging game into the next generation.
As with Tesla and its Supercharger network in the early days of EVs, only BYD and Denza owners will be able to make use of these supposed five-minute charging times, leaving rival premium automakers and the EV infrastructure as a whole scrabbling to play catch up.
