BYD, one of the fastest-growing car makers and the world’s biggest battery manufacturer, announced earlier this month its second-generation Blade battery, which, when charged with the company’s latest Flash Charging, achieves 10% to 70% charge in just 5 minutes.
At the time of the announcement, it also shared its 2026 goal to have 20,000 Flash Chargers up and running by the end of the year.
Now, the company has provided an update on how it’s tracking with the goal of 20,000 Flash Charging.
In a post on its Weibo page, BYD shared data showing it’s about to surpass 25% of its 2026 rollout goal, with 4,990 sites in operation as of March 2026. These sites span over 292 cities in China.
The translated version of the BYD post said: “From March 20th to March 25th, 2026, BYD will build 105 new flash charging stations, bringing the total number of flash charging stations to 4990, covering 292 cities nationwide for convenient and hassle-free charging.”
Flash Charging system includes the company’s latest Blade Battery 2.0 with Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP), available in the car being charged.
At room temperature, it can charge the new Blade Battery from 10% to 70% in just 5 minutes.
It is also capable of charging these cars from 10% to 97% in 9 minutes at ambient temperatures.
In extreme cold temperatures of -30 C, a 10% to 97% charge takes around 12 minutes which is a big boost in cutting charging times under these conditions.
The company’s rollout of thousands of new flash charging sites across China began earlier this year and incorporated the new T-shaped charging gantries, designed to charge vehicles at scale.
Various models with the latest Flash Charging tech are already available to buyers, including one that is also officially the longest-range EV in the world, with over 1,000 km of CLTC range. That is the new Denza Z9 GT.
Other more affordable models are also being rolled out with a BYD Seal 06 and Song Ultra EV coming in at a starting price of under $A35,000, making this latest tech available to the masses a lot sooner than originally thought.
BYD wants its customers to use this Flash Charging technology in cars and has been offering 12 months of free Flash Charging to initial customers with all compatible models.
Models like the Song Ultra EV with a starting price of under $A32,000, customers with pre-orders get an additional 6 months of free Flash Charging, bringing the total free period to 18 months.
This technology is also heading to international markets, with The Driven reporting last month that it was heading to Europe in the coming months.
The latest announcement shows that BYD’s rollout is coming in at a fast pace, with 25% of its 20,000 sites already commissioned for drivers to use.
This will improve confidence for new and future EV drivers, helping bring tens of thousands of buyers to consider an EV that can charge quicker than filling up at expensive servos.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.