BYD's 'Flash' 5-minute electric car charging stations are coming to Canada

BYD is bringing its ultra-fast charging system to North America – specifically to Canada – and this is a huge deal for a bunch of reasons.

For starters, it may finally fix the range anxiety issue, which is still a major deal-breaker for would-be electric car owners.

Second, it represents a huge leap forward for Chinese automakers in general.

It’s certainly a step in the right direction, but there’s a lot more work that needs doing.

BYD is pioneering ‘Flash Charging’ in Canada

Chinese automaker BYD is expanding its high-speed ‘Flash Charging‘ EV network to North America, specifically selecting Canada as its first regional launch pad.

Flash Charging already exists in China, but rollout in North America has been slow for obvious reasons, which also explains why the brand has chosen Canada – not the US – for the initial phase.

BYD’s megawatt charging system also represents a massive leap forward in EV infrastructure in general.

The system delivers up to 1,500 kW of power, which in plain English means it is capable of charging cars three times as fast as the current top-tier North American chargers.

Translated even further, it means it can add around 250 miles – equivalent to around 400 kilometers – of range in just five minutes.

In practice, it also means charging the battery from 10 percent to 70 percent in around five minutes.

This is still not enough to match gas cars but it’s awfully close.

Also, charging stations incorporate integrated energy storage systems (ESS) to act as power buffers, minimizing heavy peak loads on local electrical grids, which is another huge thing to bear in mind.

Mainly because this is a potential problem we don’t talk about enough.

Cold weather performance is one of the main things BYD is trying to fix

A major obstacle to EV adoption is the gap between charging in ‘normal’ temperatures and charging in cold/hot weather climates.

On that front, BYD claims its system maintains rapid charging throughput down to -20°C (-4°F), topping up a battery from 10% to 70% in 5 minutes.

This also means that charging times will remain roughly the same whether you’re in the hot desert of Nevada, the mild seaside climate of Malibu, or the freezing cold winters of North Dakota.

This is certainly a big deal in Canada, where temperatures can drop significantly, but it’s also a big deal in other EV-friendly countries like Switzerland and Norway.

All in all, BYD’s new system is getting one step closer to solving one of the main problems with electric vehicles.

In general, car buyers want to buy an electric car without having to worry about extra issues or headaches.

Electric cars will truly only take off in terms of mass adoption when they’re either just as good or better than equivalent gas cars, which will never be achieved as long as charging times are what they are and charging stations are as sparse as they are.

So, at the end of the day, BYD’s latest tech is exactly a step in that direction.