Chinese automaker BYD unveiled a new battery pack on Thursday that the company says can charge from 10% to 70% in just five minutes. Taking the battery to almost full takes only about four minutes more. These recharge times would effectively eliminate concerns about electric vehicle charging speeds, which is one of the few remaining advantages held by internal combustion engines. Even in extremely cold weather of -20°C, the pack can charge from 20% to 97% in under 12 minutes according to BYD. This battery pack, known as the Blade Battery 2.0 system, is scheduled to debut in the Yangwang U7, a full-size luxury sedan.
There is an important condition to this impressive charging capability. The Yangwang U7 sedan, or any future BYD vehicle equipped with this next-generation battery, can only achieve this ultra-fast charging when paired with one of the company’s new Flash Charging EV chargers. These chargers are capable of delivering 1.5 megawatts of electricity.
BYD is likely counting on this flashy charging technology to boost sales and gain an edge in a fierce price war with other Chinese automakers, who are rapidly rolling out new and improved electric vehicles. The Shenzhen-based company was a long-term investment for Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. The investor bought a 10% stake in the automaker in 2008 for 230 million dollars, long before it became a rival to Tesla and a household name. Berkshire sold its last shares in 2025, returning more than twenty times the original investment.
Today, BYD is the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, a status that other Chinese automakers and Tesla are keen to change. While BYD still outpaces competitors like Li Auto, Xpeng, Xiaomi, and Zeekr, the company recently reported a dip in sales. Its combined sales volume for January and February of 2026 dipped by roughly 36% compared to the year before. This next-generation battery system could help attract new customers and retain existing ones.
The new Blade Battery 2.0 accomplishes its ultra-fast charging feat by using lithium iron phosphate, a chemistry that automakers believe will help lower the cost of EVs because it avoids expensive metals like cobalt or nickel. Currently, lithium iron phosphate packs cost significantly less per kilowatt-hour than nickel manganese cobalt packs. Because lithium iron phosphate is not as energy dense as other chemistries, it typically limits vehicle range. As a result, Western automakers almost exclusively use these cells in their less expensive models. But BYD is betting that by drastically speeding up the charging process, lithium iron phosphate can become acceptable in more than just low-end vehicles.
Before releasing this Flash Charging system, BYD had rolled out a 1 megawatt charging system for a previous sedan that required two charging cables to be plugged in simultaneously. In the United States and Europe, the fastest chargers tend to top out at 350 kW, though an increasing number of 500 kW chargers are being deployed. BYD’s new Flash Charging stalls feature cables that drape from overhead towers, allowing them to serve either side of a vehicle. This design should also make plugging in easier, as the cables and charging plug are likely very heavy to handle the immense power. BYD said it has completed 4,200 Flash Charging stations throughout China, with a goal of adding about 16,000 more by the end of the year. The company also said it will add grid-scale batteries to these installations to relieve pressure on the electrical grid.
In the U7 full-size sedan, the battery can power the car for just over 1,000 kilometers on the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle, which is known to be optimistic. This test cycle tends to overstate range by about 35% compared to the more realistic EPA test cycle used in the United States. In real-world driving, the car would likely be able to cover just over 400 miles on a single charge. That is less range than a vehicle like the Lucid Air Grand Touring, which can travel 512 miles on a full charge according to the EPA. However, the ability to add approximately 240 miles of range in just five minutes could make such comparisons less important.