EVs can now recharge as fast as petrol cars can refuel - and we've seen it with our own eyes.
BYD - the Chinese EV maker that overtook Tesla last year to be the biggest electric car producer in the world - has brought its Flash Charging technology to the UK and This is Money has had an exclusive first look.
Demonstrated on its new Denza Z9GT - BYD's technology-focused luxury brand - Flash Charging can recharge the EV's battery in just five minutes, cutting the fastest charging times currently available in the UK by a third.
The motto for Denza's first EV is: 'Ready in 5, Full in 9 and Cold add 3'. This is because Z9GT can charge from 10 to 70 per cent in five minutes, from 10 to 97 per cent in nine minutes, and even in minus 30 degrees Celsius can still recharge from 20 to 97 per cent in 12 minutes.
How easy is it to use? Just how fast is it compared to going to the petrol station? And will your EV soon be able to charge to these speeds too?
Here's what we learned and our quick guide to Flash Charging...
We tried BYD's Flash Charging - the world's fastest EV charging which can top up an EV in just five minutes
How fast is five-minute charging compared to filling up a car with petrol? Or a service station stop?
A video paints a thousand words, so the best way to understand just how fast this charging experience is, is to watch our exclusive video which shows the Denza Z9GT charging from 10 to 97 per cent in nine minutes - the 'full in nine' motto.
Stopping at a petrol pump and filling up a tank takes roughly two minutes, or up to five minutes. So, Flash Charging is about the same as refulling, give or take a few minutes.
And it's far less time than many people stop at a motorway service station to grab a short break, which is on average around 20 minutes.
Having seen it with my own eyes, I can confirm that this is truly game changing technology: the nine minutes flew by, and there's no way I would have needed more time to go into a service station, go to the loo, grab a tea and a few snacks, and walk back to the car than it took to charge.
Especially if you have kids or a dog with you, or you just need a quick stretch of your legs - the car will charge in less time than your pit stop takes. Goodbye, charging anxiety.
The T-shaped charging stations can charge two cars simultaneously and the overhead structure keeps cables off the ground and
Is Flash Charging easy to use?
Because Flash Charging stations are yet to make it to Britain, we've only tried it out on a demo version in France which uses off-grid batteries to power it.
Yet it was a like-for-like representation of what Flash Chargers will be like once they arrive in the UK. And I can confirm they are extremely easy to use - just as simple as other ultra-rapid EV device.
The 'dispenser', as BYD calls it, is a T-shaped structure to make the user experience 'as simple and as convenient as possible'.
This overhead cable system makes it easy - and clean because it never drags on the floor - to use because the weight of the cable is well supported.
The cable is lighter to carry than most charging cables, and it never touches the ground.
The payment system is yet to be fully confirmed, but it is likely to be a choice of using the BYD app, RFID cards and contactless card payments. The latter is always easiest.
Will the Flash Charging network be open to other EVs? How are these charging speeds possible?
Yes, Flash Charging stations will be open to all EV drivers.
BYD has confirmed that all electric vehicles with a standard CCS2 port will be able to connect - albeit it as long as the EV can handle megawatt-level charging. And many EVs can't yet.
But over time this is likely to change, as EVs - especially those from Chinese brands - are starting to arrive on the market that can handle much faster charging speeds.
At the moment, the Denza Z9GT EV and the plug-in hybrid version are the only two cars in the UK capable of charging to these speeds because they combines BYD's new Blade Battery 2.0 tech and its Flash Charging tech.
Without getting too techy, this Fast Charging battery has ultra-fast ion channels, reducing the battery's internal resistance by 50 per cent; allowing for it to achieve higher charging currents.
How many Flash Chargers are coming to the UK?
BYD has promised 300 Flash Chargers in 2026.
With every Flash Charger having two connectors, this essentially means 600 devices this year.
Bosses say this is the right volume at a launch phase before more vehicles utilise the technology and the network of devices can be expanded.
Comparatively, there are 140 Tesla Supercharger locations in the UK offering over 1,400 Superchargers to EV drivers.