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This electric car runs on batteries from e-cigarettes
by Kim Muntinga
New battery charges electric cars in just 9 minutes
11/3/2026
Translation: machine translated
Forget long breaks at the motorway service station. With the Blade battery 2.0, BYD charges your electric car almost completely in less than ten minutes. This will make charging almost as fast as refuelling in the future.
A coffee break at a motorway service station is now all it takes to charge an electric car. Nine minutes. That's how long it should take to charge BYD's new Blade 2.0 battery from ten to 97 per cent.
The Chinese manufacturer now wants to overcome what has long been considered the physical limit for lithium batteries. At the beginning of March 2026, BYD presented the second generation of its blade cell and put it into production. The company promises nothing less than a new benchmark for charging speed and suitability for everyday use in electric cars.
The blade battery itself is not a new invention. BYD has been using the flat, blade-shaped lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells since 2020 and they have an advantage over classic NMC batteries: They do not require expensive cobalt and nickel, are considered to be more durable and react much more stably in the event of damage.
The price for this robustness has so far been a lower energy density. This is precisely where the second generation comes in.
What makes the new cell technically different
With the new Blade 2.0, BYD achieves charging capacities of up to 1500 kilowatts. This is made possible by a new 1000-volt architecture, which the manufacturer refers to as «Super e-Platform».
Source: BYD
The core of the technology is a so-called «flash-release» cathode with an optimised particle structure. It enables denser material packing and accelerates the transport of lithium ions within the cell. It is complemented by an AI-optimised electrolyte with particularly high ion conductivity and an anode with a three-dimensional lithium intercalation structure.
This combination ensures that the battery can maintain high charging capacities over an unusually long range. While conventional fast charging systems slow down significantly from around 80 per cent charge level, the energy flow here remains high until shortly before full charge.
The result: the charge level can be brought from ten to 70 per cent in just five minutes, and from ten to 97 per cent in nine minutes. By comparison, the Porsche Taycan, one of the fastest charging electric cars from Western manufacturers, takes 18 minutes to charge from ten to 80 per cent.
In addition to the charging speed, BYD is also improving the energy density of the battery pack. An optimised cell arrangement should increase this by around five per cent. In vehicles such as the Denza Z9 GT, this leads to ranges of over 1000 kilometres in the Chinese test cycle. On European roads, this should mean real ranges of around 800 kilometres.
Cold remains the big test
One problem with many electric cars is particularly evident in winter. Low temperatures slow down the chemical processes in the battery and significantly extend charging times.
BYD promises to have largely solved this problem too. Even after 24 hours at minus 30 degrees Celsius, the battery should be able to be charged from 20 to 97 per cent in around twelve minutes. If these values are confirmed in everyday use, this would be a significant improvement on previous systems.
The Blade 2.0 should also offer advantages at conventional fast-charging stations. According to the manufacturer, it can absorb 30 to 50 per cent more energy per unit of time than today's electric car batteries.
The necessary charging stations are still missing
However, there is still one problem: the full potential of the battery can only be realised at the company's own special charging stations. These so-called «Flash Chargers» deliver up to 1500 kilowatts of power. They work with integrated buffer batteries that store energy temporarily and release it in bundles during the charging process.
Source: BYD
BYD is planning around 20,000 of these stations in China by the end of 2026, around 2,000 of them along major motorways. The company already put more than 4,200 stations into operation in the first few months of the year.
Europe is now also on the roadmap: the first pilot stations have been announced for the fourth quarter of 2026 in Hamburg, Oslo and Amsterdam. However, nationwide expansion is likely to take some time.
Header image: Denza
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