BYD Opens 2,000th Highway Flash-Charging Station Ahead of National Day Test

The station was demonstrated with a BYD vehicle charging from 10 percent to 97 percent in about nine minutes. Wang Junbao, general manager of BYD's flash-charging business, said that having a charging station and making it easy to use are two different concepts, and indicated that BYD aims at the latter.

The completion comes as holiday charging demand continues to rise. Data from the National Energy Administration showed that during this year's Spring Festival holiday, average daily charging by new energy vehicles on national highways reached 17 million kWh; during the May Day holiday it reached 19 million kWh, a record high. Faster charging for a single car does not necessarily mean shorter queues at peak times, however. How many vehicles a station can serve at once, how quickly parking spaces turn over and whether power supply can keep up all affect actual charging time.

BYD's 2,000 highway flash-charging stations cover 278 expressways, including national and provincial highways and metropolitan ring roads. On 22 trunk lines such as Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau, Shenyang-Haikou and Lianyungang-Horgos, the network forms an '11 vertical and 11 horizontal' layout. Tourist routes such as the Hexi Corridor and the east China coast, as well as national roads, scenic areas and remote destinations, are also included.

The network's reach includes a station at Everest Town, at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, which has already begun operating. Wang said the station was initially intended for demonstration and occasional charging, but backend data showed that pure electric vehicle users from brands including BYD, Xiaomi and Tesla used it on long trips. BYD cited the case as evidence that filling gaps in key routes and destinations can both meet existing demand and release travel demand previously constrained by charging availability.

The 2,000th station at Baoying Service Area on the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway reflects BYD's site selection logic. The Beijing-Shanghai Expressway is a major north-south corridor with strong charging demand, and Yangzhou and its surrounding areas have rich tourism resources, allowing the station to serve both users in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and cross-regional vehicles.

For the National Day holiday, BYD is taking steps to improve space turnover at highway flash-charging stations. The flash-charging piles are equipped with cameras and voice reminders that can identify vehicle types and, combined with plug-in and charging status, determine whether a space is occupied. For fuel vehicles or new energy vehicles parked without charging, the system can remind owners by voice to move. BYD said it will work with service area managers to strengthen patrols and vehicle guidance and help vehicles that need charging enter spaces as soon as possible.

Power conditions determine whether flash charging can be sustained. BYD is using supporting energy storage to reduce requirements on the upstream grid, communicating with service areas and local governments in advance to coordinate grid expansion, and arranging technical and operations staff to provide on-site emergency support. The Ministry of Transport reported that during the Spring Festival, highway service areas added about 17,000 mobile charging facilities, dispatched about 118,000 charging service personnel and guided about 38,000 NEV charging sessions to opposite service areas. Although average daily NEV traffic rose 34 percent, the number of especially busy service areas fell 48 percent, indicating that equipment additions and operational scheduling together eased peak pressure.

BYD flash-charging stations are also open to other brands. According to BYD, owners of eligible BYD flash-charging models can receive one year of free charging, applicable to BYD highway and urban stations; other brands can use the service and pay under relevant rules. Wang said in an interview that he hopes users will provide feedback through official channels or his Weibo account on parking occupancy, station locations and convenience, and that BYD will adjust station layout and on-site management based on user opinions.

Whether the 2,000 highway stations can handle National Day traffic will depend on actual peak performance: whether power can keep up when multiple vehicles charge at once, whether spaces turn over quickly, and whether faults can be handled quickly. A bottleneck in any of these areas could offset the time advantage created by faster single-vehicle charging.

After completing 2,000 highway flash-charging stations, BYD plans to bring its total number of flash-charging stations nationwide to 20,000 by the end of the year. Based on 11,586 stations completed as of Sept. 24, it would need to add 8,414 more. 'Building 20,000 flash-charging stations by the end of the year is a hard target,' Wang said. Highway station construction will continue, while the team will put more energy into other scenarios, accelerating layout through models such as station-in-station, oil-station and self-built flagship stations.

Across the industry, charging network construction is becoming more diverse. In addition to automaker-led construction, automakers are cooperating with existing shopping malls, 4S stores and gas stations to build stations-in-stations and oil-stations, using existing sites and operations resources to expand coverage. There have also been attempts to integrate charging and battery-swap networks through equity cooperation. Battery companies are providing standardized batteries and battery-swap solutions and working with automakers on compatible models to promote cross-brand networks. These models are not mutually exclusive; a company can use several at once. Whichever model is used, it must solve vehicle-equipment compatibility, parking turnover and power supply so that drivers can charge smoothly and wait less.

BYD's difference is that it simultaneously develops vehicles, power batteries and flash-charging facilities, so it can consider how vehicles and charging equipment work together during research and development, which helps unify technology and service standards. That does not mean it builds and operates all stations itself. Sites, power access and on-site management still require partners. Wang said BYD is also collecting demand through a 'Dream Building Station' program. Owners can apply for stations near their homes or workplaces; when four owners submit a request, BYD conducts a site survey, and if site and grid conditions are met, construction may proceed.

For the 20,000-station target, self-building and cooperative building are both common ways to expand charging networks. BYD has concentrated resources first on the more difficult 2,000 highway flash-charging stations; a company official said part of the remaining task will be handled through station-in-station and oil-station models, using existing sites and supporting resources to improve efficiency. BYD's expansion path is therefore clearer: vehicles, batteries and flash-charging equipment are coordinated internally, while network rollout combines self-building and cooperation. Compared with peers that integrate charging and battery-swap networks through equity cooperation, or battery companies that lead standardized solutions, BYD covers the full process and saves coordination costs across links. If the 20,000-station target is met, BYD's flash-charging network will cover highways and daily roads, and the network may become another reason to buy a BYD vehicle beyond the car itself.

Editor's Summary BYD has completed its 2,000th highway flash-charging station ahead of the National Day holiday, when peak traffic will test whether the network can deliver reliable charging and rapid space turnover. The company is expanding coverage, opening stations to other brands and targeting 20,000 stations nationwide by year-end, while relying on storage, grid coordination and on-site management to address peak demand.