BYD to build 20,000 ultra-fast charging stations. Is battery swapping facing its toughest rival?
BYD, which is accustomed to making big moves at the beginning of each year, focused on "energy replenishment" in the spring of 2026, proclaiming "Make charging as fast as refueling."
On the evening of March 5th, BYD launched the second - generation Blade Battery and the "Flash - Charging China" strategy.
The on - site test data at the press conference showed that the second - generation Blade Battery can be charged from 10% to 97% in just 9 minutes at room temperature. The new - generation flash - charging pile supporting it has a single - gun peak power of 1500kW. BYD plans to build 20,000 flash - charging stations across the country by the end of 2026.
In recent years, BYD has always dropped bombshells at the beginning of the year. In the spring of 2024, it proclaimed "Electricity is cheaper than oil", dragging electric vehicles into a price war that lasted for years. At the intelligent driving press conference a year ago, BYD lowered the threshold of intelligent driving to the consumer market below 100,000 yuan, intensifying the competition in the field of intelligentization. Why did it return to the old battlefield of energy replenishment this time?
After the subsidy withdrawal, the entire market is waiting for new stimuli. To some extent, BYD is targeting a new group of users who have been hesitant to buy electric vehicles due to slow charging, difficult charging in low - temperature conditions, and energy - replenishment anxiety. Nowadays, range anxiety is no longer the core pain point in car - buying decisions, and "energy - replenishment efficiency" has become the new dividing line. Where will BYD take the battle?
BYD Launches a Lightning War on Energy Replenishment
At the press conference on the evening of March 5th, BYD focused on energy replenishment, with two core tasks.
First, launch the second - generation Blade Battery.
Just as it proclaimed "Electricity is cheaper than oil" back then, BYD now proclaims "Charge well in five minutes, charge full in nine minutes": at room temperature, it takes 5 minutes to charge from 10% to 70% and 9 minutes to charge from 10% to 97%. In an extremely cold environment of minus 30 degrees Celsius, it takes only 3 more minutes than at room temperature to charge from 20% to 97%, totaling about 12 minutes.
The significance of this figure is that it is faster than the charging speed of many current 800V platform models at room temperature. The energy density of the battery has increased by 5% compared to the first - generation. The pure - electric version of the Denza Z9GT equipped with this battery has a CLTC range of up to 1036 kilometers.
BYD has also improved the warranty standard. If the battery capacity retention rate is less than 77.5% within 6 years or 150,000 kilometers, it will be replaced for free, and the battery cells are guaranteed for life.
Second, deploy the "Flash - Charging China" strategy.
To support the above - mentioned battery technology, BYD has launched a new - generation flash - charging pile with a single - gun peak power of 1500kW and announced that it will build 20,000 flash - charging stations across the country by the end of the year, with 18,000 of them being built in the form of "stations within stations".
The other 2000 are independent high - speed flash - charging stations, covering nearly one - third of highway service areas. The first batch of 1000 will be built before the May Day holiday. The coverage goal is: within 5 kilometers of 90% of urban areas, there will be a flash - charging station, and there will be one flash - charging station every 100 kilometers on average on the highway.
However, implementing BYD's ambitious "Flash - Charging China" plan is not easy.
According to public data, BYD has currently built 4239 flash - charging stations, and the goal by the end of the year is 20,000. That means BYD needs to build more than 15,000 new stations in about 9 months, with an average of more than 55 stations per day.
Wang Chuanfu said on stage that "building a flash - charging station is as simple as installing an air - conditioner". His confidence comes from the construction method of the 18,000 stations - within - stations. By reusing the existing sites of operators and installing BYD's flash - charging equipment, there is no need for new land or an increase in grid capacity. The transformation is completed by using supporting energy - storage batteries to balance peak and off - peak electricity consumption. In theory, this bypasses the two most difficult problems of site selection and capacity increase.
But this "simplicity" is also in quotes.
Based on industry research reports, it can be roughly estimated that the construction cost of a single traditional super - charging station is as high as 2 million yuan, five times that of an ordinary fast - charging station, and the investment payback period may be as long as 5 to 8 years. BYD's stations - within - stations model can reduce the transformation cost by using supporting energy - storage batteries instead of capacity increase, but the energy - storage system itself is also a cost.
To solve the huge impact of the instantaneous 1500kW power on the power grid, BYD stores electricity at low power during off - peak hours through the configuration of energy - storage cabinets. Therefore, the upper limit of the energy - storage cabinet's capacity will also affect the service experience of BYD's flash - charging stations. In theory, there will be multiple energy - storage batteries in a station for cyclic charging to ensure subsequent services, but the cost of this infrastructure expansion will put considerable pressure on BYD's cash flow.
In other words, using energy - storage cabinets can solve some problems of flash - charging stations, but it also poses a "heavy - asset" challenge similar to NIO's battery - swapping model for BYD.
Besides money, there is also the issue of rhythm. Even for the "stations within stations" with the simplest site selection, it is still necessary to negotiate with operators one by one, complete equipment installation and energy - storage configuration, and connect to BYD's own flash - charging APP payment system.
If any link is not handled well, this lightning offensive may turn into a long - drawn - out positional battle.
How Much Impact Will It Have on Battery - Swapping?
Car manufacturers that have been shouting "The electrification competition is over, and the second half of the intelligent era has begun" for a whole year have returned to the electrification competition. This time, however, the battlefield has shifted from a single technical route to a direct confrontation in the energy - replenishment system.
On the one hand, in the energy - replenishment battlefield in 2026, it is a qualifying race where the differentiation at the technical level is accelerating, and those falling behind are under great pressure.
In the past two years, 800V/5C has been the mainstream standard for fast - charging electric vehicles and has once become a publicity benchmark for mid - to - high - end models. BYD's second - generation Blade Battery is equipped with a full - domain 1000V high - voltage architecture, supporting a maximum 10C ultra - fast charging rate.
This technical threshold is not easy to cross. Automobile manufacturers need to ensure a high degree of matching among the four links of battery, motor, power chip, and thermal management system, and none of them can be missing.
Among them, the silicon carbide power chip is the core of the entire high - voltage system. Its withstand voltage level and switching frequency directly determine the upper limit of the charging speed. The problem is that most automobile manufacturers' silicon carbide chips come from general suppliers. These chips are standard products produced for the entire industry and will not be customized and optimized for a specific voltage platform of a certain automobile manufacturer. Their performance is locked within the parameters of general products.
Full - link self - research poses a significant challenge for small and medium - sized automobile manufacturers. This means that the differentiation in ultra - fast charging capabilities will be a continuous process and will not be caught up in the short term.
On the other hand, when BYD raises the upper limit of charging to 9 minutes for a full charge and a 1000 - kilometer range, a voice has emerged in the market: Is battery - swapping still necessary?
This doubt is not unfounded. In the past, the core advantage of battery - swapping was "speed", with a full charge in 3 minutes, while fast - charging took half an hour or even longer. But when fast - charging reduces the time to single digits and the charging speed truly approaches the refueling experience for the first time, the "speed" of battery - swapping is no longer an exclusive moat.
The battery - swapping camp is currently led by NIO and CATL. NIO has always been a firm explorer of the battery - swapping model. During the Spring Festival holiday in 2026, NIO's battery - swapping service refreshed its daily service record for 5 consecutive days, with a total of 178,000 battery - swaps on February 22nd. In 2026, NIO plans to build 1000 more battery - swapping stations.
At the end of 2024, CATL launched the overall solution of "Chocolate Battery - Swapping" and jointly launched standardized battery - swapping models with multiple automobile manufacturers, aiming to reduce the repeated construction cost of battery - swapping infrastructure through unified specifications. CATL built about 1400 battery - swapping stations in 2025 and plans to build a total of 3000 battery - swapping stations by 2026.
After BYD launched the second - generation Blade Battery and the flash - charging plan, the confrontation between charging and battery - swapping has become more intense. Two days after BYD's press conference, Li Bin, the founder of NIO, appeared on CCTV's "Dialogue" and emphasized that the advantage of battery - swapping lies not only in speed but also in the separation of the vehicle and the battery, which solves the problem of battery life. "This systematic advantage fundamentally eliminates users' anxiety about battery degradation."
In reality, the actual implementation of BYD's flash - charging stations will also determine the direction of this war.
Li Bin also said on the CCTV program that there is no fundamental contradiction between ultra - fast charging and the battery - swapping model. They are designed to meet the energy - replenishment needs in different usage scenarios. Subsequently, Li Yunfei, the general manager of BYD Group's brand and public relations department, also stated: "Battery - swapping and flash - charging are two different models, but both are good. They are like a hundred flowers blooming and will eventually lead to the same goal."
In the energy - replenishment battlefield in 2026, no single method will dominate the market. What really determines the pattern is not only technology but also its coupling ability with user scenarios, the power grid system, and business models.
Competing for New Users
Why did BYD play the ultra - fast charging card this year?
One reason is the urgent need to increase sales. In February, BYD's sales performance was not ideal, with a monthly sales volume of 190,000, a year - on - year decrease of 41%. This is due to two factors: the staggered Spring Festival and the change of the new - energy vehicle purchase tax from full exemption to half exemption, which led to an over - consumption of demand due to the policy withdrawal.
The market needs new stimuli. On the day when the press conference news came out, BYD's stock price rose by more than 8%. The fluctuation of the stock price is a short - term reaction, and the real test lies in the long - term market - those who haven't bought electric vehicles yet.
According to data from the Passenger Car Association, in December 2025, the retail penetration rate of new - energy vehicles in the overall domestic passenger car market was 59.1%, an increase of 9.6 percentage points compared to the same period of the previous year.
That is to say, 59 out of 100 car owners will choose pure - electric or extended - range vehicles, but 41 still choose fuel - powered vehicles. Even though it is a common understanding that electric vehicles below 100,000 yuan are everywhere and electricity is cheaper than gasoline, nearly half of the people still choose fuel - powered vehicles. The reason is the most straightforward one: electric vehicles are still not as convenient as fuel - powered vehicles.
Li Rong is a typical car owner. Working in Beijing, he has been thinking about replacing his car with an electric vehicle in the past two years but has always been worried about the trouble of charging during long - distance driving. Last year, when he was considering changing his car, he went back to his hometown with a fellow villager who owns an electric vehicle. After experiencing a nearly one - hour wait for charging on the highway, he completely gave up the idea.
There are many potential car owners like Li Rong. According to "2025 McKinsey China Auto Consumer Insights", due to the unpleasant energy - replenishment experience, some pure - electric vehicle owners intend to switch back to fuel - powered vehicles, and the proportion of such owners has increased.
In scenarios such as urban commuting or short - distance weekend trips, the economy and applicability of electric vehicles have become a common understanding. However, if a family has only one car and long - distance driving is inevitable, energy replenishment is still a problem.
Li Yunzhi, an observer in the electric vehicle industry who pays attention to new - energy user research data, said, "The daily range anxiety of pure - electric vehicles was basically solved in 2025. What really hasn't been solved is the psychological gap between energy replenishment and refueling."
Fuel - powered vehicle owners rarely check their fuel tanks, calculate how far they can drive, or look for nearby gas stations before driving. For them, refueling has never been an "issue" that requires extra planning.
That is to say, energy - replenishment anxiety ultimately stems from the fact that the driving experience of electric vehicles cannot match that of fuel - powered vehicles.
So, BYD has launched the energy - replenishment battle again with the aim of making electric vehicles and fuel - powered vehicles on par in users' minds and completely eliminating the concern of "how to charge during long - distance driving".
After a decade of competition in the electric vehicle industry, returning to the "energy - replenishment battle" is not a regression but a step forward on the path of "equalizing electric and fuel - powered vehicles".
This article is from the WeChat official account “Baobian” (ID: baobiannews), written by Nana Nana, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.