BYD wants to bring charging stations to Canada that can charge a vehicle in 5 minutes
The automotive giant BYD, which aims to surpass Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker within five years, is among the Chinese brands eyeing the Canadian market since the trade agreement between Ottawa and Beijing was signed earlier this year. As a reminder, this agreement allows for the import of up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles at a 6.1% tariff, thus avoiding the 100% surcharge.
Which BYD models are in the works for Canada? That remains to be seen, but we’ve already come up with a few theories. Now, we’re hearing that its new “Flash Charging” stations could also be coming to Canada, in part to compete with Tesla’s Superchargers.
In fact, according to a report by Electrek, BYD has just posted a job opening in Toronto for a director capable of leading the deployment and expansion of a network of Flash Charging stations across Canada. The candidate will join the team based in Toronto to help BYD break into the Canadian market with plans for about 20 dealerships.
We’ve already discussed these ultra-fast chargers in an episode of the Car Guide show on QUB Télé, which you can watch above. There are two generations: one with 1,000 kW and another, called Blade, with 1,500 kW. That’s more than three times the power of the fastest chargers currently in use (350 kW). Tesla’s new V4 Superchargers can deliver up to 500 kW, but not yet in Canada.
According to BYD, its compatible electric vehicles can charge from 10% to 70% in just 5 minutes and from 10% to 97% in 9 minutes at room temperature. But that’s not all: the system is so cold-resistant that a charge from 20% to 97% is possible in just 12 minutes, even when temperatures drop to… -30 degrees Celsius!
That’s perfect for Canadian winters. We know that reduced range and slower charging in cold weather are major barriers to the adoption of electric vehicles in Canada.
BYD vehicles will likely not arrive here until 2027, even though some early reports had suggested they would arrive toward the end of 2026. The same will be true for its charging stations.
