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Man flies to China to put BYD's flash charging claims to the test

"As an American, this is frustrating to see."

A BYD electric vehicle charging station charging a car.

Photo Credit: iStock

It's one thing to produce results in a carefully controlled lab. It's another to replicate them in real life.

That distinction took YouTuber Kyle, a member of the team at Out of Spec Reviews, to China to find out if BYD's ballyhooed Flash Charging and Blade 2.0 battery system live up to the hype.

In the nearly hour-long video, Kyle covers a ton of territory. But it's at around the 42-minute mark that the charging system gets a proper challenge, as described by Guessing Headlights.

Kyle takes to charging a random Denza Z9 GT that purportedly was neither primed for the test nor had its front bumper.

Starting at around 30% of charge, the crew endeavors to see how long it will take to get to 97%. After about 10 seconds, the charge ramps up. 

Kyle marvels at the speed and quiet. The charge goes from 30% to 80% in about five minutes and to 97% in under nine minutes. These figures are right around BYD's claims in lab testing, and they were achieved while using a "crash car."

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To make sure everything is on the up-and-up, Kyle jumps in. The car indeed says it has nearly 500 miles in range, and its post-charge cooling is barely noticeable.

"That's the moment for electric cars for me," he reacts. "It's a gas car now," he says, seeming to refer to the ease of fueling the EV.

Seeing was truly believing for Kyle, and commenters on YouTube shared their own opinions.

"Can't wait for this technology to come to America in 20 years," one wistfully remarked.

"Charged so fast it blew the bumper off," another joked.

"As a regular human this [is] great to see," a viewer reflected. "Such amazing progression. As an American, this is frustrating to see."

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