Footage of three children using BYD’s advanced new Flash charger as a swing has gone viral in China on the country's social media site Weibo. 

The tech is supposed to make EV drivers happy with its 1,500kW output that can fill a battery in nine minutes, but the two girls and a boy were caught on camera enjoying the Flash charger the only way they know how. 

The video was captured in Nanning, a city with nearly nine million residents in Guanxi in the south of China, close to the border with Vietnam. 

The footage has raised questions about the safety of the chargers – the cables are mounted on overhead railings to support the weight of the liquid-cooled charging tech inside, but safety rules dictate that the plugs can’t be live until they’re fully connected to an electric car.

​BYD headquarters in China has apparently since confirmed that playing on its new Flash chargers isn’t allowed, and has sent maintenance staff to check that the plugs are still safe to use. 

The company’s new Flash charging tech was only revealed back in March, but BYD has already installed over 10,000 of the plugs in China since then. 

Flash chargers use a combination of energy straight from the grid and battery storage to dump electricity into compatible cars – BYD’s second-generation Blade batteries are designed to work fully with the tech, but other EVs can use the Flash chargers. 

BYD has promoted the chargers with a ‘Ready in 5, full in 9’ slogan that points to a 10–70% fill time of five minutes and a 10–97% time of nine minutes – hardly enough time for the kids to get bored and start swinging from things. 

Is Flash charging coming to the UK?

BYD has launched its Flash tech in the UK and has promised that it will build 300 of the chargers in the country before the end of 2026. 

Currently there don’t appear to be any Flash chargers in operation – a demonstration unit was set up at BYD’s UK headquarters in Uxbridge earlier this year, but it doesn’t appear on popular charge point mapping service Zapmap.

What cars will be equipped with Flash charging?

BYD is lining up to install versions of the tech in all of its upcoming EVs so that its customers can take advantage. 

The new Denza Z9GT from BYD’s new posh sub-brand will be the first car in the UK to sport the full tech, charging at up to 1,500kW on a Flash charger, but merely 400kW on a suitably high powered civilian plug. 

Need a catch-up on Denza? Here's everything you need to know. 

Electrifying editor Vicky Parrott tried out the new Flash chargers in June, but she sadly didn't get a go at swinging on one