At the 2026 Society of Automotive Engineers annual conference, BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu said the company aims to be a 'proof' that China's new energy can and that Chinese autos can, reflecting on near-death cash-flow crises the firm survived by never abandoning core-technology investment, 21st Century Business Herald reported on October 29.
Wang disclosed that as of October 2026 BYD employs 120,000 R&D engineers across batteries, motors, electronic controls, semiconductors, software and body engineering - more than the R&D headcount of many traditional auto giants combined - with total staff above 1.02 million, including about 60,000 overseas.
On charging, he highlighted the second-generation Blade Battery and flash-charge technology: from 10% to 70% in five minutes and to 97% in about nine minutes at room temperature, with only three extra minutes needed at minus 30 degrees Celsius.
BYD plans to build 20,000 flash-charge stations by the end of 2026 - 18,000 'station-within-station' sites leveraging existing public chargers plus 2,000 highway flash-charge stations - framing charging speed and cold-weather performance as the last two hurdles for EV adoption.
Source: 21st Century Business Herald / Wang Chuanfu keynote at SAECCE 2026 (paraphrased and translated from Chinese financial-media reporting; reprinted for informational purposes with attribution).
