623 Miles of Range, Full Charge in 9 Minutes, Denza N8 Confirms Blade Battery 2.0

Denza made it official on August 17, the new N8 will ship with BYD's second-generation Blade Battery and flash charging, delivering what the company calls 1,003 kilometers of range, the longest of any five-seat pure electric SUV, or so the marketing goes. Earlier regulatory filings show a 130.15 kWh LFP pack with four CLTC range ratings of 623, 603, 522 and 497 miles.

Charging is the other half of the story, with BYD quoting 10 to 70 percent in five minutes, 10 to 97 percent in about nine, and only three extra minutes at minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Those numbers lean on BYD's own flash charging network, which pushes up to 1,500 kW per connector and aims for 20,000 stations in China this year.

Power comes in two flavors, single-motor rear-drive versions at 429 or 496 hp, and a tri-motor e3 flagship making 1,194 hp with a 149 mph top speed. At 202.8 inches long on a 121.1-inch wheelbase, the N8 lands directly in Li Auto L9 and Aito M9 territory.

The fine print deserves its usual airing, since CLTC figures shrink by roughly 30 percent under EPA testing, putting real-world range closer to 450 miles, and those charging speeds depend on BYD's proprietary stations actually getting built.

Still, combining five-minute charging with a four-digit kilometer figure attacks range anxiety and charging anxiety at the same time, which happen to be the last two walls standing between EVs and the remaining skeptics.