DENZA Z: The All-Electric Supercar That Charges Like Petrol
DENZA, the premium technology brand under the BYD Group, unveils an all-new, all-electric supercar that changes what drivers can expect from a performance vehicle: the DENZA Z. The car runs on DENZA's signature e3 Sports Car Platform, and a triple-motor configuration delivers 1604PS alongside DiSus-M magnetorheological suspension. This combination lets the Z blend advanced design, cutting-edge technology and premium materials into a package built to stir the soul. FLASH Charging refills the battery from 10% to 97% in just nine minutes, making the Z the first electric supercar that owners can drive hard without worrying about range or recharging time.
The DENZA Z makes its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the annual event that brings together classic racing cars and the latest performance machines. BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li and former Formula One World Champion Jenson Button unveiled the car together. DENZA has now confirmed three versions of the Z: Coupe, Spider, and Racing, plus a Special Edition that will attempt to set lap records at the Nürburgring Nordschleife this autumn.
Stella Li, BYD Executive Vice President, said: "The DENZA Z is born to perform and built to win. It redefines performance with its power, acceleration and dynamic ability – and FLASH Charging means it's the only electric supercar without compromise on how these strengths can be used. Z is a great example of how DENZA's technology-led approach will set new benchmarks in every segment it enters. It really is the supercar for the new-energy generation!"
The shape of the Z brings DENZA's brand ethos, Technology Drives Elegance, to life. Sensuous curves work alongside functional elements that generate strong aerodynamic downforce in high-performance driving. The result merges pure aesthetics with genuine racing spirit. Both the Coupe and Spider measure 4780mm in length, making this the most compact DENZA model to reach European customers so far. BYD Global Design Director Wolfgang Egger describes it as "a living sculpture of speed," and his team built the car around the idea that perfect proportion creates beautiful forms. Powerful front and rear fenders hint at the car's serious performance, while a slim beltline sets occupants at the centre of the vehicle and keeps them low in their seats.
At the front, sharp angles in the lower bumper meet a distinctive LED daytime-running-light signature and smooth surfaces that flow over the wheel arches. The rear features intricate diamond-shaped tail-lights for a sophisticated finish. DENZA's multi-layer coating process produces a pearlescent paint finish that shifts shade depending on the viewing distance and angle, blending art with engineering.
Functional design elements shape the exterior throughout. A carefully optimised body forms the basis of the car's aerodynamic efficiency. The centre air intake in the front bumper channels airflow to unique outlets on the bonnet, creating an S-shaped path that balances drag, downforce and heat management. These details show that the Z's looks do more than turn heads; they actively support its performance.
Inside, the cabin puts the steering wheel at the heart of the driving experience. Motorsport inspiration shapes the wheel design, and six physical buttons on its lower panel give drivers quick access to key functions such as Track and Boost modes. High-quality materials, including carbon fibre, suede-effect fabrics and metal finishes, create a balanced, premium cabin. Technology features prominently too, with an 8.88-inch fully digital instrument panel, a 12.8-inch infotainment system and a wireless smartphone-charging pad all fitted as standard.
The seats combine comfort with sporty support. Both driver and front passenger get eight-way power adjustment, four-way electric lumbar support, heating, ventilation and a massage function, and their headrests house built-in speakers for the Devialet sound system, which runs to 12 speakers in the Coupe and Racing and 10 in the Spider. The Coupe and Spider also give the driver's seat active lateral support adjustment for high-speed cornering.
The Racing version brings a re-engineered front air intake built for extreme conditions, paired with a multi-duct cooling system. This setup improves electric-motor cooling efficiency by 50% and accelerates brake-disc cooling by 32%. The Z Racing also carries a carbon-fibre front splitter, underfloor vortex generators and strategically placed vents across the body, along with an optional three-position adjustable carbon-fibre rear wing. These additions push the car's overall length to 4870mm and generate up to 1060kg of downforce at 217mph. Engineers validated and refined this aerodynamic and thermal package with top-tier drivers at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, often called the 'Green Hell', to deliver maximum downforce, aerodynamic balance and stability. Racing buyers can also remove the rear seats entirely and replace them with a roll cage and carbon-fibre trim as part of an extended personalisation programme.
Despite its compact footprint, the Z rides on a 2780mm wheelbase, close to that of many executive saloons, which lets every version seat four. Boot capacity reaches 250 litres in the Coupe and Racing, rising to 550 litres when owners fold down the rear seats.
The Z Special Edition takes things further with race-grade dual-layer composite bodywork built entirely from carbon-fibre panels. A drag-reduction system coordinates a front active diffuser with a rear wing flap to cut drag by up to 40% while producing more than 2000kg of downforce at 186mph.
Underneath its striking bodywork, the Z relies on the e3 Sports Car Platform (pronounced 'e-cube'), developed exclusively for DENZA. Four core technologies define the platform: the world's first intelligent triple-motor torque control system built specifically for the racetrack; Cell-to-Body (CTB) battery-body integration; DiSus-M magnetorheological suspension; and FLASH Charging paired with the 2nd Generation Blade Battery. Built from the ground up for new-energy power, this platform gives DENZA's first supercar exceptional performance and dynamics without the usual compromises.
Every version of the Z uses a triple-motor layout, with a single front motor working alongside individual motors driving each rear wheel. Combined, the system produces 1604 PS and 1240 Nm of torque. That output takes the Coupe from 0- 62 mph in just 2.25 seconds, quicker than all but the most extreme combustion supercars, and on to a top speed of 186mph. Fit the Racing with optional semi-slick tyres, and it accelerates even faster, dipping under two seconds for 0- 62 mph at 1.96 seconds and reaching a higher top speed of 217mph. The Z Special Edition goes further still, with track-grade thermal management that lifts powertrain and battery cooling rates by 180% and 30%, respectively. Total system power tops 2000PS, and the car accelerates from 0-62mph in under 1.7 seconds; DENZA will release further technical details in due course.
The twin rear motors sit at the core of the world's first 15-in-1 fully integrated electric-drive unit. This self-developed unit combines two motors, each with its own reduction gear and Motor Control Unit, alongside the Onboard Charger, DC-DC converter, Vehicle Control Unit, Battery Management Controller, Power Distribution Unit, Boost Charging, Energy Management and Charging Heating, and it spins up to 30,000rpm.
Vehicle Motion Control (VMC) serves as the car's central nervous system, overseeing all controllable actuators, including braking, suspension, and steering. It processes signals in as little as 10 milliseconds, giving the Z faster, more accurate and more complete control over its motion. This high level of integration saves space and speeds up responses, unlocking several key dynamic features. A Tyre Burst Control System, for example, detects a puncture in milliseconds and instantly adjusts torque and power distribution across the unaffected tyres, improving stability. At the same time, assistance systems work to reduce yaw. The world's first three-motor intelligent torque control system built for the racetrack also lets the Z perform a 'compass turn', pivoting its rear wheels around the front axle.
The Z introduces DiSus-M intelligent damping to the e3 Sports Car Platform for the first time. This active system uses a magnetorheological fluid that changes viscosity within milliseconds when exposed to a magnetic field, letting the control system make ultra-fast adjustments to rebound and compression damping. As a result, the Z's suspension, with double wishbones at the front and a multi-link setup at the rear, remains compliant over broken surfaces while delivering confident body control during hard driving. The Coupe and Spider run air suspension, while the Racing uses coil springs for a sharper track focus.
Every Z comes with carbon-ceramic drilled brake discs, which cut unsprung mass by around 30kg in total, improve cooling and extend service life to up to 186,000 miles. Six-piston front and four-piston rear fixed callipers ensure even pressure across the pads and discs, and buyers can specify them in orange, yellow, red or blue.
Across all versions, the 2nd Generation Blade Battery delivers 76kWh of capacity, giving the Coupe 254 miles of range, the Spider 248 miles and the Racing 236 miles. A gigacasting-based Cell-to-Body architecture (CTB), pioneered by BYD, integrates the battery directly into the platform, removing the extra complexity of separate battery packs and modules. The Blade Battery cells sit directly in the chassis, with the passenger-compartment floor serving as their top cover. This approach saves up to 20% more space than a traditional Cell-to-Pack layout. It boosts both safety and structural strength, helping the Z achieve torsional stiffness of more than 40,000 Nm per degree through its steel-aluminium body.
The 2nd Generation Blade Battery also unlocks BYD Group's latest breakthrough: FLASH Charging, which pushes up to 1,500kW through a single connector and matches the refill speed of a petrol car. The system takes the Z from 10% to 70% battery capacity, described as 'ready', in just five minutes, and from 10% to 97% battery capacity, described as 'full', in nine minutes. Even at -30°C, the Z charges from 20% to 97% in only 12 minutes, delivering on the promise of 'Ready in 5, Full in 9, Cold Add 3' and letting drivers enjoy the car's full performance without fearing long charging stops afterwards.
BYD Group's self-developed FLASH Charging Station and the 2nd Generation Blade Battery make this possible, the product of six years of dedicated research. Traditional batteries often force engineers to trade fast charging for high energy density, but BYD has resolved that trade-off to boost charging speed significantly. To do so while preserving safety and durability, engineers built a 'FlashPass' Ion Transport System that extends the limits of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries through three core breakthroughs. The 'Flash-Release' cathode uses a directionally engineered, multi-level particle-size structure that enables dense packing and rapid deintercalation. The 'Flash-Flow' electrolyte relies on AI-driven high-throughput screening to achieve high ionic conductivity and fast ion mobility. The 'Flash-Intercalate' anode features a multi-dimensional lithium-insertion site structure that allows high-speed lithium-ion intercalation. Together, these innovations sharply reduce internal resistance, reducing heat generation at its source. Further anode innovations, including high-throughput electrode restructuring and graphite particles aligned perpendicular to the electrode plane, reduce lithium-ion transport resistance and enable smoother, faster intercalation.
The 2nd Generation Blade Battery also introduces a breakthrough Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) layer, a critical component in any lithium-ion battery. BYD's engineers used molecular-level engineering and macroscopic structural optimisation to make this layer both ultra-thin for higher ionic conductivity and highly dense for chemical stability. At the same time, dynamic self-repairing technology keeps it thin yet strong. These technical gains in energy density and charging speed haven't cost the battery's safety or durability. It has passed a series of demanding safety evaluations, including the world's first simultaneous FLASH Charging and Nail-Penetration Test, which produced no thermal runaway, smoke or fire even after 500 FLASH Charging cycles. The 2nd Generation Blade Battery also improves on the original Blade Battery's durability, cutting overall capacity degradation by 2.5%.
Premium materials, including suede-effect fabrics, carbon fibre and metal finishes, define the Z's cabin, which also brings a wealth of standout features. Every version includes multi-themed intelligent ambient lighting that responds to the car's drive modes, an 8.88-inch digital instrument panel and a 12.8-inch infotainment system with Google Built-in for Google Maps, Google Assistant and the Google Play Store. A digital rear-view mirror and powered soft-closing doors also come as standard.
French audio specialist Devialet supplies the theatre-grade sound system, which includes 12 speakers (10 in the Spider), among them a spherical central module set into the upper fascia, for an immersive listening experience. A virtual engine sound adds to the drama in the cabin, alongside Boost and Track modes. Drivers activate the virtual sound through a fascia button and customise it via the infotainment system, choosing between two volume levels and directing the sound to the cabin, the exterior, or both, with options for a conventional engine note or a sci-fi-inspired effect.
A steering-wheel button controls Boost mode, which raises throttle torque by 30% for 20 seconds while the instrument cluster and touchscreen adapt to reflect the extra performance. Track mode, activated the same way, opens a dedicated app on the infotainment screen designed to make the most of circuit driving. It gives drivers access to precise real-time vehicle positioning and G-sensor data, and owners can analyse lap data and export it to a USB flash drive for storage or sharing of their best runs.
Track mode goes beyond data capture, too. It includes a suite of dynamic settings that let drivers tailor the Z to their skill level, from novice to track expert, including a straight-line acceleration function with launch control and a drift setting that adjusts front-to-rear power distribution for controllable lateral slip. A one-touch drift function uses torque control and power steering to deliver playful drifts without any extra input from the driver's steering or accelerator. Drivers who want to fine-tune their Z further can store three custom profiles in the Track app, adjusting front/rear power distribution, traction control, brake energy regeneration, DiSus-M damping, brake assist, torque vectoring, anti-lock brakes, and vehicle dynamic control.
Every Z comes generously equipped as standard, freeing customers to focus on personalisation rather than options. The digital instrument panel, infotainment screen, heated and ventilated front seats with massage function, power-assisted soft-closing doors, Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) capability, digital rear-view mirror, Devialet sound system with Dolby Atmos, wireless smartphone charging, and remote access through the DENZA app are all features across the range. Buyers can choose from 10 exterior colours, ranging from Le Mans Blue and Silverstone Silver to optional Nocturne Purple, Riviera Blue, and premium options including Phantom Black Matte, Monaco Red, and Monte Carlo Orange. Inside, 10 interior colourways mix full-black styling with varied stitching and brighter accents, and buyers can also choose from four brake calliper colours and, on the Spider, an optional coloured roof.
This extensive personalisation lets every Z customer build a genuinely individual car, regardless of the version they choose. On safety, the Z includes a driver's airbag, a front passenger's airbag, two front-seat side airbags, a driver's side rear airbag, and front and rear curtain airbags, alongside a full suite of driver-assistance features such as Driver Fatigue and Distraction Monitoring, Front and Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Brake, Lane Departure Assist, Intelligent Cruise Control and Blind Spot Detection.
Following its appearance on the DENZA stand at Goodwood, the Z Special Edition will undergo further development testing ahead of its lap-record attempts at the Nürburgring Nordschleife this autumn. Meanwhile, DENZA will open orders for the Coupe, Spider and Racing versions of the Z this summer in selected markets, with first deliveries reaching customers before the end of the year.
