• 72% of people say adding 250 miles of range in five minutes – as recently promised by BYD – would lead them to go electric
• 36% point out it's almost as fast as refuelling with petrol and 34% that it means they wouldn’t need a home charger
• However, 12% say building charging infrastructure of this kind will be difficult and 15% that it’ll be expensive to use, shows May’s Startline Used Car Tracker

Technology capable of delivering this was recently unveiled by BYD, and in Startline’s May Used Car Tracker, 36% of respondents point out it’s almost as fast as refuelling with petrol and 34% that it means they won’t need a home charger.

Paul Burgess, CEO at Startline Motor Finance, said: “The promise of an electric car that can be powered with the convenience of a petrol equivalent clearly strikes a chord with many potential buyers, our research shows.

“Being able to pull up to a charger and add 250 miles of range in moments would remove the need for a home charger, especially important for people who don’t have the space to install their own, and promises to make the whole process of highway charging much simpler.”

However, there are also some objections from drivers. The Tracker also shows that 15% believe power from chargers this fast will be expensive while 12% say that building a charging network of this speed would be difficult.

Paul said: “We have, of course, yet to see BYD’s charging in action and it is comparatively rare to see chargers rated at over 300kW in the UK, never mind the 1,000kW that five-minute charging demands. Our most powerful public chargers offer less than half that capacity.

“Delivering this step change would require a massive investment in infrastructure and motorists are probably correct in assuming that this kind of power would be expensive to install and to access.”

The Startline Used Car Tracker is compiled monthly for Startline Motor Finance by APD Global Research, well-known in the motor industry for their business intelligence reporting and customer experience programs. This time, 308 consumers and 66 dealers were questioned.