Featured Toyota bZ4X Specifications Revealed

Woohoo! The specs are mighty close to what I had estimated. Guess what I'll be doing on December 15.

That 90% capacity is reasonable confirmation of LFP chemistry, which means a big improvement over the current offerings (NCA/NMC) when audience is taken into account. Toyota is clearly targeting their own loyal customers. The robust nature of LFP will be a strong selling point over range/performance of the others.

ID.4 AWD with its 77 kWh battery-pack delivers a 482 km (300 mile) rating WLTP, which translates to 249 miles EPA. Using that as a basis for estimating bZ4X range, it should be roughly 232 miles EPA.

The 150 kW DCFC is intriguing. Not only does it top VW for being faster rated for the usual limit, it likely also delivers faster beyond 80%. Not having a penalty for exceeding that capacity and being far more resilient to heat breaks the status quo for expectations.

Needless to say, I'm excited. My Prius Prime will be 5 years old by delivery. Time for me to move on and take advantage of the great resale value it still holds. Its flawless EV operation has been quite an endorsement for how well thought out Toyota designs really are.

 

I'm glad to see Toyota get into the game, But let's wait for more technically precise reports before speculating on the battery. As for the styling, I kinda wished they gone more Prius-like.

Bob Wilson

 

Watched a video released with the new bzx info. It appears Toyota will finally go to active liquid cooling / heating of their traction pack.
Most excellent!
Now, let's just pray that Toyota doesn't do like Mitsubishi when they released their plug in Outlander - delivering it to the rest of world & making USA wait for YEARS before deliveries HERE. After all, it seems China gets EV's first - as manufacturers soon won't be able to sell there otherwise.

 

Wonder if it'll have a spare.

 

I still haven't seen any MPGe or m/kWh figures. If I don't know that, then the rest is not worth considering. Since it's yet another SUV/crossover/pickup/parachute, I'm guessing it would be another electricity guzzler even with the more modern battery.

 

Realistically it would be in the 3 to 3.5 mile/kWh range.

What is your hope/expectation?

 

Too, I'm having troubles equating this (quote from the linked article):

This new platform engineering is backed up by more advanced technology, including a seven-inch TFT digital dash that promotes Toyota’s “hands on the wheel, eyes on the road” philosophy, while the bZ4x’s new infotainment system – which looks like a large, slabby screen placed in the centre of the dash layout – will feature over-the-air software upgrade capability.

With this:



The H/V controls look like the usual mishmash of touch-screen icons and uniform, flush-mount buttons, some of them multi-function (vent mode in particular), which equals "hands off the wheel, eyes off the road".

 

I remember seeing LFP jump packs in the store over a decade ago, and it is what EV buses tend to use. About time they started showing up in cars. I think Tesla started switching to LFP for standard range 3 and Y this year. Of course, the 90% capacity retention could be because of a large buffer capacity.

The LFP packs already used in EV buses and cars have liquid thermal management. Better heat tolerance doesn't mean go ahead and abuse it. There is also a packaging advantage to using liquid.

North America is the number three market for plug ins. Don't expect anything to be released here before China or Europe unless it is an American brand.

Using the 232 mile range estimate, and assuming the listed capacity is the usable amount, the efficiency is around 3.25 miles/kWh or 32.5 kWh/100 miles. A little better than the ID.4, but behind the Model Y. The Tesla numbers are still the standard NMC Li-ion.
Compare Side-by-Side

 

From the information Toyota has given us, and guestimating epa from wltp it should be around 3.5 m/kwh and 105 -125 mpge. This compares favorably to the 94 mpge of the rav4 prime, but the rav4 prime does have much better acceleration. I would not call it a guzzler at all. Of course YMMV and these are guestimates, Toyota
will likely reveal real world numbers closer to it being a finished product they can test.

Compare Side-by-Side



+1

Strange marketing gibberish probably mistranslated from another language. Still it would not stop me from buying the electric crossover. Hopefully like tesla they will allow voice commands for much of the things you need to change when actually driving. They look like they have a lot of driving wheel controls to use instead of the touch screen, but I never liked those either. The biggest question will be price and availability ;-) I don't expect that toyota will be able to make enough of these to satisfy demand if the price is right.

 

Any news on the price tag? Not seeing the real car yet, I am leaning toward Mach-E as my next and first BEV at least for now.

 

If we go by the 140 wh/kg of CATL (also likely Toyota's partner if LFP) in Tesla's packs, then the 71.4 kwh pack would weigh 510 kg, using Panasonic NCA it would shave 90 kg if today's technology, some more if its what Panasonic is doing in the lab. The lower cost and longevity of LFP seems to make this a good trade off on a 2000 kg SUV.

 

Not yet. I would suspect that would come from the next big news event... the LA Auto Show in a few weeks.

 

Thanks. I imagine it will be competitively priced against Mach-E and Korean counterparts. But if it gets up to the Model-Y price tag range, then it won't be on my shortlist. If the base model is in the low $40K, just like the Mach-E, then I will consider it. But I have a feeling it will start much higher.

 

As good as my Prime or a Tesla M3. If they can't at least do that, they should try again.

Edit to add that I should have softened the above by adding that I'm glad they are finally going to sell EVs.

 

We already know they will... bZ3... bZ2

 

LFP will likely become the main choice for most BEVs with the cost, and it being good enough to get 200+ miles of range in a midsize frame. I'm just wondering why it hasn't been used sooner in a EV car. Was the energy density not enough early on? Companies wary of using Chinese suppliers?

 

just because a vehicle is large, does not mean it has to be a parachute. Model Y for instance has a drag CD of around .23 - compared to the Prius, which has .24 drag CD. Or .... another ride, on the larger size is the soon-to-be-released lucid - which supposedly has a drag CD of .21

 

Well, the EPA rating seems to be lower than the actual, at least for Prius Prime. I don't know what is like for the real-world EV efficiency of Rav4 Prime. It is rated only 94MPGe, which means 2.8miles/kWh of EV efficiency. Expecting SUV form factor to beat the PP or M3 EV efficiency is asking too much, isn't it?