Featured Toyota bZ4X Specifications Revealed

The Rav4 hybrid already has an S mode whose control pattren reminds me of a Porsche Tiptronic. Shift to the side and you go into S mode where 8 "gears" are simulated. Page 201 of my owners manual. In 21k miles I have never used it.

 

The Camry hybrid also has that S mode, and I am guessing so does every Toyota hybrid version of an ICE model. Those ICE models have an S mode that lets the driver control the max gear the transmission will go into. Instead of designing a whole new shifter for the hybrid model, Toyota made use of the auto shifter already in the car.

From the description in the Camry hybrid manual, the gears of S mode sound like B with increments.

As for a manual in an EV, many EV conversions were done on manual transmission cars. The manual lets you save costs by using a smaller, less powerful engine. Many of the early conversions used DC motors. A transmission could mean reduced costs for a future factory EV. Transmissions can help EVs with efficiciency. It is why the Taycan can beat the EPA rated range.

 

Lucid air seems to have the highest efficiency then tesla model 3 for a long range BEV in 70 mph testing.
Tested: InsideEVs Reveals Real World Range Of Today's Electric Cars

The main reason for the taycan's transmission is better acceleration and less need for cooling when doing repeated runs to 60 in less than 3 seconds or even higher speeds. The taycan accelerated better than the model S performance in testing despite the worse power to weight because it could start at a lower gear ratio. Tesla then went with 3 motors instead of two in better cooling in the plaid.

Taycan is expensive with a single speed on its front wheels, and a two speed or declutched motor on its rear. My guess is that the transmission is responsable for the relatively poor epa efficiency, but when going steady state on the highway the rear motor is probably not involved and it is just running on the front until more acceleration is called for.

For something like a toyota bev acceleration from a dual motors with different single speed transmission set points will be fine. How many people buy a toyota to accelerate that fast. Some people may want a virtual gear box though. They don't need to add the expense of a multi gear transmission though.

 

The Taycan with 225 miles of range is RWD. It is rated 2.22 miles/kWh by the EPA.

In that InsideEVs range test, just sixmodels exceed their EPA range. The Ioniq Electric did it by 0.6%, and Mach-E by 5.5% and 7.1%. The rest Taycans in a range of 17.2% to 32%. That 225 mile range model went over 290 miles and returned 3.5 miles/kWh.

There are several theories as to why such a difference for the Taycan between its rating and real world. Maybe it has to do with method chosen to derive the window sticker, or Porsche flat out sandbagged it to such an extreme. Another is that it never made use of its higher speed cruising gear in the EPA tests; the speeds were too low.

 

I prefer reproducible, engineering defined, EPA metrics:


Bob Wilson

 

That Lucid Air's Tesla competitor is the Model S at 120mpge.

 

<AHEM> Not for my money.

Bob Wilson

 

It’s like it’s 1905 again
24” Rims were common and larger still not unheard of.

Must be the latest design trend Model T balloon tires

What’s next? The tire is bigger than the body?

 

Bob Wilson

 

I would not put it past them to do that but there is a much bigger gap. The biggest thing is the epa test is run in normal mode which starts the car in first gear and may keep it there for most of the test. The most efficient mode is range mode which would likely declutch the rear motor most of the time in an epa test. Normal or range will run fwd on a long highway trip most of the time and that is where range and efficiency is important.

But porsche and EPA are probably correct for most daily drives. I would expect the drivers to be in sport mode, they paid a lot for that porsche. Its going to be less efficient, but those daily drives are not where efficiency is important. Fun to drive on those less than 200 mile drives are where porsche decided to put its engineering and it will be inefficient ;-)

Lucid air's motors generate over 600 hp and only weigh 163 lbs. The porsche 2-speed transmission and motor are much heavier than the lucid's motor and single speed transmission. The Porsche's fastest taycan was the fastest production bev on the drag strip until the model S plaid came out. Tesla chose to add another less expensive motor to 3, and is the fastest production bev today. The lucid and taycan are both over 400 lbs heavier than the plaid and the porsche has a lot less power. That gives the model S plaid the win in a drag race with lucid coming in second. Lucid is about $50K more expensive but more efficient and has a bigger battery so over 100 miles more range. But lets face it all three are super cars that most people buying a plug-in either can't afford or don't want to pay for.

I am sure toyota has looked at the engineering and will not be implementing a heavier more expensive transmission. The one trick with the taycan that might be used is adding a clutch to remove the drag of one motor when it is not needed which should add not much cost but some efficiency.

 

You're in the market for a Model S?

In a general comparison, the Lucid Air G Touring AWD to Model 3 RWD is not a like to like one for several reasons. Making that comparison is not different than comparing a Prius to a bare bones Corolla.

It's possible. We just don't know, because Porsche hasn't said. Tesla is saying the larger wheels mean a range loss of around 7% on the Model 3 and S build page.

Looking more into the Taycan transmission, the car might be in the higher 2nd gear for the EPA tests. It depends on what drive mode is considered the car's default. With most cars, I'd assume it is the one called Normal, but it's a Porsche, so I can't discount Sport.
Some info of the Taycan's mechanicals; https://pontoon-e.com/an-extremely-detailed-look-at-the-porsche-taycans-engineering-designed-to-take-on-tesla/
Note that the shortest range Taycan InsideEVs tested was the one with the 30% greater than EPA range. It is RWD, so doesn't have that smaller front motor; just the rear one with the transmission.

 

Not until I win the lottery. <GRINS>

Bob Wilson

 

Disappointment with 2017 TSS-P contributed to replacement of our Prius Prime with a Tesla Model 3 and AutoPilot. But it appears Toyota may have made some long overdue improvements:
Toyota Safety Sense

Bob Wilson

 

Toyota did start borrowing parts of Eyesight from Subaru before Xmode in the bZ4X.

 

I appreciate every addition of safety items automakers make. Speaking only for myself Toyota Safety Sense is still missing two of the most important items - Blind Spot Monitoring and Rear Cross Alert with Automatic Stopping if interference detected. You are made to buy these as part of a package on a higher end model.

 

This is how it was when the early Priuses came out - during backup (no monitering) . Kids were getting backed over /killed because many packages' versions had no backup moniter feature - which had already been integrated into some packages with backup cameras - a high-end feature in those times. It made no safety sense to not put back up monitoring on every model, but apparently it didn't make financial sense until it became standard in all packages & models.

 

Isn't that one thing, because according to bZ4X press release and Features - TSS 3.0 "Blind Spot Monitor is standard on all grades." You need to go into the specs and then you see Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (RCTA) is standard across all trims and also includes Safety Exit for the bZ4X, again, standard across all trims. If you require Automatic Braking, you'll need to move up to Lexus. Toyota's lawyers have decided they want you to use the the brake. This is why their "enhanced regeneration" also requires you to use the brake to come to a full stop.

 

What does "safety exit" do for you?

 

Alerts you if you are trying to open a door and exit the vehicle and there is oncoming traffic.
In Toyota parlance:
"As part of the Blind Spot Monitor functionality, if the system detects an approaching vehicle and judges that there is a possibility of a collision with an opened door or passengers who have exited, an indicator in the outer mirror is lit to audibly alert the occupants. Even with the door closed, the indicator will be lit if the system judges that there is a possibility of a collision if the door is open."