Featured Toyota BEVs

I wouldn't infer crash capability/safety out of a drawing. I'm sure Toyota/Lexus have done a good job, they have to if this Lexus will hit european and american roads.
The high voltage cables are not much different from every other BEV, could you deepen that?
I fully agree with you: air cooling and no front storage could be better...

 

I agree on liquid cooling the batteries. Toyota already has a cooling system for the inverter so why not redesign the batteries to accommodate liquid cooling and maybe just enlarge the inverter cooling system to include the batteries. Tesla's liquid cooled batteries explains why they can use higher charging rates.

I would expect that these models will have pretty good frontal and offset crash protection. The crush zones would be similar to an ICE engine compartment. If the impact velocity is high enough no amount of crush zone protection is going to save the occupants anyway. As a friend of mine who use to build water towers used to say about a falling, "Once you get above 30 feet, higher doesn't matter".

 

they're probably perfect for china, n/a not so much. i'm sure they can develop a good one for n/a, but who would buy it?
right now, my local gas station is paying customers to fill up

 

Happy to see it, even if limited to China.
Hopefully, Toyota can learn from these products and refine the design for the rest of the world.

 

I just stopped at Costco to fill up two 5 gallon cans and the Prius. Cost was $24. The last time gas was $1.20 a gallon was about 1980. I am putting more in the mower than the car.

 

These are BEV conversions of ICE cars. They will be lacking compared to one built on a dedicated BEV platform. The grill can be more blocked than the ICE one. Price is an important detail.

Seen a photo of the battery pack. Blowers were visible at the front of it.

 

Well, I've been told that this battery pack is cooled both by air and liquid.
And the cells are NMC622.
Can anyone confirm?

 

The Rav4 Prime will have a cooling loop off the A/C for the battery. Don't know if it directly chills the battery or just incoming air, but it is technically a liquid at some point in the system.

As for using both air and a liquid, under ambient conditions, cooling, wouldn't that just mean dealing with the downsides of both. There is the weight of the liquid system, and the bulk for air ducts.

 

UX 300e: FIRST ALL-ELECTRIC LEXUS OFFERS CLASS-LEADING QUALITY AND A 10-YEAR BATTERY WARRANTY

10 year/1 Million Km warranty including capacity degradation below 70%. Totally air cooled and tied to the A/C. Using pouch cells instead of cylindrical, apparently the Lexus engineers think air cooling is better for their battery and offer a warranty to back it up.

Interview with the engineer, Takashi Watanabe: LEXUS ELECTRIFIED CHIEF ENGINEER EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
They are focusing on reliability, quietness and ride qualities more so than raw performance. If you listen to the video one of the more interesting points is Lexus developed a new A/C from seat heaters. One would think it would be the other way around and then everybody could say, “ah yes they are using a heat pump”. Should be interesting to learn more details.

That all being said it will never see the light of day in the US, so we’ll have to rely on the likes of testers such as Bjorn Nyland to test it and give us his opinion.

Edited to explain an interesting point in the engineer interview video.
iPad ? Pro

 

Interesting.
I’ll be fascinated if these can maintain 70% for 10 years while accepting DC charging.
This could be a real breakthrough. Can’t wait to see them in the US.

 

i would be very interested in a lexus bev, with focus as stated.

 

guess we'll all have to move to China.

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might as well, it's the next big thing. and, they have disneyland

 

well according to car and driver these are planned for EU and China to meet regulatory standards, then likely Japan and not likely ever coming to the US. If they sell well Toyota/Lexus may sell other bevs here. For now the prius prime and rav4 prime are peak of toyota's US plug-in strategy.

I'm glad toyota/lexus is getting in the game. The DC charging is not much of a trick, its less than 1C @50 kw, and I bet it gets throttled down quick in hot weather. Tesla is now upgrading chargers to v3 = 250 kw which gets throttled down quickly but is 5x greater in peak charge. VW through porsche is now designing liquid cooled batteries that can take 800 kw for a short time.

The 10 years 70% though on air cooled is more of a trick. Only time will tell. I would bet this would not work in Texas or Arizona, but cooler places are the launch for these BEVs. My tesla kicks in battery conditioning when its sitting in the hot sun, I'm not sure how well even using air conditioned air cooling will work on a parked car.

 

it's possible - that the US has become the redheaded stepchild (despite much quicker ev acceptance compared to hybrids) simply because they are Supply constrained Beyond China and the EU. If so, that's forgivable, even though Toyota is typically more forward-thinking.

same goes for much of So Cal (majority of ev buyers), New Mexico, & many parts of the south east states.
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how is that cali/fed battle going these days? maybe one state isn't enough for toyota, as large as it may be. after all, they're hearing the horse whisperers in texas now