Featured Toyota bZ4X Specifications Revealed

FYI: For any interested parties in the Solterra or bZ4X and you live in New York State, here are the requirements for NYSERDA's Drive Clean Rebate, which will provide up to a $2,000 instant rebate on the purchase of either the Solterra or the bZ4X. Not sure what the base MSRP for the Solterra will be but if the Premium model comes in under $42,000, say $41,995, then all trims, including Limited and Touring, can claim the $2,000 rebate when you purchase the vehicle. It would meet both limits of at least 200 miles of EV range and a Base MSRP of under $42,000. If the Premium model is over $42,000 MSRP then the rebate will fall to $500.

If you wait and purchase the Toyota bZ4X, then the base price would be based on the FWD XLE (this is an assumption that the initial trim will be FWD and XLE, not fact) and you could purchase the AWD and, say, Platinum (if there is such a trim or Capstone, etc.) and receive the full $2,000 rebate.

As always check with the dealer for a final determination.

 

You trust a dealer for tax advice?

 

If it were a tax issue I would agree with you, but this is a Point-of-sale instant rebate that comes off of the sale price up front and all of the dealers I've ever talked to are very aware of the rebate. That being said, I would be remiss if I didn't tell everyone, you are your own best advocate and would put this on my checklist of things to bring up when sitting down with the dealer for that final deal. This also benefits the dealer so I know a few people who used that rebate to add on extended service and/or warranties. I got that rebate when I purchased my Prius Prime 4 years ago but didn't add anything else on. To each his own.

 

so ... does this mean Europe has no equivalent to United States Magnuson-Moss laws? (can't make warranty dependent on requiring inspection at manufacturers chosen service centers). Sure - most will never be able to do warranty inspection on traction packs nor be able to afford expensive proprietary diagnostic tools .... but independent shops do exist. So Toyota can't necessarily enforce buyers to be saddled with only paying the Toyota service center to check a traction pack.
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Europe, unlike the US, is not homogenous when it comes to what the European Union calls ECAR - The Repairs Clause. But some major countries like Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg and Spain have passed laws to allow third party shops to perform repairs and maintenance. France is a mix (they are unique - who knew ), Sweden and Denmark have a short term OEM protection, while the rest have not even introduced The Repairs Clause into their laws. Norway, Switzerland and Great Britain are not in the union so they have other issues. Great Britain has US like laws they just introduced, but Norway and Switzerland nope. Seems like the wild wild east there.

(The rest includes Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia)

 

Update - Toyota will provide a complimentary one year DC Fast Charge at EVgo for their bZ4X purchase or lease. So like Subaru with their Solterra, Toyota partnered with EVgo as opposed to ChargePoint like they did with the Prius Prime. Maybe they are going with a smaller DC Fast Charge company to save costs.

Maybe they are trying to soften the sticker shock. As I said in another post the closest EVgo is about 82 miles away in a direction I never go. So I would be purchasing the car based on its merits

Toyota to Provide bZ4X Customers with DC Fast Charger Access Through EVgo - Toyota USA Newsroom

 

Maybe they like their business plan and want to support that potential.

 

$67k or so. That makes it less than a fully configured Model Y. But does that include VAT?

So who can afford either?

 

I doubt it will be that expensive in the US, but ... I expect that if they price it inexpensively then dealers will add huge mark ups like they are on the rav4 prime.

I expect tesla to drop the prices on the Y after the austin gigafactory gets going full speed, and put a less expensive battery as an option, but that will likely take over a year.

 

VAT is included when prices are listed for Europe. There could also be import taxes on it. It would be around $2000 less than a Model Y without the VAT; I don't think Toyota offers anything like FSD. The EPA range for the AWD would be in the 200 to 230 mile range to the Y's 300+. The WLTP efficiency is 27.4 to 30.6 kWh/100mi to the Y's 27kWh/100mi EPA.

 

iirc - there is no frunk on the Toyota, right? Is there cargo Sq footage Spec's yet on the Toyota? with & without rear seating up/down?

 

452 liters in the cargo area with the rear seats in place.

 

16 cubic feet/ 452L from @Tideland Prius link. Presumable with seats up, and Europe's more conservative estimate. That seems low.

Tesla Model Y Long Range Dual Motor price and specifications - EV Database
Model Y has 854L for the back, seats up. The WLTP effciency appears to be 16.9 kWh/100km, with 542km range.

 

Subaru site says their SOLTERRA (made on the same exact same line as the bZ4X) is 30.3 cubic feet behind the rear seats. That’s somewhere between the Venza and RAV4 Hybrid (or Prime).


iPad ? Pro

 

Car might eventually get a manual transmission option.

Toyota Patents Plans For EV With Manual Transmission And Clutch

Could use a cheaper motor and inverter with a 2 or 3 speed on the floor.

 

Someone lobotomized Toyota engineering. Still, companies have a right to do dumb things. See GM and EV1.

Bob Wilson

 

The patent does not appear to involve any gears--it is entirely a 'virtual' or simulated manual transmission. Seems like a strange thing to do but on the Transport Evolved Youtube channel they mentioned that in the UK you can get either a manual-transmission driver's license or an automatic driver's license. If you get the license for automatic, you can never drive a manual-transmission car. So having a manual transmission in the car, even if it isn't 'real' lets you get the driver's license that everyone there wants.

 

The manual licensing used to be cheaper on a drivers+car basis

 

US standards for measuring the cargo area of a wagon or SUV mean taking out the tape measure. In the EU, they do what the US does for trunks; fill up the space with boxes of defined sizes, and add up the volume of all the boxes that fit. That method tends to be lower because it misses the nooks, crannies, and slope of the seats. It tends to better reflect the usable space, because a lot of things going into that space will also miss those nooks and crannies.

Now, the 16cu.ft. sited by the European article could be to just the top of the seat backs or beltline and not the ceiling. On GM's site, the Volt had a cargo volume of 11cu.ft. listed, while the EPA measure was nearly 20cu.ft.