Toyota BZ4X

Ian Schmidt

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BZ4X is 4 characters, which doesn't strike me as being weirdly long. That's the same length as most Mercedes and BMW model names ("330i" or whatever).
 

spwolf

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@ssun30 you might get a kick of this, at launch BZ4X has no way to navigate you to charger or show you charging speed in the car.
You have to manually find chargers on map and charging speed shows on the ... actual charger.

I am sure this will be updated in the future, but it is very apsurd.
 

ssun30

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@ssun30 you might get a kick of this, at launch BZ4X has no way to navigate you to charger or show you charging speed in the car.
You have to manually find chargers on map and charging speed shows on the ... actual charger.

I am sure this will be updated in the future, but it is very apsurd.
EVs from 2016 have this function lol.

That was actually one of the complaints they got for the ChDM C-HR EV. Toyota listens to customers I heard?

Not only is "navigate to charger" an essential functionality. Modern software also shows actual charger availability, charging speed and charging price in real time to help the owner decide. Anything less than this is inadequate.

BTW the C-HR EV does not allow DC fast charge to 100%. It's capped to 76%. You can only charge it to full with AC. I wonder whether this also applies to bZ4X.
 

spwolf

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EVs from 2016 have this function lol.

That was actually one of the complaints they got for the ChDM C-HR EV. Toyota listens to customers I heard?

Not only is "navigate to charger" an essential functionality. Modern software also shows actual charger availability, charging speed and charging price in real time to help the owner decide. Anything less than this is inadequate.

BTW the C-HR EV does not allow DC fast charge to 100%. It's capped to 76%. You can only charge it to full with AC. I wonder whether this also applies to bZ4X.

Unfortunately most EVs don't have charger availabiry, only Tesla for SCs that i know of. Even Tesla has limited 3rd party charges, but at least their network is big. If i can't use SCs, i have to open bunch of different apps to figure out where I have free charger.

But other brands at have at least navigate to charger and trip planning, even if not perfect.

Some activist investor has to force TMC to get Toyoda to drive EV for a year and it will all get better.
 

LS500-18

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I like this guy because he's a car geek but not a journalist, just a real guy that likes almost any car. Not a fanboy of any brand, he has driven (almost?) every new EV on the market. Valid criticisms of battery pre-warming and route charge guidance, etc.

 

spwolf

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yeah, videos above is where we have found out there is nothing about route planning or even displaying charging info inside the vehicle, right now.
 

larryren

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Greeting LE's Friends! BZ4X in China's pre-sale price release.

GAC-Toyota/FAW-Toyota both side starting for 220k to 300k RMB (≈33249-45340 USD) with 5 different trims and using same "bZ4X" name.
Pre-order vehicle can using WeChat applet or traditional dealership way.
both side official release date it around June.

IMO:In the fiercely competitive Chinese EV market, Toyota's prices and specifications are not particularly attractive. It maybe need get discount to sales it.....


WATZ3.png
P15C.png
 

ssun30

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These prices are 1:1 match to the ID.4. If ID.4 can manage almost 100k units a year I don't see why bZ4X can't. In terms of raw specs, bZ4X soundly beats the ID.4 that's why I think they are so confident with it. It's one size segment larger, is lighter, has longer range, more power for same price, better efficiency, comparable equipment (although ID.4 has a really cool AR-HUD system) and much better interior quality. Apart from the top level AWD trim (220kW) the ID.4 is just worse, and that model availability is so poor it might as well be vaporware.

Given the trash economy this year of course they need quite generous discounts to push this volume, I think 30k in 8 months may be a generous guess.

Difference between ChDM bZ4X and International bZ4X:

SR version has 50.3kWh battery and 400km CLTC range, LR version has 66.7kWh battery and 615km CLTC range. It's not specified whether the capacity is usable or total. This converts to ~320km WLTC and ~500km WLTC, respectively. Like the ID.4 Crozz the SR version is never worth it because you save 10% for 1/3 less range.

Batteries are sourced from CATL so DC fast charge is capped to 100kW like USDM bZ4X AWD. Energy density is 152Wh/kg so it's surprisingly among the best on the market. As expected, the energy efficiency is at the very top.
 
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larryren

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These prices are 1:1 match to the ID.4. If ID.4 can manage almost 100k units a year I don't see why bZ4X can't. In terms of raw specs, bZ4X soundly beats the ID.4 that's why I think they are so confident with it. It's one size segment larger, is lighter, has longer range, more power for same price, better efficiency, comparable equipment (although ID.4 has a really cool AR-HUD system) and much better interior quality. Apart from the top level AWD trim (220kW) the ID.4 is just worse, and that model availability is so poor it might as well be vaporware.

Given the trash economy this year of course they need quite generous discounts to push this volume, I think 30k in 8 months may be a generous guess.

Difference between ChDM bZ4X and International bZ4X:

SR version has 50.3kWh battery and 400km CLTC range, LR version has 66.7kWh battery and 615km CLTC range. It's not specified whether the capacity is usable or total. This converts to ~320km WLTC and ~500km WLTC, respectively. Like the ID.4 Crozz the SR version is never worth it because you save 10% for 1/3 less range.

Batteries are sourced from CATL so DC fast charge is capped to 100kW like USDM bZ4X AWD. Energy density is 152Wh/kg so it's surprisingly among the best on the market. As expected, the energy efficiency is at the very top.
Oh? the Toyota(China) official website say the battery total capacity both FWD/AWD are same 72.8kWh, it is some different calculate way?
 

spwolf

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Charging curve on US AWD models with CATL batteries are terrible.
Worst in the industry by far? Whoever gets tricked into buying this car will not be a happy customer.

At 75% it is down to 23kw charging, somewhere in 90s it drops to 1 kw.
It is completely terrible, impossible to charge to 100%, he quit after 4.4hrs at fast charger.

Hopefully Panasonic one is not crazy like this, Toyota quoted time to 80% on Panasonic bsttery is 2x faster.

This is nonsense.
 

Levi

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Charging curve on US AWD models with CATL batteries are terrible.
Worst in the industry by far? Whoever gets tricked into buying this car will not be a happy customer.

At 75% it is down to 23kw charging, somewhere in 90s it drops to 1 kw.
It is completely terrible, impossible to charge to 100%, he quit after 4.4hrs at fast charger.

Hopefully Panasonic one is not crazy like this, Toyota quoted time to 80% on Panasonic bsttery is 2x faster.

This is nonsense.
That is bad. And I expect to see a lot more of such issues in the industry. Will be like smartphone/pc, who is a tech illiterate will get scammed. And reseller will continue scamming used car buyer.
 

ssun30

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Dear Toyota: crippling the product to the point of unusable isn't how you make it reliable. If you are paranoid about something breaking just don't release it. If you don't trust a supplier just don't use them.

C-HR EV/UX300e never sold in meaningful numbers to get enough feedback from customers, because they are so bad to begin with. When experimenting with a new concept you need to be stressing it to the point it breaks, otherwise you learn nothing.

And somehow they even forgot these have preconditioning.
 
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LS500-18

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Worst in the industry by far? Whoever gets tricked into buying this car will not be a happy customer.
The reason I traded my first Tesla Model S 85D for a gas Lexus was because Tesla sent a software update that really smacked my DC fast charging down and then basically covered up the real reason why (ahem battery fires).

I realize Toyota is concerned about longevity but it is unacceptable for road tripping. There are lots of EVs that don't fast charge all that fast and they still sell. Since Toyota isn't serious about BEV or PHEV for that matter this isn't a big deal, they're not going to make enough anyway.