Toyota unveils production version of purpose-designed battery-electric bZ4X
30 October 2021
In Japan, Toyota held the global premiere of the all-new bZ4X SUV, the first model in a new series of bZ—beyond Zero—battery electric vehicles (BEVs). US-specific product details will be shared in mid-November.
Faithful in its design and technology to its concept predecessor, revealed earlier this year (earlier post), the production-ready bZ4X is the first model to be developed by Toyota entirely as a BEV. It is also the first car to be built on the company’s new BEV-dedicated platform.
Based on e-TNGA philosophy, this has been co-developed by Subaru and Toyota. Incorporating the battery unit as an integral part of the chassis, beneath the vehicle floor, gives the fundamental benefits of a low center of gravity, excellent front/rear weight balance and high body rigidity for excellent safety, ride and handling.
The bZ4X is available with a new all-wheel drive system with separate electric motors for each axle. Its exterior design reflects both its advanced BEV qualities and SUV status, and debuts a new brand-defining “hammerhead” frontal shape, communicating the car’s strong stance.
The long wheelbase provides excellent accommodation in a light and open five-seat cabin, plus generous load capacity.
Toyota has drawn on almost 25 years’ experience in electrified vehicle battery technology to secure world-leading quality, durability and reliability for the lithium-ion unit which powers the bZ4X. Even after 10 years of driving, the battery is targeted to still operate at 90% of its original performance. (The period of use and mileage is assumed to be 10 years, or 240,000 km (150,000 miles), whichever is shorter.)
With a fully charged battery, expected range is more than 450 km (280 miles) depending on version, exact data to be confirmed later. The bZ4X will also offer advanced technology features, including a solar panel roof to help charge the battery while driving or parked, and third-generation Toyota Safety Sense with new and improved active safety and driver assistance systems.
New BEV dedicated platform. The bZ4X is the first car to be built on the company’s new BEV dedicated platform based on e-TNGA philosophy.
This completely new platform has the flexibility to be used for potential future bZ models and is designed for production at scale. Critically, the slim battery unit is located fully beneath the vehicle floor and forms part of the chassis, helping achieve a low centre of gravity, ideal front/rear weight balance and high body rigidity. These qualities combine to give the bZ4X stable and responsive dynamic performance and, with a long wheelbase, excellent interior space.
Compared to the Toyota RAV4, the exterior dimensions illustrate the design benefits inherent in the e-TNGA platform. For example, the bZ4X has an overall height that’s lower by 85 mm, shorter overhangs and a wheelbase that that’s 160 mm longer than the RAV4. The hood line is also reduced in height by 50 mm. Overall agility is reflected in a class-leading 5.7 m turning radius.
Performance. The front-wheel drive bZ4X is powered by a high-response 150 kW electric motor. It produces 204 DIN hp and 265 N·m of torque, enabling 0-100 km/h acceleration in 8.4 seconds and a top speed of 160 km/h (99 mph). In a first for Toyota, the bZ4X uses an e-axle, integrating motor, transaxle and inverter.
The all-wheel drive model has maximum power of 217.5 DIN hp with 336 N·m of torque; top speed is unchanged, while acceleration to 100 km/h is reduced to 7.7 seconds. All performance figures remain provisional prior to homologation.
The system offers the option of “single pedal drive” with a boost in the braking energy regeneration that lets the driver accelerate and slow the vehicle using only the throttle pedal.
Driving range and battery technology. The high-density lithium-ion battery has a 71.4 kWh capacity that is expected to deliver a driving range of more than 450 km (applying to WLTP metrics). Figures depend on version and remain provisional at this stage, prior to homologation.
Thanks to an efficient and effective heating system, including a heat pump, reliability is also maintained in sub-zero temperatures, with only a modest reduction in range compared to competitor models. Similarly, the battery can be fast-charged without compromising safety or service life: an 80% charge can be achieved in around 30 minutes with a 150 kW fast-charging system (CCS2). From Q4 2022, a new 11 kW three-phase on-board charger will be available.
Key to the battery’s quality and durability is multiple monitoring of the voltage, current and temperature, from individual cell level. If any abnormal heat generation is detected, controls are automatically triggered. Countermeasures have been put place to mitigate any material degradation, and there are safeguards in the manufacturing process to prevent foreign matter from entering the battery. In a Toyota first, the battery is water-cooled.
All-wheel drive. Toyota worked with its development partner Subaru in engineering a new BEV all-wheel drive system that draws on the great AWD heritage of both companies.
The AWD model features separate 80 kW motors driving the front and rear axles. XMODE with its different drive modes can also be selected to suit the conditions with settings for snow/mud; deep snow and mud (below 20 km/h); and Grip Control for tougher off-road driving (below 10 km/h).
Steer-by-wire system. The bZ4X will be the first production Toyota to offer a steer-by-wire system: One Motion Grip. Dispensing with the mechanical linkage between the steering wheel and the front wheels, this electronic system adjusts the tire angle precisely according to the driver’s intention, and provides more legroom, improving driving position freedom and ease of entry and exit. The traditional steering wheel is replaced with the One Motion Grip-control, making operation smoother and easier, with no need for hand-over-hand turning. Full-lock can be achieved with just a 150-degree turn.
With no physical connection in the system, unnecessary vibration from the tires is blocked, but the driver still experiences valuable feedback, such as from the road surface. The steering feeling is improved through independent control of the steering torque; steering characteristics can be changed according to the drive mode selected.
Solar panel roof. The bZ4X’s driving range can be maximized with the use of an optional solar panel roof. This captures solar energy with zero emissions and zero cost to generate electricity to charge the car’s drive battery. It can be used when the car’s ignition is on or off and Toyota calculates that it can harness enough power in the course of a year to enable 1,800 km of driving.
New generation Toyota Safety Sense. The bZ4X will benefit from the third-generation Toyota Safety Sense with new and improved functions to provide protection against an even wider range of common accident risks. It can operate as a partner to the driver to realize the ultimate mobility society goal: “zero fatalities and injuries in traffic accidents”.
By expanding the detection range of the millimeter wave radar and monocular camera, the performance of each function has been enhanced. New features will include expansion of the Pre-Collision System to recognize vehicles that are oncoming and cutting in; low-speed acceleration suppression; and emergency stopping assistance.
Additionally, a new multimedia system with over-the-air (OTA) software updates will be available.
The Toyota BZ4X and it’s twin the Subaru Solterra specs do not look outstanding (somewhere between a Nissan Ariya and a VW ID.4). No match in performance or range against the Mustang Mach E or Tesla Model 3.
This could change when we learn more about the battery design and vehicle cost.
Most predict that the cost will be in the high $30k range like the RAV4 Prime.
A real game changer would be a much lower price, combined with the rebate would price the car in the 20’s (probably only a dream though).
The other thing is battery design. Even though Toyota talks Solid State, it probably will not appear before 2025. However, a clue is that Toyota claims that the battery will only degrade 10% in 10 years. With current tech only LFP batteries have that long a life.
So maybe the BZ4X will use the BYD Blade battery which is very good (Toyota has a JV with BYD). We will see.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 30 October 2021 at 09:29 AM
It's too bad Toyota waited so long to support clean energy; Now they are having to playing catch-up in a new game and must prove their EVs are worth consideration. Their past reputation for building reliable gassers carries no weight in this new endeavor.
Posted by: Lad | 30 October 2021 at 12:09 PM
Toyota drove the electrification of transport, and notions that subsidy and fad driven stock bubbles mean that Tesla is the leader are false.
There are two companies which have a complete range of electrified vehicles, from hybrids to PHEVs to BEVs and to FCEVs, and they are TMC and Hyundai.
Posted by: Davemart | 30 October 2021 at 02:34 PM
@Davemart
I am not sure how you think that Toyota drove electrication of transport. Yes, Toyota has made a large number of hybrid vehicles and a much more limited number of PHEVs with a very limited range. They have made a very limited number of FCEVs that will probably end up being prematurely scraped. They have finally announced that they are going to produce BEVs but I have not seen a time-line or a price. They are behind almost all of the other major car manufacturers.
Posted by: sd | 30 October 2021 at 08:05 PM
Hybrids have electric motors, and Toyota have built over 11 million of them, setting up the production chains which enabled BEVS, which use more powerful versions.
Toyota and Hyundai have both built new production facilities for fuel cell stacks with ten times the volume of previously.
They are not going anywhere, and impose far more modest requirements for batteries and are demonstrably superior in cold climates.
Lugging around hundreds of kilos of batteries and having to plug in is not the only option, just the one which has been enabled by vast regressive subsidies.
Posted by: Davemart | 31 October 2021 at 02:02 AM
All cars have electric motors. Starter motors. That doesn't mean they 'drove electrification'. The world would not be rushing to EVs today if not for one company...Tesla.
Posted by: Paroway | 31 October 2021 at 09:44 AM
Actually, Toyota did invest $50 million in Tesla in 2010. However, they sold it in 2017, though probably not the best decision.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 31 October 2021 at 01:57 PM
Toyota led micro electrification but most of the reduced fuel consumption was due to good aerodynamics. Most EV's have ~100 to 140 MPG, 2X better than the Priuses with less space. Older 80's Hondas could get the same MPG as a Prius.
Posted by: GdB | 01 November 2021 at 09:17 AM
Tesla will be facing competition in coming years
Posted by: SJC | 01 November 2021 at 01:21 PM
@Davemart,
If I had to pick 2 companies that drove electrication of Transport, it would be GM and Tesla with maybe an honorable mention for Ford. GM built the first automotive fuel cell vehicles in 1966 although Allis Chambers made a fuel cell farm tractor about 10 years earlier.
See: https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/featured/Fuel_Cell_Vehicles.html
Also GM had the EV1 and EV2 which were not a market success but were a learning experience. The serial PHEV Chevy Volt was much more or an electric car than the Toyota Prius Prime.
I am not a huge fan of Tesla and think that their stock is vastly over-priced but they certainly have had the largest influence in bringing BEVs to market. I am also not a fan of subsidies that favor the wealthy. If the US has new subsidies, I certainly hope that they are more for low priced vehicles but I would favor a carbon tax and reduced taxes for the lower paid workers.
I think that Toyota deserves some credit for bringing out the HEV Prius in the late 1990s but by the early 2010s, it should have been clear that their time was past. More recently, Toyota has been lobbying the US Congress to prevent California et. al from having a 2035 deadline on selling ICEVs. Apparently they thought that they could continues selling ICEVs into the 2050s. Toyota made a bad bet and now they have to live with it.
If you do not think that the Mirai fuel cell vehicles are bound for an early demise in the scrap yard, look up the prices on used ones. The new price is $50K to well over $60K but a lightly used one (under 20K miles) can be had for about $16K. If Toyota would do the right thing, they would at least offer to buy them back.
Posted by: sd | 01 November 2021 at 02:10 PM
sd you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
Toyota is the clear driver of electrification of vehicles around the world for the last 20 years. Tesla is playing catch up. BEV's are not the end all be all.
Toyota will absolutely crush Tesla, like they are crushing GM currently, in the near future.
Posted by: Itraveltime | 01 November 2021 at 08:44 PM
@ Itraveltime:
WTH have you been smoking.
Posted by: yoatmon | 02 November 2021 at 04:33 AM
"@ Itraveltime:
WTH have you been smoking."
Maybe he is just time traveling to an alternative universe:)
Posted by: sd | 02 November 2021 at 05:47 AM
@Traveltime: Tesla is led by an exceptional visionary, like him or not. Toyota and other conventional companies are not, and they therefore won't achieve the standout vehicles they need to, in order to gain a meaningful foothold.
Toyota is very late to the BEV game and was also very slow to adopt Lithium and to create a PHEV. They also can't style a car- at all. The Prius Prime is downright ugly- and I own one.
The only thing I've ever liked about Toyota is their reliability and low cost of ownership.
Honda built the most efficient HEV 20 years ago, and at 60 mpg it has yet to be beat. That should embarrass every car maker.
Posted by: Tim Jonson | 02 November 2021 at 05:10 PM