Toyota bZ4X: we could see Toyota's first electric car for a large market
By 2030, Toyota plans to have 80% of its sales come from "electrified vehicles": hybrids, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicles (EVs). The bZ4X will pave the way for this latest segment for Toyota.
Toyota, one of the world's largest automakers, has pioneered the use of hybrid vehicles. (Remember when the coolest thing was having a Prius?). In recent years, the Japanese manufacturer has seen other industry players — innovators like Tesla and established names like Volkswagen or Ford — get ahead of it in electric vehicle (EV) launches. But the automaker wants to catch up with the Toyota bZ4X.
The Toyota bZ4X first appeared as a prototype electric vehicle, but it is already in production and will go on sale at US dealerships in mid-2022. There is no release date, price, or specifications for the Bz4x yet, but Siempre Auto was able to watch this electric vehicle and “ride it”. » on it - without being able to drive it - at a reduced speed in a parking lot in southern California, where Toyota hosted a trade press event, promisingly titled E-Volution.
And the fact is that Toyota is immersed in the "electronic evolution" towards a future that is yes or yes going through electrification, a concept that they understand (like most of the industry, yes) that includes hybrid cars, regardless of whether they are they are pluggable. or not. With this definition, Toyota expects that by 2030, 80% of its sales will come from "electrified vehicles": hybrids, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen cells and electric vehicles. Of these, he expects pure electric to account for 20%. Considering that Toyota sells about 10 million vehicles a year, that means it expects to sell 2 million electric vehicles by 2030.
To do this, Toyota must first build its fleet of EVs (electric vehicles), as there are none on the market yet. The first will be the Toyota bZ4X. They are also working on next-generation lithium batteries with a $13,500 billion investment, of which $3,400 billion will be in the US.
What do we know about Toyota bZ4X
Toyota's first electric vehicle sold to the general public will have a range of 250 miles on a single charge. The Toyota bZ4X battery is expected to maintain a charge capacity of 90% after 10 years of operation.
Basically, that's all we officially know about the bZ4X, plus it will be available "in mid-2022". Although in the video (above) we discuss some of the rumors circulating in the industry.
In our brief contact with the Toyota bZ4X, we were able to appreciate some of the details: it's obviously a very quiet car, like all electric cars, but it does have a distinctive sound. It's an SUV very similar in size to the Toyota RAV4, spacious in both rows of seats, with a sunroof, different wheel options, and a decent amount of luggage space.
The exterior design is not particularly striking and does not differ much from a modern SUV. For example, it doesn't try to hide the door handles we see on many recent EVs. But the cabin itself is clean and tech-savvy, with a large touchscreen in the center console giving access to a host of vehicle controls, not just entertainment and navigation, as cars in this segment are supposed to.
With the bZ4X, Toyota hopes to gain a foothold in the hot mid-size SUV market, in which it already sells about 450 RAV4s a year. In addition, as has been seen with other automakers, electric vehicles are attracting new buyers for the brand, so the bZX could be a new customer acquisition bid for Toyota.
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