Photo: Toyota
Toyota bZ4X sales have been affected by a recent recall after it was discovered that the wheels might fall off. After putting this behind, Toyota restarted deliveries, but the first tests in Norway showed disappointing range results.
The Toyota bZ4X was one of the most anticipated EV launches on both sides of the Atlantic, not least because it marked a watershed moment for Toyota’s EV revolution. But the first electric model from the Japanese brand, which has become synonymous with quality and durability, has disappointed wildly. Reports of wheel bolts becoming loose and wheels falling off started to pour in, and Toyota had to recall the bZ4X worldwide just months after the sales began.
One might say, well, it happens, but what made this recall really embarrassing for Toyota was that it took a long time to find a solution. In the meantime, production has been halted, and Toyota had to take extraordinary measures to appease affected owners, including paying for rentals and even buying back the cars. Alas, Toyota finally managed to put this in the rearview mirror, and sales restarted, which made the customers in Norway rejoice.
The journalists from Elbil24 were among the first to have the chance to put the electric crossover through its paces, but what they found about the bZ4X’s range was utterly disappointing. Digging deeper, the blokes at Elbil24 found out that not only is bZ4X eating into the battery faster than expected, but the battery itself has a smaller capacity than advertised. The intriguing results prompted them to re-run all the tests to ensure there were no mistakes, and Toyota also reached out to them to offer a point of view.
Toyota advertised the bZ4X with a 71.4-kWh battery, but, according to Elbil24, they did not want to clarify whether this is the gross or usable capacity. After many back-and-forth attempts to squeeze out the juicy details from Toyota engineers, the journalists found out that the 71.4-kWh is actually the gross capacity. However, there was still no information about the battery’s usable capacity. Thankfully, this is a straightforward process that resulted in a 62-kWh usable capacity on both tests.
This leaves a huge gap between the gross and the net capacity. Nevertheless, after running the range tests, this turned out to be a problem. Even before starting the tests, a 100% charge resulted in the board computer estimating 407 km (253 miles) of range, below the 470 km (292 km) advertised according to the European WLTP cycle for the dual-motor all-wheel-drive version of the bZ4X. Before even starting, the range dropped to 297 km (185 miles) when the tester set the cabin temperature to 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit).
The computer would go back to the 407 km estimate only when the HVAC system was switched off completely. With the ECO function activated, the estimate was 314 km (195 miles). The test results came pretty close to this value at 307 km (191 miles). This is significantly less than the communicated range of 470 km, so the testers thought they were doing something wrong. Hence the second test round. On their second try, the range increased to 318 km (198 miles), which they attributed to the dry roads and clear weather as opposed to rainy conditions during the first test.
Following the disappointing results of the tests, Toyota contacted Elbil24 with an official point of view. According to the letter, Toyota reserves an average of 8.2% battery capacity when the onboard computer indicates 0% capacity left. This allows Toyota to offer exceptional durability for the Li-Ion battery, with one million kilometers (621k miles) and ten years warranty. If we do the math, 8.2% reserve means a usable capacity of 65.5 kWh, which is close to the 62 kWh found during charging. Toyota admits there are variations to the actual value depending on unspecified factors.
As for the range test results, Toyota only points to the factors that might affect the range. These include the use of the air conditioning system, regenerative braking, as well as ambient temperature. The Elbil24 journalists have written a detailed story about their testing procedure and existing conditions.
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the Comments section below.
One might say, well, it happens, but what made this recall really embarrassing for Toyota was that it took a long time to find a solution. In the meantime, production has been halted, and Toyota had to take extraordinary measures to appease affected owners, including paying for rentals and even buying back the cars. Alas, Toyota finally managed to put this in the rearview mirror, and sales restarted, which made the customers in Norway rejoice.
The journalists from Elbil24 were among the first to have the chance to put the electric crossover through its paces, but what they found about the bZ4X’s range was utterly disappointing. Digging deeper, the blokes at Elbil24 found out that not only is bZ4X eating into the battery faster than expected, but the battery itself has a smaller capacity than advertised. The intriguing results prompted them to re-run all the tests to ensure there were no mistakes, and Toyota also reached out to them to offer a point of view.
Toyota advertised the bZ4X with a 71.4-kWh battery, but, according to Elbil24, they did not want to clarify whether this is the gross or usable capacity. After many back-and-forth attempts to squeeze out the juicy details from Toyota engineers, the journalists found out that the 71.4-kWh is actually the gross capacity. However, there was still no information about the battery’s usable capacity. Thankfully, this is a straightforward process that resulted in a 62-kWh usable capacity on both tests.
This leaves a huge gap between the gross and the net capacity. Nevertheless, after running the range tests, this turned out to be a problem. Even before starting the tests, a 100% charge resulted in the board computer estimating 407 km (253 miles) of range, below the 470 km (292 km) advertised according to the European WLTP cycle for the dual-motor all-wheel-drive version of the bZ4X. Before even starting, the range dropped to 297 km (185 miles) when the tester set the cabin temperature to 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit).
The computer would go back to the 407 km estimate only when the HVAC system was switched off completely. With the ECO function activated, the estimate was 314 km (195 miles). The test results came pretty close to this value at 307 km (191 miles). This is significantly less than the communicated range of 470 km, so the testers thought they were doing something wrong. Hence the second test round. On their second try, the range increased to 318 km (198 miles), which they attributed to the dry roads and clear weather as opposed to rainy conditions during the first test.
Following the disappointing results of the tests, Toyota contacted Elbil24 with an official point of view. According to the letter, Toyota reserves an average of 8.2% battery capacity when the onboard computer indicates 0% capacity left. This allows Toyota to offer exceptional durability for the Li-Ion battery, with one million kilometers (621k miles) and ten years warranty. If we do the math, 8.2% reserve means a usable capacity of 65.5 kWh, which is close to the 62 kWh found during charging. Toyota admits there are variations to the actual value depending on unspecified factors.
As for the range test results, Toyota only points to the factors that might affect the range. These include the use of the air conditioning system, regenerative braking, as well as ambient temperature. The Elbil24 journalists have written a detailed story about their testing procedure and existing conditions.
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the Comments section below.
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