BUZZ LIGHTYEAR

Toyota’s oddly-named electric car offers a taste of the brand’s electric future

For a company that has led the way with hybrid technology for more than two decades, it’s taken Toyota an eternity to get an electric car in the country. For now, there’s only one, the bZ4X – and I’m driving it on a short private track near the company’s Centre of Excellence in Melbourne.

It’s been delayed more than a year but is finally due in dealerships late in the year – albeit as a yet-to-be-revealed updated model.

We’ve been given a taste of the car that’s been available overseas since 2022, although exactly what will be changed as part of the facelift is not known.

My drive is brief, limited to a few laps of the short, flat track that is a long way removed from the thrust of peak hour or the unexpected ups and downs of an Australian country road. But it’s enough to get a peek inside the imminent EV onslaught from the country’s top-selling brand. Toyota has promised three EVs by the end of 2026, the RAV4-sized bZ4X being the first. The company is planning for half its sales to be hybrid or electric in 2025.

Overseas the bZ4X is offered in singlemotor, front-wheel drive variants as well as dual-motor all-wheel drives. Pricing starts at about that of a Tesla Model Y – its prime rival which would suggest something like $75,000 here. A RAV4 Hybrid with similar equipment is about $20,000 less. Toyota Australia sales and marketing chief Sean Hanley has warned it “will not be a cheap car”. The one I’m driving is the more powerful dual-motor version that is loaded with equipment, including 20-inch wheels. It’s likely the price of that variant could drift to something closer to $90,000.

So expectations are appropriately high when sliding into the snug driver’s seat. It doesn’t disappoint on first glance. The stylish exterior is backed up by an upmarket cabin.

Perforated leather seats and shiny black panelling is broken up by some interesting modern materials and a Peugeot-like instrument cluster that peeks above the steering wheel. It was tricky to get right, with the lower portion of the display covered by the top of the wheel.

A floating centre console caters for bags and other odds and ends, keeping the centre console clean. There is no glovebox, though. And those in the rear have their feet relatively high due to the battery pack beneath the floor.

Getting under way involves lifting the rotary drive selector and spinning it to engage forward or reverse. Like all EVs, the bZ4X wafts away effortlessly. Stamp on the accelerator and there’s a more enthusiastic surge as the two 80kW electric motors deliver a combined 160kW and 337Nm. By EV standards it’s acceptable but a long way from class leaders; Tesla, Kia and Hyundai for now hold the performance high ground over the bZ4X. That goes for charging, too. The bZ4X can AC charge at up to 6.6kW, but the updated model will increase that to 11kW. So a full charge of the 71.4kWh battery (with a usable capacity of 64kWh) should take something like six hours.

Public DC charging can be done at up to 150kW, for a 10-80 per cent charge in about 30 minutes. The claimed WLTP range is 461km. Arguably the most compelling part of the bZ4X is its warranty. Toyota says it is “targeting” that the battery will have at least 90 per cent of its original capacity after 10 years of use. However, the warranty overseas (which is expected to be carried over to Australia) only guarantees 70 per cent of that original capacity.

Either way, it beats all rivals, none of which surpass eight years for battery protection.

So despite the futuristic air, on first glance the bZ4X appears to be a conservative take on a mid-sized EV that plays to the Toyota strengths. That could appeal to those who want the fussfree peace of mind of owning a Toyota.

Those wanting a high-tech ground breaker may be left a tad cooler. Of course, the version we get later this year could provide updates to sway that view.