The battery electric Toyota bZ4X will be in Japanese showrooms starting the 12th of May 2022.
After years of sitting on the fence, Toyota are finally taking their biggest step into battery electric power. The company will be selling their first all-electric vehicle, the bZ4X by mid-May. The bZ4X was co-developed with Subaru, who call their very identical version the Solterra.
Key highlights of the Toyota bZ4X include superior power efficiency of 128 Watt hours per kilometer, a range of 559km and battery capacity retention of 90% even after 10 years.
The Toyota bZ4X sits on the e-TNGA platform and features Toyota Safety Sense for optimum crash prevention and protection for occupants and the battery. To help customers achieve carbon neutrality, the vehicles will be available to lease. This allows Toyota to close the loop with regards to older batteries that become impractical to use in the car. The leasing fees include Toyota’s connected services. Again, Toyota claims that their bZ4X batteries will work for 10 years with minimal degradation.
Here’s the press release with information on Toyota’s CO2 reduction efforts and sales plans in Japan.
PRESS RELEASE
Contributing to the Reduction of CO2 Emissions Through a Variety of Options
Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) is striving to resolve various issues to realize a sustainable society, with the aim of passing down this beautiful Earth, our home planet, to future generations. Among these issues, reducing CO2 emissions is an urgent, global-scale challenge, and Toyota is taking measures to achieve carbon neutrality (CN) by 2050 and reduce CO2with products that are easy to use and highly appealing.
Toyota’s fundamental approach is to provide a practical and sustainable means of transportation. Therefore, Toyota is developing a full lineup of electrified vehicles comprising of HEVs, PHEVs, BEVs, and FCEVs. Toyota plans to prepare a variety of vehicle options that customers will want to drive and choose in the hopes of contributing to the reduction of CO2emissions based on the policies and the spread of renewable energy in each region. Toyota will work to promote the proliferation of BEVs based on this approach. Regarding the bZ4X, Toyota will begin sales of the model globally as an option to promote CN, while considering market situations such as in North America, Europe, and China.
Sales Plan in Japan
In Japan, all vehicles will be leased to eliminate customer concerns regarding BEVs, while implementing battery management for all vehicles to promote the 3Rs (Rebuild, Reuse, Recycle) of batteries. The bZ4X will be made available to individual customers through KINTO subscription services with the aim of enabling use for extended periods with peace of mind and the development of customer-oriented services. For corporate customers, the vehicles will be leased from Toyota Rent-a-Lease Dealers nationwide and the Toyota Mobility Services Corporation (Tokyo region).
In Japan, Toyota will commence the first phase by accepting applications for the first 3,000 units on May 12 and anticipates a second phase of applications in early autumn. A total of 5,000 units for production and sales are planned for the first year.
In addition, Toyota will respond to developments in charging infrastructure. Toyota plans to install rapid chargers at all dealers in Japan by 2025, with initial plans to install rapid chargers mainly in urban areas where demand is high for BEVs.
In this way, with the introduction of the bZ4X in Japan, Toyota will take on the challenge of BEV sales contributing to CN and providing peace of mind regarding BEVs.
