Toyota BZ4X 20,000km Update and Numbers

[RRocket]

It's been just over 5 months and 21,000km since I've owned the BZ4X. So here's the update with some numbers and data for people who like this sort of thing! Grab a coffee!

As you can see by the mileage, we're using it for as much commuting as possible (this was also the case with the Prius). I drive IQ to work and serve as chauffeur for her. This results in 144km daily for her commute (72km roundtrip x2 daily). My job has me using, at most, 100km to/from whatever locations I'm servicing that day; I don't work everyday. So 250km (or less) of the 350km-ish summer range leaves plenty in reserve in the days we both work. This would be iffy in the winter with the reduced 275km (or so) range. On those winter days, I "top up" before I go to work.  Otherwise, I generally charge at home every other day or so.  Sometimes longer because she might drive herself to work in her Audi, we might use the Porsche, etc Haven't had to charge outside of the home yet, though I have tested several public chargers. Toyota had a TSB to ensure all BZ4X drivers received an adapter for Tesla Superchargers. So I tested that, too.  Car has Living Room Mode which keeps infotainment and climate active while charging..the screen shows how much power is going in vs out in this mode. I still firmly believe you need to be a home owner for an EV to make real, practical, sense.

I find the car to be very competent, very quiet, easy to drive and live with. Performance is just fine, though it won't light your hair on fire. It IS very brisk from stops and low speed though, so squirting in and out of traffic is easy. Tows our boat fine. Doesn't seem to have any sway/lean or porpoising I often notice in SUVs. I'm guessing battery in floor is reason for this. Handling is very competent and good. Rides really nice. Shockingly so considering it's on 20s. No harshness. Feels much more like a wagon. Somewhat looks like a wagon with the fastback. Especially airy feeling when you have the full length sun shade open. Nothing is worn yet on the inside. Drivers window control cluster are not completely lit up at night like they were in the Prius. An irritating oversight. I wish I had the glossy painted fender flares instead of the plastic ones. Wish it had memory seats. No issues whatsoever with the "look over" steering wheel. Don't miss not having a glove box.

ALL of the advanced tech in the vehicle operates as it should. And has all worked flawless for me. Blind spot, pedestrian and proximity monitors all work as expected. The low speed proximity sensors with traffic alert took some getting used to. You'd hear the warning, but it's just a general warning so you have no idea if coming from front, side, back. A quick glance to the huge screen shows the direction of the "threat". And it can "see" a looong way. I'd be in protected parking lots backing up and it could see (and warm) about traffic from the street quite some safe distance away.

The lane keep assist works great and will drive around even fairly tight bends hands free. The self parking works perfectly and I freely admit to using it more than I thought I would!! It's slick. Although it has loads of tech, it's all fairly easy and approachable IMO. At least the useable basics are IMO. Android Auto both wired and un wired seem to work fine. JBL Premium Audio is "OK". I miss Mark Levinson!!

On the HVAC side the radiant heaters absolutely work! You feel a warm glow on your thighs that's noticeable. This is a neat feature. Heated wheel gets plenty hot. Climate Concierge works fine for us. Set and forget. Automatically heats or cools, warns/cools seats as needed, etc etc Works fine...though IQ frequently overrides the heated seat function so it's always superfire hot when on.

Car doesn't have true one pedal driving mode. Regeneration Boost will slow the car down to 6km/h..but you still have to finish the braking. I don't particularly care TBH. Brake Hold works perfectly. Active cruise control works perfectly. Within the cruise options you can set the car to automatically slow during tighter bends. You can control how briskly the car accelerates once you hit "Resume" or based on traffic in front during Active Cruise. And so it goes for pretty much every single aspect of the vehicle driving tech. You can set it to full on Nanny State where the vehicle behaves as if the world is ending to completely OFF. So any auto journo who complains about this stuff is because they didn't RFM. That being said, with all the safety tech turned on, you'd REALLY have to be goofing off or utterly not paying attention to get into an accident with this IMO.

Has been reliable except for 2 issues. The rear motor was fixed under warranty. Most recently, am HVAC 3 way valve stopped working. Most irritatingly, it set off every visible alarm in the car. Even the "EV Malfunction, see dealer" alarm. Imagine in an ICE car you get an "Engine malfunction, see dealer" message because of an AC fault? Never. So it's truly preposterous here. Part was $600-$900 and required a couple hours of labor. All in cost $1000. Called Toyota to complain since car only has 67k but they told me to hit the road. Not impressed.

Despite that, I'm pleased overall with it..This is a nice vehicle IMO. Super competent in the snow too (the AWD and X-ray mode is a story unto itself). I do wonder about longevity. Due to the cost of batteries/motors, I wonder how many we'll see with 250k+ on them.on a regular basis?

Car will need tires soon. I've budgeted $2k for all weather tires. The new Goodyears are high on the list...otherwise it will definitely be Vreds.

Alright, here's some numbers.

Distance traveled: 21,000km
Electricity used:  3600 kWh
kWh per 100km  :   17.14 kWh/100km
L/100km equivalent: 1.92L/100km

Cost of electricity*:  .11 kWh
Cost to charge car:     -$396.00
EV Charging rebate:     +$400

Electricity costs are calculated using the ENTIRE bill (delivery fees, transmission fees, debt retirement fee, taxes, etc) divided by kWh used. This figure is our average kWh cost over 5 months. We are on the Ultra Low Overnight plan which is .049 (4.9 cents) per kWh. So the bulk of charging is done between those hours.

[Tortoise]

Thanks for the update!

Cost of electricity*:  .11 kWh
Cost to charge car:     -$396.00
EV Charging rebate:     +$400

Does this mean you've actually made money charging it? Wild.

I kinda like these ugly ducklings. They are a pretty decent value all things considered, and the range would be more than sufficient for our daily/weekend use. I could see replacing the Golf with one in a few years.

[Bridgecity]

Nice report.  What is the total kms on the vehicle?  Or did I miss that somewhere?

[RRocket]

Nice report.  What is the total kms on the vehicle?  Or did I miss that somewhere?

Total kms is 69k now.

[RRocket]

Thanks for the update!

Cost of electricity*:  .11 kWh
Cost to charge car:     -$396.00
EV Charging rebate:     +$400

Does this mean you've actually made money charging it? Wild.

I kinda like these ugly ducklings. They are a pretty decent value all things considered, and the range would be more than sufficient for our daily/weekend use. I could see replacing the Golf with one in a few years.

Yes, we get 10 cents per kWh for charging. There's a few similar programs. https://www.pionpowertech.com/green-miles


And yes, I agree. I got a lot of bang for my buck here! Don't think I could have done much better for the price I paid considering year, mileage and tech/options.

[GreatBigAbyss]

So, are you happy with it now?   

I remember you being less than impressed with the Bz when you sold the Prius to me.  It seems like the car is working out for you now. 

[dkazzed]

Nice report. I'm just really curious about this radiant heater now.

[RRocket]

Nice report. I'm just really curious about this radiant heater now.

Every car should have them. Just a nice glow of heat on the thighs. Since electric, they start throwing heat instantly.

Heated wheel+ heated seats+ radiant heat means you're petty cozy rather quickly.

[RRocket]

So, are you happy with it now?   

I remember you being less than impressed with the Bz when you sold the Prius to me.  It seems like the car is working out for you now. 

I still think the Prius is the "better" car. Like there's no reason, even financially, you couldn't keep a Prius going forever.

There is no sense of this with the BZ.

Sure, I like it. It's a  "upgrade" of the Prius in most ways.

Its just not a forever car like a Prius could be.

[Johnnymac]

Well it sounds like you are certainly making good use of it and trying to find all the positives of ownership.  Sure there's some bumps in the road and no car is perfect but I do think it's doing everything you want well and efficiently.

Something I remember from years ago, back when the tsunami hit in Japan, Nissan did something with their Leaf where owners could use it as a backup power generator for their homes.  Just wondering if that's something at many EV's adopted over the years?

[dkazzed]

Some vehicles have V2L (vehicle to load) either standard or available in the upper trims. That provides a simple 1800W outlet. I've been contemplating finding ways to run my furnace either off my vehicle or my EcoFlow, but not a high priority given we've had two known power outages in the last 8 years.

V2H (vehicle to home), V2G (vehicle to grid) and V2V (vehicle to vehicle) are emerging and rare at the moment. I don't exactly know what the benefits are but one is designed to better integrate to the home and the other basically turning the vehicle into grid energy storage. Then V2V which allows a donor car to charge a stranded car, typically at A/C rates of 6.6 kW although Chinese car Zeekr 007 supports 60 kW DC V2V.