In recent times, the continuous rise in fuel prices has indirectly promoted the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market, and electric vehicles with extremely low travel costs have gradually become the choice of more people. Toyota, as the leader of the traditional automobile era, is well aware of the difficulty of "elephant turning", actively chooses to embrace change, and in 2020, it has established a joint venture with BYD, a leading domestic new energy automobile company, to establish a pure electric vehicle research and development company, and it is expected that the two sides will launch exclusive car brands in the future. In a strategic sense, the new brands established by Toyota and BYD are even more important than Lexus!
Officially, the first bZ4X of the TOYOTA bZ series will be launched on April 28, and we will meet in the domestic market. This pioneering work of the Toyota era of pure electricity subverts our inherent impression of Toyota cars from the appearance, and the name of the bZ4X also gives it a "different" meaning. For such a "strange" Toyota car, it is most appropriate for us to understand it from the name.
We can understand from Toyota officials that the "bZ" of Toyota bZ4X (parameter 丨 picture) is the acronym of "beyond ZERO", representing the brand vision of "beyond zero emissions". However, it is obviously more understandable to go with the flow of customs in the domestic market and use Chinese to explain it. So what does the "bZ" of the Toyota bZ4X mean?
I. "bZ" = "Treasure"
1. Treasure control
Speaking of control, it seems that this is a thing that has nothing to do with electric vehicles, indeed, in this era of intelligent leadership, various brands are accustomed to letting electric vehicles "drive" by themselves, and users only need to hold the steering wheel in their hands and sit smoothly to the destination. Although it is easier, the joy of handling the car is being thrown farther and farther away.
There is no shortage of sober people in the world. Some brands will put on "brand names" for their products, and will invite well-known teams to adjust the suspension and chassis, but it looks more like a selling point.
Toyota bZ4X chose to start with the "bone". First of all, it uses a BEV-exclusive platform based on e-TNGA. The platform adopts an integrated electric transaxle design in the structure, and is also equipped with a thin large-capacity battery pack, which is aimed at reducing the center of gravity of the vehicle and making the body posture more stable.
With the hardware foundation, the Toyota bZ4X is equipped with X-MODE four-wheel drive off-road assist mode and Grip-Control intelligent creep mode in the control. In layman's terms, the former can be understood as the strongest four-wheel drive mode of Toyota bZ4X, which can make the vehicle fully exert the performance of the four-wheel drive system and improve the passability, and the latter can control the torque distribution of the front and rear wheels of the vehicle, so as to ensure that the vehicle has sufficient grip on the road, sand, mud and other road conditions, giving us more confidence when driving. In this way, places that could not be reached by electric vehicles in the past can now be reached.
Not only that, toyota bZ4X will also launch OMG driving control kits in the future. What's interesting is that in front of you is an unusual racer steering wheel, connected to a steering-by-wire system that abandons the traditional mechanical steering mechanism and uses purely electronically controlled steering, resulting in a steering wheel rotation angle of ± 150°. Therefore, we can complete the steering operation without changing hands and playing wheels.
Imagine that it is much easier to lightly tap the steering wheel to complete lane changes, steering, U-turns, etc. And the fun of this Formula-like handling feel is unmatched by ordinary models.
2. Treasure space
I don't know if you have found that electric vehicles are paying more and more attention to "concave shape", in order to give consumers a sense of futurism, there are even many cases of direct mass production of concept cars, such as Toyota bZ4X. But the design of the concept car is more "imaginative", and the space will not take into account too much of the actual experience of use, so how about the performance of the Toyota bZ4X?
First report a wave of basic parameters, Toyota bZ4X length, width and height are 4650/1860/1650mm, and the wheelbase reaches 2850mm (Japanese model parameters). Its 2850mm wheelbase is a very exaggerated statistic compared to its class, as it aligns with the wheelbase of the land cruiser, the representative of the midsize SUV.
The most intuitive benefit of the large wheelbase is the large space, the Toyota bZ4X has a rear longitudinal space of 1000mm, two standard adults sit in it, and the knee is more than two fists away from the front seat backrest. And the head space in the rear is not affected by the Toyota bZ4X sneakback roof, while the large open sunroof also brings a good sense of transparency. The overall sense of space experience is comparable to that of a D-Class sedan.
SECOND, "bZ" = "guarantee"
1. Safety and security
In recent years, the frequent accidents of electric vehicles have made many consumers very worried about whether their safety is reliable. Is the Toyota bZ4X safe and reliable as a new pure electric product? In fact, we can also understand it from the hardware and software level.
First of all, the hardware level is about the body structure of Toyota bZ4X, and its main frame parts are made of hot stamped materials and high-strength steel plates, which ensures the rigidity of the body and leaves sufficient living space for the members of the car in the event of an accident. It is worth mentioning that compared with the general electric vehicle, Toyota bZ4X has set up two reinforcements in front of the battery tank, plus the side beams on both sides of the chassis, which is equivalent to having four side beams bearing the impact of the accident, thereby better dispersing the impact load, reducing the intrusion of the body structure into the crew compartment, and ensuring the safety of the members.
In addition, the front of the Toyota bZ4X body structure is also designed with two cross-sectional components, which can effectively disperse the impact force to both sides when colliding with the vehicle in front, thereby reducing the damage to the vehicle and the other vehicle.
Secondly, the software level is that the Toyota bZ4X is equipped with the latest "Toyota Safety Sense Intelligent Driver Assistance System", which is the same level as the latest Lexus NX, which includes a number of safety assistance configurations such as pre-collision safety system, dynamic radar cruise control system, lane departure warning system, etc. Compared with the previous generation, it expands the detection range of millimeter-wave radar and monocular cameras, making the vehicle's perception of the surrounding situation stronger, so as to better ensure the safety of driving.
2. Battery life is guaranteed
Since the birth of electric vehicles, battery life has always been the primary problem that various brands are trying to solve. Toyota bZ4X is equipped with a capacity of 71.4kWh battery pack, WLTC cruising range of about 500km (Japanese model), although equipped with fast charging technology can be charged to 80% in 30 minutes, but compared to the current hot models on the market is still not enough to see.
So how to ensure battery life? Unlike the general brand to obtain long battery life by increasing the battery capacity, toyota bZ4X is equipped with an efficient solar charging dome on the roof, based on the annual driving range of 10,000 kilometers, 1800km per year through solar power generation, accounting for 18% of the total mileage. In fact, this part of the endurance is kneaded in the daily mileage, which will make the performance range of the table more real and reliable, and will not be discounted. Moreover, in the wild, there is no need to "fear" that you can't find a charging pile, and you can even use this part of the electricity for electrical appliances, and you don't have to bring a heavy large mobile power supply when you go out camping, and with the Toyota bZ4X "generator", camping will be more secure.
Third, "bZ" = "preservation of value"
When it comes to the retention rate of electric vehicles, I believe that most of the friends who have electric vehicles in their hands are very heartbroken. Because the battery of electric vehicles is the same as that of mobile phone batteries, with the increase of the number of uses, the capacity will gradually decay, and the cost of replacing the battery is extremely high, so it also leads to the tragic retention rate of electric vehicles.
For the Toyota bZ4X, I don't think there's anything to worry about. Why?
First of all, according to the 2021 China Automobile Retention Rate Report released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus occupied the second and first positions in the list of Japanese brands, respectively, with a three-year retention rate of 83.24% and 86.75% respectively. This shows that toyota's models are very highly recognized in the market, which is the retention rate advantage given by the market to Toyota bZ4X.
Secondly, Toyota has a 25-year development history in the field of new energy, and its profound technology accumulation has given Toyota bZ4X a strong technical endorsement. In the battery that most affects the retention rate, its development target value is that after 10 years of use, the battery capacity retention rate can still reach 90%. So even if you want to sell in the later stage, the retention rate of this car will not be affected by too much battery capacity.
summary:
Toyota bZ4X as Toyota's first answer sheet in the field of pure electricity is not childish, its safety configuration, body structure design are very mature, and on this basis also added to the "black technology" such as steer-by-wire and solar roof. As a latecomer, it has achieved excellence, and at the moment when the domestic electric vehicle is seriously involved, perhaps it will be a vane for the future development of the automotive industry.