In the wave of new energy, in the market of intelligent electric vehicles, how to evaluate the performance of Toyota is a more difficult problem than evaluating new car manufacturers.
There are singing toyotas, saying that TA has no determination to electrify, but since the first generation of Prius in 1997, Toyota has been deeply engaged in the field of hybrid power for 25 years, and it is one of the few car companies that can control the motor, inverter chip, and electronic control strategy in its own hands.
It is also said that Toyota has hesitated in the pure electric transformation, and it is indeed true from the perspective of the speed of the model layout.
Finally, in April 2022, the bZ4X, which was born out of the past fuel vehicle and built on a new pure electric platform, came.
How to evaluate this model, has Toyota made up its mind to build a pure electric SUV model? After watching this car, I think that "good food is not afraid of late".
Beyond ZERO, "Beyond Zero Emissions"
bZ, which is the exclusive name of Toyota's pure electric model, Toyota also hopes to achieve the value of "beyond zero emissions" on the BEV pure electric model, beyond ZERO.
The number "4" represents the body size, which belongs to the intermediate level, the last letter "X" represents the SUV, the bZ series is the product of toyota BEV pure electric platform, the first is the bZ4X.
It should be known that at the end of last year, Toyota directly released 16 electric vehicles in one go, and Toyota also plans to build a number of electric vehicles based on the e-TNGA architecture by 2025, and the new cars will be named in the way of bZ+ numbers.
e-TNGA pure electric platform built
Bring a full evolution of the product
In the era of fuel vehicles, Toyota proposed the concept of TNGA architecture, and around this architecture showed a new car manufacturing concept and methodology - based on making better cars in a more efficient way, improving and evolving every component that determines the basic performance of the car from scratch, and fundamentally realizing a comprehensive innovation of the automobile production mechanism.
In the era of electric vehicles, the concept of e-TNGA car manufacturing has also been retained, and it should be noted here that although they are the word TNGA, the two are only homologous in the concept of car building, and they are completely different at the mechanical level.
e-TNGA as a pure electric exclusive architecture, the length, width and height of the vehicle, wheelbase, front and rear suspension length can be set by themselves, so it will also be on the basis of modularity of different sizes of the model platform division, large vehicles with high power motors and larger capacity battery pack, smaller size of the car is the opposite.
Compatible with sedans to SUVs and even MPVs and pickups. bZ4X is based on a pure electric exclusive architecture, and the product power has made a qualitative leap compared with the past.
Battery-centric design for better safety
Taking bZ4X as an example, the design of the vehicle at the beginning is to take the battery system as the core, and the battery is embedded in the bottom of the car as a whole, which can not only improve the torsional stiffness of the whole vehicle, reduce the center of gravity of the vehicle, but also further improve the protection of the body for the battery system.
Compared with the general electric vehicle, Toyota bZ4X has two reinforcements in front of the battery system, plus the side beams on both sides of the chassis, which is equivalent to having four side beams bearing the impact force caused by 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.
Longer wheelbases and shorter front and rear overhangs result in better space utilization
In the past, in the era of oil trucks, in order to make way for the engine and gearbox, the front cabin had to be enlarged, and the location of the firewall was also restricted in order to ensure safety.
In the tram era, the electric motor with greater power density replaced the engine, which meant that the front and rear suspensions no longer needed so much position, which was the case with the bZ4X built on a pure electric architecture.
Battery-centric redesign, so that the vehicle has a longer wheelbase and shorter front and rear overhang, the vehicle size of 4690 * 1860 * 1650mm, but the wheelbase reached 2850mm, the shaft length ratio far exceeds the oil car, and even better than many pure electric models of the same level. For consumers, excellent space utilization also leads to a more comfortable ride.
Not only that, the design based on the integration of the battery body also makes the gap between the battery system and the body smaller, and finally makes the height of the rear platform of the bZ4X can also be reasonably controlled, and there will be no feeling of "sitting on a small bench" in the rear of many electric vehicles.
Ningde era battery cell, 90% capacity retention rate of long life
Buy pure electric vehicles, what everyone is most concerned about, there is no doubt that the battery system, who uses the home core, how the life performance, these are closely related to the residual value of the follow-up car or even the second-hand car.
The battery cell supplier of bZ4X is CATL Ningde Era, the entire battery pack carries 72.8kWh of power, and clTC has a maximum endurance of 615km. According to gossip, catheart times has opened a separate production line for Toyota to produce batteries.
The material ratio of the battery cell is also developed around the long life, the single cell simulates the cycle calculation of the charge and discharge state under the daily car scene, and the overall development goal is to develop around the capacity retention rate of 90% in 10 years, to ensure the service life of the battery, and also to ensure the second-hand residual value rate of the whole vehicle.
Efficient electric drive system for ultra-low energy consumption
Compared with other models on the market, bZ4X to 72.8kWh that is, to achieve 615km of working life, in which the high-efficiency electric drive system is indispensable, bZ4X equipped with a three-in-one electric drive system, integration is only one aspect, to know that Toyota is one of the few with self-developed electric drive and power chip OEMs, based on the past in the HEV, FCEV for the motor control strategy of the data accumulation, bZ4X finally achieved 11.6kWh / 100km ultra-low power consumption.
What kind of off-road capabilities should an electric SUV have?
In addition to the high efficiency of the electric drive system, the bZ4X has also evolved in terms of four-wheel drive systems as a pure electric SUV model, as well as a model jointly developed by Toyota and SUBARRU.
The vehicle not only has an ultra-small turning radius of 5.6m, but also is equipped with X-MODE four-wheel drive off-road assistance mode. Especially on non-paved roads, the motor output characteristics are actively adjusted according to the road surface conditions, tire adhesion, etc.
It can achieve unlimited torque distribution in front and rear, combined with multiple driving mode options and faster response speed, to fully meet the needs of different road conditions and driving styles.
This time, the bZ4X brings a new Chi Heng Security Assist Package
In addition to the three-electric system, the bZ4X is also equipped with a number of advanced technologies adopted by Toyota for the first time, including the racer steering wheel and steer-by-wire system, and Toyota is actively exploring the introduction of OMG (One Motion Grip) driving control kits into the Chinese market.
The newly upgraded TOYOTA Safety Sense security assistance set, equipped with a wider FOV camera and millimeter wave radar, the perception range is further improved, and the computing power of the auxiliary driving chip is synchronously improved, from perception to planning control, it is more intelligent and intelligent, compared with the past TSS system, the supported functions will be more abundant.
What do you think the final price of bZ4X in China is?
FAW Toyota / GAC Toyota bZ4X officially opened pre-sale, and the pre-sale range after subsidies was 220-30.0 million yuan. At present, the price of bZ4X in Europe is 41950-51550 pounds (about 34.80-42.76 million yuan), while the price of the model in the Japanese market may be 6 million yen (about 307,200 yuan), if compared with the overseas price, the pre-price of bZ4X in China is still sincere, and when it is officially launched, I believe it will give consumers a surprise.