Nobody does testing procedures as well as Kyle. Thank you for the extra effort you put in to make sure these tests are as accurate as possible.

Really appreciate all you do Kyle to keep us informed about all things EV. We test drove a long range Model Y. It was very impressive and we will probably make the jump soon. I have a 12 year old Toyota ICE Highlander now and at 79 years old, I'm ready to make the move to EV. It seems to me that Tesla has by far the best DC charging infrastructure. They seem to make the most sense right now

Bjørn Nyland tested the new sw and talked at length about the improved DCFC throttling logic. It works on a point system and he called it “Punishment Points”. Pretty interesting once you know the logic, you can count “Punishment Points” in order to plan your trip. Still a ridiculous system but power users are starting to figure it out.

Another great effort and video. I've owned only Toyota vehicles for the past 40 years. Recently bought a GV60 and sold our 2010 RX350. Current trends at Toyota will probably end our future purchases of their vehicles. As a retired person in the late 50s, the GV60 fits our lifestyle perfectly. Our recent trip from Los Angeles to Yosemite, was the first of many EV adventures to come.

I really enjoy these test videos. Cuts through all the corporate bullshit.

Very good review. I have the Subaru version of this car (Solterra Limited) and love it, for the reasons you said while driving this car. The ride is great and it is very comfortable. Some people have commented that they don't like the display that is in front of the steering wheel, but for me it is one of my favorite things about the car. I knew going in that the range wasn't that great and the charging was slow. But for my lifestyle, charging at home is almost 100% of what I will be doing. I think the Limited version of the Solterra (Premium is the entry and Touring is the top trim) is just at the right price point. When I bought it (mid-May) it was about 5-7k less than either the cheapest AWD Model Y (they have since dropped in price) and the cheapest AWD Ioniq 5 or EV6. The only things close to it were the ID4 and Mach-E (which was nearly impossible to get close to where I live), and I liked the looks of the Solterra better than the ID4. So for me, it was the cheapest way to get into an AWD EV SUV, and I have had no regrets since buying it. Mine was also made later than the ones during the recall, so the battery problem hasn't been a factor for me.

Great review! Wish we had seen this sooner as we just bought a BZ4X last week. Nevertheless, we absolutely love the car. We knew that the range was a lot smaller compared to the other direct competitors out there, and that the charging may be a bit slower (?) but I wonder if there's a new update or will be a new update for that. For what it's worth, we got the car about $13,000 below MSRP. They applied the $7,500 credit in California so that's a win, and we got it for the invoice price from the dealer. So from a financial standpoint, it made sense, as the monthly payment was a lot cheaper (more than half) in comparison to a Tesla. With that said, the good thing is we don't travel far that often. When we do, it's like once every 3 months. I think this car is great for us given that I work from home most of the time, and when I'm at the office it's literally 8 miles away. The same for my fiance, her job is literally 8-10 miles away 3x a week. We're even using a level 1 at home (for now), and we're able to get the car at 90% the next morning. In regards to far drives, the good news is I love taking breaks (I have IBS - sorry for TMI), so I don't mind hanging out for a bit charging the car.

60-65 MPH is ideal for people willing to admit that energy resources are finite. A sane nation would end the 80 MPH speed limit. Too much fuel/juice is being wasted on impatience.

Nice video as always

Fantastic test by Kyle as usual. I feel sorry for the North American market and the CATL battery packs. The UK Spec AWD is Panasonic and is a superior experience. That DC charging to 100% at the star of the video was horrible. AC charging to 100% is much faster on the Panasonic pack. My average for June so far is 4.2miles/kWh with about 250miles range (usually with ECO on and AC off). I got the software update 3 weeks ago - the guessometer / climate control / AC is now more accurate and I think we they moved about 3% of reserve into the main battery. I should say that I rarely do motorway miles and that so far I'm loving the BZ4X experience.

The fact that the VW software is better than this car is really saying something.

Thanks, Kyle. Not too far off of EPA, which is really my standard for EVs at this point. Getting close to EPA Combined miles at 70 mph steady driving speeds should really be the minimum bar.

When GM has discontinued the Bolt, which put up arguably better numbers for about $25K, this is 100% DOA for anyone paying attention. A neighbor just bought a Nissan Ariya, so I guess there will always be a sucker out there though.

Love your crazy tests all facts…. NO BS…

My 2014 Tesla Model S P85D got 213.5mi last time I did a 70mph range test and charged from 0 - 100% in 1 hour and 54 minutes (with a broken louvre). Congrats Toyota, you're where Tesla was 9 years ago 🤣

Great info. Appreciate it

In the 80's, both Toyota and Honda had a 3 gallon "reserve" when the gas guage said dead empty. On those cars, it meant some 90 more miles at highway speed. (Toyota said this was because if the fuel ran that low, the pump might suck air from the tank, causing backfires and catalyst damage.) But still, they were building in a generous reserve past "empty".

Bjorn calculated 5 kWh hours available below a stated zero. He actually got less than 212 miles, but very close.

The Mach E driver is obviously an ex BMW driver. Judging by the way he parked

A few years ago you would never hear someone saying - glad I bought my Kia or Hyundai and not a Toyota - but not the case now. Our Ioniq 5 seems so much better in about every way, build, range, charging speed, software and power... I have already seen bz4x's showing up in carmax ads with under 2000 miles so people are giving them 2-3 months and saying nope...

Thanks for your coverage of these issues-good job! I’ve seen you use an OBD2 app for monitoring EV battery and charging system variables. Is either the OBD adapter or the app special with regard to EV monitoring? Please advise…

Thank you so much for this review of... that charger in Loveland. I'm visiting family there in August and since my folks don't have anything more than 120 in their garage I will need to use it a lot :p

I believe Leaf deg is primarily due to poor chemistry and no charge limit. My e-Golf has no active cooling, either, but I daily charge to 80% or 90% and after 5 years and 55,000 miles the pack has about 8% deg.

Keep in mind, Toyota is guaranteeing 90% capacity over 10 years. This is why the battery performance does not match some of the other competitors out there

I guess any time you can drive a bZ4X over 200 miles without a wheel falling off counts as a win.

Hey @OutofSpecReviews. Just read on InsideEVs that the 2024 BZ4X AWD models now charge at 150KW and have retuned charging software. Hoping you could do a review to see if this shows any improvement in previous poor showings.

As with heating, more efficient to direct more AC to the seats rather than the cabin.

Such a strange instrument cluster....

The overhead 360 camera fills in the parking lot under the car? That's a pretty cool feature! Watch at the 8:55 mark. 8:55

My R1T is similar with regard to GOM discrepancy between driver display and center display. The driver display, near as I can tell, is a range estimate based on what the Rivian *can* do (just a simple estimate based on overall range figures for a given mode and battery level) while the estimate in the NAV (during an active route/journey) is more accurate, and often at least 20% lower when doing the math than the driver display estimate (i.e., miles to destination + est miles remaining at destination is often well below the overall estimate range). I’m in the middle of a 2500 mile road trip in the R1T and this drives me nuts.

Eco climate probably turns on the seat cooler because it's more efficient to cool just your butt than it is to cool the whole cabin!

Oh my gosh - I knew from all the conversations that the charging scenarios for the Soltera/BZ4X twins was bad but, hold crap - that's just unbelievably poor

I can’t conceive why they are doing the same mistakes that manufacturers did previously with their first ev. It’s like they are in their bubble and not seeing what’s happening in the rest of the world. Amazing

I'm buying a Subaru Solterra in a few weeks and have been watching your content as the vehicles are nearly identical and there isn't as much content on the Solterra. I'm curious if you plan to do a cold weather and snow performance comparison between the two models.

Is it possible that eco mode is cooling the seats because that's more efficient than cooling all of the air?

Like Kyle mentioned, this will likely be a great deal as a used car if you can get it for 1/2 to 2/3rds of what it cost new. But for the price you pay to get a new one, there are so many other better EV's out there that unless you badly want a Toyota EV, you should just get one of those alternatives he mentioned like the Mach-E, Model Y, Ioniq 5, or EV6. This car should've came out back in 2018 at the latest if Toyota wanted it to sell well.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention any compensation, or not, for the headlights being on. And, I don’t remember if the headlights were on for other range daytime tests(?). How many miles do you figure for having the headlights on?

When you're an automaker who was lucky enough to have a vehicle that was a collaboration with Tesla for two years (2012-2014 RAV4 EV), you should've had enough data to put out a very polished first EV 10 years later in terms of software, charging and range.

I would love to see you test out how motor and battery temperature affect efficiency. Yes, low battery temperatures reduce efficiency but through some testing I have done it also looks like high motor temperatures and even high battery temperatures will reduce efficiency. At least with a Tesla vehicle fast charging right before the test is detrimental to the efficiency. When you Precondition at home with scheduling it always tries to maintain temps between 70-80 degrees F. That is actually the ideal temperatures for efficiency. However, if you precondition for supercharging then the motor and battery temps can exceed 130 degrees F even after you are done charging. I would love to see you test this.

9:15 I laughed at that Mach-e Parking two spots 🤣

Please do the 10% challenge on the Bolt EV!!!

Hi Kyle. The Toyota bZ4X, Subaru Solterra and Lexus RZ450e all have 64 kWh usable available. That is for a NEW condition battery at a normal operating temperature. Cars sold new in North America with All Wheel Drive (AWD) have CATL cells in the battery, and tend to charge at these ridiculously slow speeds (less than 100 kW), and the charging speed is DRASTICALLY reduced when the battery is cold. The bZ4X with Front Wheel Drive (FWD) has Panasonic cells, and will charge significantly faster (less than 150 kW) than the CATL cell battery. There is a software update for Europe that changes the “reserve” (when the Guess-O-Meter shows zero miles or km remaining) from 8% (about 5 kWh) battery capacity to 5% (about 3 kWh). The overall usable battery capacity remains 64 kWh. This software is NOT available in North America. The range would be, therefore ( depending on your energy consumption): 2 miles/kWh * 64 kWh = 128 miles 3 miles/kWh * 64 kWh = 192 miles 4 miles/kWh * 64 kWh = 256miles

I would love to see a range test on the Jaguar I-Pace

Bjorn Nyland just did a test in Norway with the new version of the software and it now charges faster and has a lower buffer.

I’ve seen 88kw peak on my AWD xle. It’ll only keep that if the SOC is quite low and the temps are good

The number on the dash seems to be based on the total fuel economy of the vehicle. I have the 2023 Prius with a similar range estimate, having done some idling shortly after I got it drastically dropped what that estimate says and it has slowly gone up since then even when my trips get identical fuel economies.

212 miles is better than expected, but there ain't no old lady gonna run that thing past 150 miles for fear of running out of juice after a normal charge. But that's a 3-hour trip to a destination for overnight charging which I still contend is just fine for most folks.

Would be nice to have a spreadsheet with all the results

What is the app you used for battery monitoring? Will it work on a Tesla??

Tested by Bjorn Nyland Norway after update. 140 kw charging sppeed 3,8 per day. It is perfect now. Could be better ofcours.

I'm surprised at the technical shortfall for Toyota. My BMW i4 gets up to 4.1 miles/kwh (vs 3 for the Toyota).

29:55 gives the answer, 212 miles, which is close to what Bjorn got out of this.,…..,absolutely pitiful range compared to others in its class.

Toyota: See? EV cars suck. Everyone else: Hydrogen cars suck.

I bought the Lexus Rz450e Premium used. It was specked out at $65,000 and picked it with 3200 miles T $47,000. I was fully aware of the range. My daily commute is about 10 miles round trip and during the summer round trips about 160 miles. No issues so far.

Man One with matte fender does look better than glossy one

Is there a more disappointing BEV for sale today? I kind of doubt it.

I would also like to say that going from an ICE car to the Solterra was an easy transition.

Epic thumbnail

So used to watching in 4K, this 360p is definitely different

Is there any way to confirm the dealer actually performed the software update that came out this year

The BZ4X makes me feel real good about the charging curve on the Leaf.

Toyota is trying to prove their point: "EVs suck. Look, they can only charge on DC for 2 or 3 times before they stop charging. Hybrids and Hydrogen are so much better." If only they can convince the other EV manufacturers to restrict their EVs to do the same, it could work. NOT!!!!!!!

What's phone app and tool you use to monitor the battery state?

So the EPA range is accurate.

Im driving to Orlando from Atlanta tomorrow morning. And thank god there are about 50 fast chargers on the way there. So Im not having any range anxieties but how long its going to take. Where the hell is the software update.

great review. people need to know about the real life experience of a EV

And somehow Subaru will try to market this as a capable off-road adventure machine.

Imagine if that charging station was pay by the minute. Toyota really needs to address this issue with the charging.

You can get an Kia Evo 6 GT with that same range but at least have a nice performance vehicle.

Kyle can you do a video on how the charging cables are being cut all across California it's happening everywhere

Are you going to do the Vinfast?

@7:27 I'm a new EV driver. Just bought my car in the beginning of April. The first thing I learned about was the 20 different charging apps I needed to download and have ready.

You are too kind, Kyle. Toyota needs to work hard to improve this car with serious updates.

Looks like 2024 AWD now has improved charging speeds with 20% to 80% in 35min. Would love to find out if its software of hardware changes from 2023 to 2024

Is there an online file with comparative results for all the cars you tested in this challenge?

I bought the bz4x in April 2023 brand new. I used to get a range of at least 225 fully charged. It’s now January 2024 and I’m only getting 185 fully charged. It has not even been a year and the miles are dropping. Is this normal for a EV? Is there something I could do to bring that number back up?

Are you using Torque Pro on that phone?

No over the air update? What year is this?

Did you run the range test with the AC On.? If not try again.

5hours to charge?… where are all Toyota haters and the Media slamming Toyota on a daily basis? Oh, I get it. Doing so won’t get clicks

if you have a charger where you park, it's not really an issue. I have a charger at home and an audit etron with weaker ranger compared to others and the range is not an issue at all.

You should upgrade the scanner software to send some $$ to the developer(s). They deserve it.

That section of I-25 from Denver to Ft. Collins seems to be eternally under construction ... what's wrong with the Colorado DoT?

Let's hope that no rental company is ever thinking of getting those added to their EV fleet. For somebody that only charges at home and only drives within the neighborhood that car might be an option. For anybody else, especially trying to replace their ICE car, it would be a "stay away from this" recommendation.

where do you get Torque PIDs that are used in video?

Definite HARD PASS on this thing. It's almost like they went out of their way, to make it as bad as it is. And what's with these reviewers using Celsius?? We don't use that over here.

9:10 Nicely double parked there, Mach-E driver.

Stays at 7.2 kW on A/c from what my ChargePoint charger tells me and also my Sense device!

I live nyc they are pricing in for me at 329 including taxes and fees lease at 10k per year lease for 36 months. BTW this is the limited edition in red

Turn the power switch to ON. Pull and hold the power window switch in the one-touch closing direction and completely close the side window. Release the power window switch for a moment, resume pulling the switch in the one-touch closing direction, and hold it there for approximately 6 seconds or more. Press and hold the power window switch in the one-touch opening direction. After the side window is completely opened, continue holding the switch for an additional 1 second or more. Release the power window switch for a moment, resume pushing the switch in the one-touch opening direction, and hold it there for approximately 4 seconds or more. Pull and hold the power window switch in the one-touch closing direction again. After the side window is completely closed, continue holding the switch for a further 1 second or more.

Not using the features meant to increase efficiency in the car doesn't seem like it's a true reflection of how someone will use this car. The seat coolers, just like the seat and leg warmers, are "eco" because they save range

Did you noticed that you turned AC off when you were starting The test (about 10.40 on video) and instead accidentally put on the steering wheel-warmer to auto-setting, The AC auto-button was dimmed and wasn't on 😅😅

You convinced me that my 3 year old Bolt is superior in every respect including charging and at half the price. Hopefully Toyota's much vaunted engineering and build quality will catch up to everyone else.

In Canada the BZ4X is much more competitively priced and it gets the full federal and provincial EV tax credits which in BC amounts to $9000 cdn. You can get a 2023 FWD version, after taxes for under 50 grand Cdn (if you can find one...), which is a steal. The FWD version with the 18in tires should get at least 10% more range than with the 20in tire AWD version with a smaller battery pack. The FWD version is fully completive with the M3/MY RWD versions along with the small battery RWD versions of the Mach-E and i5/EV-6 RWD versions.

The BiZzy ForX is all forked up... if you NEVER need to use it for a trip then it looks to be okay, though the user interface looks to be way behind the competition. As noted its features and functions do not match up with comparably priced EVs available today. Toyota has placed themselves WAY behind the game in the EV world. If they don't step up their game really fast they're going to be in deep trouble as the industry leaves them behind.

Maybe it's buried in the 300 comments I see, but what is the name of the battery monitoring phone app he is using?

Wow. Better than I thought considering how much this car gets trashed. Seems like the major thing is just if you are a road tripper, it's definitely not for you. Even that seems to depend on the individual as I see a lot of youtube vids with people road tripping their Bolts and they seem to manage.

OEMs don't seem to get that the numbers that matter for EV viability/practicality have very little to do with the vehicles performance, it's all about the charging. Infrastructure and charge performance are everything. Now don't get me wrong, the vehicles matter, that's the other half of the equation, but when you're targeting the "practical" market, you can't just ignore the most important part. This car is going to flop unfortunately imo.

This was a great test but now I wonder if the typical HVAC wasn't used - how much more range. I have had my BZ for a year. No regrets whatsoever. Typical Toyota to be conservative on every parameter to extend vehile life and enhance reliability. They do this on evey ICE vehicle but guess what, once you modify and tune it, a ton more available "under the hood" - at the expense of reliability, of course. I keep my cars for at least 10 years. I have the same goal for the BZ. This philosophy didn't change with the BZ. I learned how to not drive it like an ICE vehicle, use the heated steering wheel, radiant heaters, heated/cooled seats instead of the typical cabin climate control. AC is okay to use since it doesn't use as much energy as a heater. Leverage alternative ways to stay comfortable - it isn't an ICE vehicle, after all. I have almost 12k miles on mine. It is very comfortable on long commutes. The most practical vehicle I have owned. Stays within well marked lanes, quiet, smooth, and just a joy to drive. Its infotainment is okay, but that is always the case with every Toyota I have owned. It is a non-factor to me because I use Andorid Auto. Yes charging is slow but with the way I drive it, 140 to 200 mile round-trip commutes are not a problem. Hop on the DC fast charger for half an hour while I have my lunch for extra security and get home comfortably without any performance limitations. I am averaging 3.3 miles per kW. It is just a matter of time a software update is available to improve charging performance or a 3rd party figured out how to "tune" the charging algorithm at the expense of the 10 year warranty on the battery. I have also had zero issues with my BZ since the recall too. It is just as dependable as my Tacoma, Sienna, and past Toyotas.

Please help nag Toyota USA to get us that update! I feel these tests improve!!