Toyota Busyforks - Can the wheels fall off again?

[Mart]

So, anyone a tad suspicious that Toyota couldn't keep the wheels on their new BEV the BZ4X, and may have been trying to hide something else they neded to fix, will enjoy this Norwegian review, suggesting the battery and range may have been overstated. They suggest the net useable capacity of the battery is 60kWh, not the 71.4kWh that Toyota has been suggesting.

I feel a bit bad picking on Toyota, and it may be that there's an honest reason behind this, and Toyota Norway is looking into the matter with Toyota Europe - but with all of Toyota's anti-BEV campaigning around the World (EU, UK, US, India etc lobbying), I'm gonna post it.

[Note - when translated it states kWh per mile, such as 1.9kWh per mile, but apparently this is a mistranslation of the term they use kWh per mil, with mil meaning 10km's. Who knew!]

Scandal result for Toyota in range test

Now it is finally ready to drive, and we have driven the car through our thorough tests, which also include our 100-0% range test, our consumption test, as well as our 0-100% charge test.

I can reveal that this is the very first time we have had to run the tests multiple times, as the initial results gave us results we hardly believed were true.

[Oldgreybeard]

I'd never feel sorry for Toyota. I bought a Toyota Prius about 18 years ago, and was very impressed with the amount of work Toyota were doing at the time to reduce the environmental impact of cars, right down to making much of the internal plastic mouldings from corn starch, IIRC. Toyota seemed to be miles ahead of all other manufacturers back then, so I bought another Prius a few years later. Great cars, never had a moment's trouble with them.

Toyota then changed direction, moving away from their stated aim back then to use the Prius development as a stepping stone towards making viable full EVs and I lost all faith in them as a company. When I sold the Prius I vowed I'd never buy a Toyota again, simply because I felt the company had betrayed the promises made when they were developing the "Millennium car". Wouldn't bother me in the slightest if Toyota failed as a company, not that I think that's very likely.

[AE-NMidlands]

[Note - when translated it states kWh per mile, such as 1.9kWh per mile, but apparently this is a mistranslation of the term they use kWh per mil, with mil meaning 10km's. Who knew!]

You have to watch out for Gradians too... A friend from student days bought himself a replacement Silva compass when he was on holiday in Norway
and it turned out to have 100 "degrees" in each right angle!
A

[Mart]

I'd never feel sorry for Toyota. I bought a Toyota Prius about 18 years ago, and was very impressed with the amount of work Toyota were doing at the time to reduce the environmental impact of cars, right down to making much of the internal plastic mouldings from corn starch, IIRC. Toyota seemed to be miles ahead of all other manufacturers back then, so I bought another Prius a few years later. Great cars, never had a moment's trouble with them.

Toyota then changed direction, moving away from their stated aim back then to use the Prius development as a stepping stone towards making viable full EVs and I lost all faith in them as a company. When I sold the Prius I vowed I'd never buy a Toyota again, simply because I felt the company had betrayed the promises made when they were developing the "Millennium car". Wouldn't bother me in the slightest if Toyota failed as a company, not that I think that's very likely.

I feel very similar. I was really taken by the Prius, and then the PHEV with 12 miles of range (I believe). Couldn't afford one at the time, but thought the idea was brilliant. They and Honda, really proved that electric motors and batts were viable, and Nissan ran with it with the Leaf. And then time stood still for a decade.

Presumably Toyota will now pivot, they have to. Their sales are falling fast, especially in the US, Tesla equalled their last quarter profit with 1/8th the sales, so margins must be tiny, and they've just become the most indebted company in the World. VWG is only a smidge behind in the debt tally, but VWG's is more related to car finance sales (like Ford and GM), so 'good' debt, so to speak, whereas Toyota is more 'bad' debt.

But good news, Japan is praising them for leading the charge in China with regard to HFCV's ..... so not all bad then.

[marshman]

My personal "hate" of Toyota is purely because of their "Self Charging Hybrid" adverts

[richbee]

So, anyone a tad suspicious that Toyota couldn't keep the wheels on their new BEV the BZ4X, and may have been trying to hide something else they neded to fix, will enjoy this Norwegian review, suggesting the battery and range may have been overstated. They suggest the net useable capacity of the battery is 60kWh, not the 71.4kWh that Toyota has been suggesting.

I feel a bit bad picking on Toyota, and it may be that there's an honest reason behind this, and Toyota Norway is looking into the matter with Toyota Europe - but with all of Toyota's anti-BEV campaigning around the World (EU, UK, US, India etc lobbying), I'm gonna post it.

[Note - when translated it states kWh per mile, such as 1.9kWh per mile, but apparently this is a mistranslation of the term they use kWh per mil, with mil meaning 10km's. Who knew!]

Scandal result for Toyota in range test

Now it is finally ready to drive, and we have driven the car through our thorough tests, which also include our 100-0% range test, our consumption test, as well as our 0-100% charge test.

I can reveal that this is the very first time we have had to run the tests multiple times, as the initial results gave us results we hardly believed were true.

I work for a Japanese company that makes some of the wheel bearings for Toyota (and most of the other big manufacturers) - and our Japanese team have apparently been busy trying to work out how to prevent the wheels falling off

[CrofterMannie]

[Note - when translated it states kWh per mile, such as 1.9kWh per mile, but apparently this is a mistranslation of the term they use kWh per mil, with mil meaning 10km's. Who knew!]

Yes, a Norwegian mile is 10km. It's a little confusing when you first hear it but at least it isn't as confusing as feet and yards.