Toyota UPDATED the 2024 bZ4x – Now an EV worth BUYING?
Toyota’s bz forx has just been updated for the 2024 model you’re getting some really really important updates now is it a vehicle I can finally recommend stay Tuned I think the bz 4X is a great car if you can get past its looks and if you don’t need to drive more than 200 miles from home and if you can charge from home if you need to charge outside of your house on a DC fast charger well
It’s not been a good experience for just about every owner um unless like I said you’re charging from home but the new updates are finally addressing that to some degree so let’s get into it if you’re new to the channel my name is kir I talk about industry Auto news I’ll be
Making a separate video today talking about Tesla and their updates uh good and bad for 2024 also later in the article we’re talking about Toyota diminishing a little bit in China alongside of other Japanese Autos so all right let’s get into some of the new
Updates here for the bz 4X it looks the same you’re not going to see any differences on the outside or the inside that I’m aware of we have a new dual voltage charging cable now installed on all grades providing a portable option for level one and level two charging so
It’s a twoin one cable the advanced Park uh feature that I never play with on pretty much any vehicle regardless of maker model um but anyways that’s standard on The Limited now it’s not a part of a a separate package eight-way power adjustable driver seat and power
Lift gate standard on XLE you have one year of complimentary charging through Eevee goes Network Nationwide and new charge information on Mid for Clear range and charging times estimates and that’s something I really dinged the bz forx as well as its Lexus counterpart the RZ you just didn’t have any
Information you didn’t even have estimated um battery charge they wouldn’t even tell you the percentage of battery which is just mindblowing to me they finally updated it um we have some images there’s the new Charger looks pretty nice I’m not going to lie um this
Pops off so you can plug it into a four-prong level two or a traditional household plug I don’t have a four prong at my house I have to use a three prong it’s not quite as high amperage is let’s say the 240x 40 amp um is what you see
Here but I still believe that this charges at about 11 kilowatt on a level two the bz forx also in the future starting next year we’ll be getting the KNX Port so will be able to charge at Tesla charging stations but don’t expect it to charge quickly okay so where is
This new update on the screen there it is all right so let’s just view this image real quick we finally have this percentage here now it is standard on on 2024 models is updated software if you have a 2023 you cannot update it over
The air you have to send it back to the dealer for them to flash the software into it here the only things that are software updatable in Toyota’s cars as of now is the infotainment but that’s all going to change in 2026 when they come out software defined vehicles in
The aren era but until then you’re going to have to send things to the dealership for them to update and it’s going to be a slow process this thing is outdated um even though they’re finally updating it but it should have launched with this updated software in my opinion so more
Details on it the state of charge percentage when charging will actually show now the estimated charge time to 80% will also show up and estimated vehicle range will now be displayed via its fully digital mid charging times and cold weather conditions have been improved for DC fast charging so
Enhancements have been made to the battery thermal System including the addition of a water-to-water heat exchanger and heating adjustment valve to increase battery temperature allowing for faster DC charging and cold temperature so they have a uh addressed the biggest elephant in the room for most people who own a bz forx that live
In cold climates for me living in Florida never it’s never going to be an issue charging it in cold climate unless I were to do something and drive out of state Drive North during the winter which would be it would be you would have to pay me to do that um unless I
Had something that had access to has a supercharging network or I had a gas car so simple as that so can I recommend the bz forx well even though it’s been updated it it has the same verdict from me only get the bz forx if you’re
Leasing it you can take advantage of the EV tax credit of 7500 bucks because if you buy it your so you do not get the tax credit since it’s made in Japan uh Toyota will be making a ton of Eves in North America starting in 2025 but until
Then this is it as well as the RZ from Lexus so get the tax credit by Leasing it if you plan on taking road trips make sure you have a gasoline or hybrid vehicle as your road trip car your out of town car because this range is not
Going to cut it and its charging capabilities is not going to cut it so it is it’s not a fully baked product from Toyota in my opinion even though it has been getting minor updates with this software Improvement it’s just nowhere near uh as competitive as it should be
Now I think we actually might have pricing as well yeah here we go uh XLE front-wheel drive so that’s the thing it’s also very very expensive for 43,000 you could get um a base Rav 4 Prime if you’re lucky if you can find one uh these are going to be a lot
Easier to find than a Rav 4 Prime you could get a fully loaded Prius Prime for this entry-level price you could also get Tesla models which are far more capable as an electric vehicle as of now Toyota will be like I said they’ll be upping their game and and let’s talk
About the shenanigans going on in China Volkswagen and Toyota are seeing market share shrink in 20123 and that’s because EV startups that are Chinese companies are getting popularity there’s just more competition in the market there is more price reductions going on um so Volkswagen’s combined joint ventures uh were
14.2% in 2023 down 14.8% in 2022 2 if we look at Toyota they were 88.6% in 2022 now they’re down to 7.9% and then you have byd surging almost catching up to Volkswagen’s massive market share they now have 12.5% but look at the growth from 2022 they’re
Less than 9% now they’re going to be uh over 133% probably up to like potentially maybe 15% market share in China by the end of 2024 four all of Toyota and Volkswagen uh joint ventures in China they’re top 10 automakers they have been for a long
Long time but they’re not in the top 10 new energy vehicle vendors byd and Tesla were in the top two new energy vehicle manufacturers last year in China Volkswagen’s EV division grew 23% to nearly 200,000 units in China total sales were 3.2 million uh so sales have gone up for
Volkswagen compared to last year but their market share has dropped Volkswagen bought out Chinese xay um and will be making more affordable electric vehicles in China in the near future Toyota has a joint venture with byd so that’s going to help them as well and Toyota even though their market share
Dipped a little bit in 2023 they’re not facing near the the hardships as Nissan Honda Mazda if we look at Mitsubishi they completely pulled out of China so Toyota’s kind of The Last Man Standing from the Japanese automakers in China it’s just crazy how fast things are
Changing there with EV mandates as well as electrification demand but it’ll be fun to see 2024 how Toyota does in China we know here in the United States they’re the the number two automaker in 2023 um only behind General Motors and yeah their sales were up I think double
Digit percentages so lastly save the date if I’m still awake I will be live streaming this on January 12th and also depends on when baby’s coming which could be today tomorrow the 12th who knows um but January 12th AIO Toyota is going to be live streaming from the
Tokyo Auto Salon my friend David Chow is going to be there so make sure to check out his coverage but I will be covering the revals from my house from my office here and be able to chat with you guys in the live stream hopefully um it says
January 11th 7:30 p.m. that’s eastern time yeah so it’s not technically January 12th it’s January 12th in Japan so it’s January so it’s tomorrow night right time travel time zone things anyways tomorrow night 7:30 p.m. if we don’t have a baby by then I will be live
Streaming for you guys so hopefully they come out with the LFR as a production model that would be amazing but um yeah it says Toyota Gazoo racing and Lexus will live stream um from 9:30 a.m. so which is 7:30 p.m. eastern time so I will see you guys in a day or two
Talking about Toyota at the Tokyo Auto Salon thank you guys are you excited for the updates to the bz forx still not good enough and can only recommend it if you get a screaming deal with that full uh tax credit lease rebate anyways got
To cut it off I’ll catch you in the next one peace
#toyota #bz4x #beyondzero
Toyota has addressed some of the biggest shortcomings of the bZ4x #EV – Is it now an EV worth buying
Sources:
https://newsroom.toyota.eu/toyota-enhances-the-all-electric-bz4x-for-faster-charging-comfort-and-convenience/
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/vw-toyota-saw-china-market-share-shrink-2023-industry-association-2024-01-10/
https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/40268607.html
00:00 – 2024 Updates
04:29 – Can I recommend now?
05:59 – Toyota shrinking
08:28 – Tokyo auto salon
