Why you don’t want a Toyota bZ4X when it’s cold

Electric cars have problems with low temperatures. This is physics and the manufacturers can do little to change it. And yet some electric cars perform better in the cold than others…

Finnish car magazine Tekniikan Maailma conducted a winter test with eight electric cars: BMW i4, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia Niro EV, Mercedes-Benz EQE, Nissan Ariya, Renault Megane E-Tech Electric, Toyota bZ4X and Volkswagen ID. Buzz.

The Toyota bZ4X performs the least in the cold

The editors not only paid attention to the driving characteristics, the brakes, the lighting and the heating, but also how far the e-cars can get in sub-zero temperatures.

And to put it mildly, the Toyota bZ4X doesn’t fare very well. At a temperature of minus 10 degrees, only 260 kilometers remain of the specified range of 502 kilometers (52 percent).

Kia Niro EV occupies 65 percent of its range

The Kia Niro EV performs best in the freezing cold. Of its 460 kilometers range, 65 percent remains: almost 300 kilometers. Mercedes, Nissan, Volkswagen and BMW are close behind Kia with 64, 63, 62 and 61 percent respectively.

It should be noted that the Mercedes had a special (and somewhat unfair) advantage. His heating did not work for a short time on the way, which gave him an additional 10 kilometers of range.

Not a good estimate of range

One problem is that several electric cars in the test cannot give the driver a reasonable estimate of the range. The BMW, Hyundai and Mercedes prove to be quite accurate.

Kia and Nissan are pessimistic about range, but at least they’re consistent (unlike the Renault, which performs differently). In the ID.Buzz, the driver behind the wheel is presented with a far too optimistic number of kilometers.

Update for the electric Toyota bZ4X

Something remarkable is happening with the Toyota bZ4X. He estimates the range quite well, but works with a buffer of around 30 kilometers. This means that if the range is zero, you can actually drive a little further.

However, the car doesn’t report what the remaining battery percentage is, so you can’t use that 30-kilometre margin in a safe way. Toyota (and also Subaru) are working on an update for this quirk.