[R P]

Enabling more than two fast charges in a day doesn’t concern me to much as I would probably never do this myself with this car, but I can see how some will and definitely want this. What I care more about is the charging curve itself. The car needs to hold max rates longer to cut the charging time down. Also, the 80-100% is just insanely to conservative on the curve. Fix that. I know Charging to 80% at DC fast chargers is the recommended. But on a road trip, sometimes you need that extra bit of range to make it to a destination or next charger. So it should not take hours to charge to 100% at a DC station if someone needs to.
Just my two cents 😁

I would like more than 2 fast charges in a day. When on trips with my Kona, which had similar charge speeds and times to the Solterra), we would plan our stops with a bite to eat or bio breaks. These were sometimes 30 min or less, so there were more in a day if I had a long drive. Is it actually restricted today, or just a recommendation?

After 80% fast charging slows down on all EVs to protect your battery. Toyota might be more than others, but would rather them err on the conservative side. And on fast chargers, paying by the minute becomes very expensive after 80%. With my Kona, while I always used free chargers, I tried to plan my stops when the SOC was 40% or less, and closer to 20% (my personal bottom limit). That's because it charged faster at lower SOC then and got more out of of my stop time.

 

[Ducatista]

I would like more than 2 fast charges in a day. When on trips with my Kona, which had similar charge speeds and times to the Solterra), we would plan our stops with a bite to eat or bio breaks. These were sometimes 30 min or less, so there were more in a day if I had a long drive. Is it actually restricted today, or just a recommendation?

After 80% fast charging slows down on all EVs to protect your battery. Toyota might be more than others, but would rather them err on the conservative side. And on fast chargers, paying by the minute becomes very expensive after 80%. With my Kona, while I always used free chargers, I tried to plan my stops when the SOC was 40% or less, and closer to 20% (my personal bottom limit). That's because it charged faster at lower SOC then and got more out of of my stop time.

The car is currently programmed to reduce charging speeds if you attempt more than 2 DC fast charging in a day from my understanding.

Regarding 80-100%. I understand all EVs do this more slowly. But this car is dreadful past 90. It’s faster to AC charge on a level 2 from one of the charging curves that I saw.

 

[R P]

On the bZX4 forum, saw a post about a guy charging from 8% to 80% in 34 minutes. That is very fast for a 400V car. My Kona took about an hour to get from 20 - 80%, the few times I charged that much in one session.

Charging Speed

Last night , I was able to charge at a max of 115kw. From 8% SOC to 80%, it took 34 mins. Because it appeared for only a second, I was unable to take a picture of it when it stopped. It was 10c at charging time.

www.bzforums.com

 

[Ducatista]

On the bZX4 forum, saw a post about a guy charging from 8% to 80% in 34 minutes. That is very fast for a 400V car. My Kona took about an hour to get from 20 - 80%, the few times I charged that much in one session.

Charging Speed

Last night , I was able to charge at a max of 115kw. From 8% SOC to 80%, it took 34 mins. Because it appeared for only a second, I was unable to take a picture of it when it stopped. It was 10c at charging time.

www.bzforums.com

Without reading it, I bet that was a FWD bZ. Different battery, different DC charging speed.

 

[JayEM]

On the bZX4 forum, saw a post about a guy charging from 8% to 80% in 34 minutes. That is very fast for a 400V car. My Kona took about an hour to get from 20 - 80%, the few times I charged that much in one session.

Charging Speed

Last night , I was able to charge at a max of 115kw. From 8% SOC to 80%, it took 34 mins. Because it appeared for only a second, I was unable to take a picture of it when it stopped. It was 10c at charging time.

www.bzforums.com

Was it a FWD or AWD bZ4X? The FWD has the Panasonic battery pack in the US, I believe, with a superior charging curve vs CATL.

Edit: North America, not just US.

 

[R P]

Yes, it was FWD.

 

[md.]

Some really great news in this article. Some things sound very promising and some (for current owners anyway) are not as exciting. For example, the pre-conditioning may be something that is not available to the current gen of car and may require hardware changes. I’m not an EV engineer, but that seems wrong. When a car has a liquid cooled system for its battery, I would think it should be very easy to implement a software button in the infotainment system to pre-condition the battery. Perhaps that physical communication link doesn’t exist at that’s where the hardware changes would be needed. So, disappointing there.

The cars already have a Traction Battery Heater and Traction Battery Warming Control (whatever the difference may be between those two things). Are we to believe that those functions are only able to be provided by an external power source?

Also, the best reason (and, to me, the only reason) to use the in-vehicle navigation over Car Play or Android Auto would be to (1) get the vehicle to the next charging destination and (2) prepare the vehicle for the charging session. If it doesn't do that, how is it better than Google Maps or Apple Maps?

 

[yalla]

From elbil.no today:

Toyota cancellation in the 12th hour
The Toyota bZ4X was one of the new electric car models that should have been ready at the starting line for this year's winter test.

It didn't turn out that way. The day before the cars were to be transported north to Tromsø, it became clear that the heavily criticized model was being held back.

The reason is both to be found in a failing range, and also a charging speed that is not suitable to satisfy anyone in 2023. We found out the car's weaknesses easily during an intensive test day before Christmas, and it also lacks the opportunity to preheat the battery en route to a fast - or lightning charger.

While Toyota works to correct the lopsided hover, it obviously wants to stop further tarnishing of its reputation.

In connection with the car being withdrawn, we asked for an explanation from Toyota Norway. It reads like this:

"Toyota Norway has chosen to refrain from further winter tests that focus on range and charging until the car has undergone changes. We have carried out our own winter tests, and Toyota centrally is currently analyzing the results and making a plan to improve the car in several areas,

So far, we have confirmed a change that better shows the entire available range for the driver, as well as a meter that shows the current capacity stated as a percentage. We are also considering changes to the software related to fast charging, in order to improve this in the future."

From the Electric Vehicle Association's consumer-focused point of view, it is absolutely crucial that Toyota cleans up the mess. And what we experienced in our test of the car made us realize that it could be a tough job to have with the bZ4X during this year's winter test.

Source (Google translated): Tre land, fem biler, sju sjåfører – ørten (minus)grader nord
Norwegian: Tre land, fem biler, sju sjåfører – ørten (minus)grader nord

 

[Ducatista]

From elbil.no today:


Source (Google translated): Tre land, fem biler, sju sjåfører – ørten (minus)grader nord
Norwegian: Tre land, fem biler, sju sjåfører – ørten (minus)grader nord

At the end of the article:

In connection with the car being withdrawn, we asked for an explanation from Toyota Norway. It reads as follows:

«Toyota Norway has chosen to refrain from further winter tests that focus on range and charging until the car has undergone changes. We have conducted our own winter tests, and Toyota is currently analyzing the results and making a plan to improve the car in several areas.

So far, we have confirmed a change that better brings out the full available range for the driver, as well as a meter that shows the current capacity stated as a percentage. We are also considering changes to software related to fast charging to improve this going forward."

Its comforting to know that they seem to be listening. Any software modifications to fast charging will definitely be welcomed. As well as the SOC % we had gotten an update about already.
I really hope they can figure out a software battery pre-condition with existing hardware and not wait till a mid-model refresh or something. Something even like Hyundai just did. I wouldn't even bother with making it 100% tied to a route though like Hyundai did or Tesla does. Just give us a software button on the screen that says "pre-condition for charging" or something with a blurb that says you must ideally activate this XX minutes before DC charging for ideal charge speeds. I'm sure a lot of people drive majority of time without a route programmed but know exactly where a DC charger is and when they want to stop without their Navi telling them. In cases like this, simple button. Just my opinion (Toyota/Subaru if you are reading this )

 

[JayEM]

Yay for Norway 🇳🇴!

 

[JayEM]

I really hope they can figure out a software battery pre-condition with existing hardware and not wait till a mid-model refresh or something. Something even like Hyundai just did. I wouldn't even bother with making it 100% tied to a route though like Hyundai did or Tesla does. Just give us a software button on the screen that says "pre-condition for charging" or something with a blurb that says you must ideally activate this XX minutes before DC charging for ideal charge speeds. I'm sure a lot of people drive majority of time without a route programmed but know exactly where a DC charger is and when they want to stop without their Navi telling them. In cases like this, simple button. Just my opinion (Toyota/Subaru if you are reading this )

Good point, I've wondered about other EVs e.g. BMW that tout their "in-route preconditioning" in situations when you haven't TOLD the car that you're driving to a fast charger.

Sometimes we DO know where we're going, without the car having to tell us!

 

[md.]

At the end of the article:

In connection with the car being withdrawn, we asked for an explanation from Toyota Norway. It reads as follows:

«Toyota Norway has chosen to refrain from further winter tests that focus on range and charging until the car has undergone changes. We have conducted our own winter tests, and Toyota is currently analyzing the results and making a plan to improve the car in several areas.

So far, we have confirmed a change that better brings out the full available range for the driver, as well as a meter that shows the current capacity stated as a percentage. We are also considering changes to software related to fast charging to improve this going forward."

Its comforting to know that they seem to be listening. Any software modifications to fast charging will definitely be welcomed. As well as the SOC % we had gotten an update about already.
I really hope they can figure out a software battery pre-condition with existing hardware and not wait till a mid-model refresh or something. Something even like Hyundai just did. I wouldn't even bother with making it 100% tied to a route though like Hyundai did or Tesla does. Just give us a software button on the screen that says "pre-condition for charging" or something with a blurb that says you must ideally activate this XX minutes before DC charging for ideal charge speeds. I'm sure a lot of people drive majority of time without a route programmed but know exactly where a DC charger is and when they want to stop without their Navi telling them. In cases like this, simple button. Just my opinion (Toyota/Subaru if you are reading this )

A button would be ideal, but I have a feeling they're more likely to use that functionally to nudge you towards a navigation subscription.

 

[yalla]

Any software modifications to fast charging will definitely be welcomed. As well as the SOC % we had gotten an update about already.
I really hope they can figure out a software battery pre-condition with existing hardware and not wait till a mid-model refresh or something. Something even like Hyundai just did. I wouldn't even bother with making it 100% tied to a route though like Hyundai did or Tesla does. Just give us a software button on the screen that says "pre-condition for charging" or something with a blurb that says you must ideally activate this XX minutes before DC charging for ideal charge speeds. I'm sure a lot of people drive majority of time without a route programmed but know exactly where a DC charger is and when they want to stop without their Navi telling them. In cases like this, simple button. Just my opinion (Toyota/Subaru if you are reading this )

They are listening to the button thing! But as you mention, lets hope they invent a button we can use without hardware changes

- We are traveling to Norway at the end of January to do a series of charging tests, says the project manager at Subaru, Daisuke Ono, confusingly similar to the name of the man with the same position at Toyota, Daisuke Ido.

- We are working on implementing pre-heating of the battery before charging, and hope to get this in place in future cars, he says.

This is a function that is currently not in the cars, but which they want to offer later. The pre-heating should be able to be started with a simple button, without having to go through the navigation system and plot a long address to start the pre-heating. This is a long-awaited solution that we have requested from many of the manufacturers.

Because how often do you fast-charge in a place you don't know where you are? You usually always know how long it will be until you get to a fast charger you intend to use, and then a simple button is the very best solution, in our opinion.

Source: Testene er analysert: Dette sier Toyota til Elbil24 etter rekkevidde-skrell

 

[Ducatista]

A button would be ideal, but I have a feeling they're more likely to use that functionally to nudge you towards a navigation subscription.

Yeah you are probably right, but that would be unfortunate to have a feature like battery pre-conditioning reliant upon a paid subscription. But that has been dumber ones than that out there I suppose. I believe BMW in some world markets have a subscription for heated seats from what I have heard lol

 

[Ducatista]

They are listening to the button thing! But as you mention, lets hope they invent a button we can use without hardware changes

Yes I remember reading that! Hoping its software for sure and applicable on the current hardware. But I don't like the way it says "in future" cars. It doesn't give it a promising sound. I suppose a physical button on future cars wouldn't be a bad idea either. It would be no different than turning on your rear window defroster (which times itself out after a period of time usually) or other similar functions. But software would be best because I want it on THIS car

 

[JayEM]

Yeah you are probably right, but that would be unfortunate to have a feature like battery pre-conditioning reliant upon a paid subscription. But that has been dumber ones than that out there I suppose. I believe BMW in some world markets have a subscription for heated seats from what I have heard lol

It's true. They initially had a subscription for CarPlay capability in the US, but I think backed off on it (my car has it but I don't have an iPhone, so moot).