Toyota's 1st All-Electric Car Has A Solar Roof And A Weird Name

Despite being a pioneer of hybrids, Toyota somehow managed to become quite the latecomer with all-electric cars.

Photo Insert: Toyota bZ4X

While the company was already exploring electric efficiency as early as 1997 with the Prius, Toyota has taken until now to announce its first battery-only car - the weirdly-named bZ4X, is set to arrive in Europe by mid-2022 for about 40,000 euros and up.

Among its most innovative features are a heat pump to prevent range loss in cold conditions (a problem that continues to dog many electric cars), and an optional solar roof to increase range, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

And what's up with the name? Toyota says it breaks down like this: The bZ stands for "beyond zero," the number 4 for the segment, as in the VW ID.4, and the X for crossover.

The body of the five-seater, which is the size of the 4.60-meter RAV4, has some distinct SUV elements such as flared wheel arches and striking sill panels. As is typical for electric cars, the front end does without a large radiator grille.

The bZ4X's battery is stowed under the car floor and ensures a low center of gravity, which generally benefits the driving characteristics. The boot has a volume of 452 liters. Toyota says it's based on a platform developed jointly with Subaru for electric vehicles and is intended to be the start of a whole series of Toyota EVs.

The manufacturer puts the battery power at 71.4-kilowatt-hours (kWh), which should be enough for a range of 450 kilometers according to the WLTP test procedure.

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