Today I learned that the Toyota BZ4X can only be DC fast charged twice per day. It's hard coded to prevent further DC fast charging. Sucks if you expected to just drive it like a car on a long road trip, and didn't plan for this weirdness.
To be honest I don't think this is as much of a WTF as the friend who related this news thinks it is. (I don't have a BZ4X so I couldn't give two figs about it). I could still easily structure a 900km drive in one day around leaving home on a full charge, DC fast charge in the morning, AC charge over lunch, DC fast charge in the afternoon, and that probably gets you ~1000KM.
I think it's Toyota trying to protect their batteries - which is interesting because it's something no other car manufacturer feels the need to do. Toyota paternalism or did they just buy a batch of dodgy batteries and fit them to the car anyway?
@decryption The Leaf, really, is this anomaly in Japanese cars.
It's obviously adapted to cold climates, where passive cooling of the battery is enough. Then it's sold here in Australia and the USA. It's designed using a Japanese charger standard which is revolutionary but basically only gets used by Nissan. It has the fundamental problem that it's aimed to trickle charge but most people in Japan do not have their own garage with a power point.
Despite this they make millions.
My favourite story about the Leaf happened when I was coming home on my Energica Experia - literally on the day I picked it up. We stopped at Mittagong RSL because there's an NRMA charger there (free at the time, remember that?). There was a lady charging a Nissan Leaf there - I looked at the car and it had Tasmanian number plates! She had driven up from Hobart to visit family in Sydney; she was on her trip back.
She loved the Leaf. She loved chargers, because she could stop and talk to the people and EV people are so friendly! She didn't mind stopping, it was lovely to see the scenery. She was happily retired so she could make it a three day trip from Sydney to Melbourne. That car suited her perfectly and its battery 'limitations' were hidden advantages to her.
@PaulWay I got to borrow a LEAF for a week and it was very pleasant. Nissan should do a follow up with a thermally managed battery & CCS and sell it at a price (sub-$40k, like they are now with the 39kwh model clearout) to compete with the MG4/BYD Dolphin/GWM Ora. Basically take the current-gen Note/Aura (one of the best selling cars in Japan) and make it a full EV. It's not hard!
@decryption Let's face it though that's never going to happen.
Several friends have gone to Japan and reported there are almost no electric cars there. Even Leafs are a rarity.
Why, when Japan has to import almost all of its petrol and diesel but it generates its own electricity, is it still so wedded to petroleum fuels?
There are lots of hot takes on that question out there, I've shared my own in other posts.
But realistically I don't see any of the Japanese car companies making any full transition to EVs, or making any EVs that are not basically "compliance" cars that are necessary for them to keep selling what they already make.
@PaulWay I’m a bit more optimistic - they’ll make some good EVs eventually, but looks like what happened to them with Korea and China on electronics is gonna happen with cars too, a shadow of their former selves.
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