Toyota bz4X

It's not that it's not great... for a 2022 car it should be launching straight away with a 11kw whereas 6.6kw is kinda old technology at this stage. For instance, the new Nissan Ariya is launching with an 11kw on-board charger and then will ship with a 22kw on-board charger in Q4.

The 6.6kw on-board charger is an internal unit that's connected to the car's battery and is the max capacity/speed that the battery can charge at when charging with an AC charger. All home chargers are AC and here in Ireland 99% of home chargers are 7kw home chargers, so if you are ever only going to be charging your new BZ4X at home then the 6.6kw on-board charger in the car doesn't really matter. But here in Ireland the vast majority of the public chargers (mainly ESB ecar chargers) are all 22kw chargers (which are AC), it'll just mean that when plugged into any AC charger that's anything from 7kw up to 49kw - the BZ4X will still only charge at a max rate of 6.6kw per hour.

BUT... when you plug into a DC fast charger, the DC charger by-passes the inverter in the 6.6kw on-board charger and directly charges the battery at the DC charger kw value... the easy thing to say here is, only ever use a DC charger when charging at a public charger, but unfortunately not all public charging stations have a 50kw and above, the 22kw chargers are the most common around the country and most often you'll find you'll to stuck having to charge with a 22kw one rather than a 50kw one, so when we go to plug in to a public charger that's a 22kw one... but it's really only charging at 6.6kw max per hour, whereas the BZ4X's launching from Q4 will have an 11kw on-board charger and of course will be able to charge at 11kw per hour, so those lucky owners will charge almost twice as fast when plugged into a 22kw charger than us lot who'll only have a 6.6kw one.

But if you're ever only going to be charging at home and at night, then it doesn't matter.

The BZ4X comes with a 71.4kw battery, so to get a full charge on a home charger from 0-100% is roughly calculated as 71.4 divided by 6.6 is 10.8 so round it off to around 11hrs (in colder weather it will be slower), so when the BZ4X is plugged into a public 22kw charger for 1 hour it will really only add about 6.5% of charge. The public chargers are really just designed for top-up's anyway and not really for designed for charging to full. Toyota have purposely chosen to slow the rate of charge for the BZ4X to make the batteries last longer as High Power Chargers (150kw and above) aren't good for EV batteries due to the heat the voltage levels as it can damage the anode and cathode of the batteries at microscopic level, but that's not to say don't use a 150kw chargers, just not several times a week.

But for me, I really want the 11kw on-board charger. I'm very disappointed that they're launching with the 6.6kw on-board chargers (for example, the Nissan Leaf's in 2016 had 6.6kw on-board chargers) No, car manufacturer in 2022 should be launching an EV with a 6.6kw OBC. I'm going to ask my dealer in Ashbourne if I can hold off till January as I want the 11kw charger. I know it might only seem a little faster, but faster is still faster.

I’m disappointed now too as I didn’t want to install a home charger but will have to now. I regret not getting the ioniq5

One last question, there is one 50kw fast charger near my home. How long would it take to charge the bz4x on it ?

I thought I could charge on a public charger once a fortnight as I’d only be doing 200km p wk. I also might like to get external insulation on the house in a years time and I thought it might be easier install then..

You'd still have to leave the car at a 22kw charger for nearly 10 hours and the 22kw public chargers have a max stay time of 7 hours otherwise they charge you an over-stay fee.

That’s sounds terrible…where are the 150kw chargers in south Dublin ? I’ll have to get a home charger.

Do you think they will install more over the next few years…….

At the rate ESB are going I'd doubt it. You'll need to consider the charge curve on the car anyway. If you're trying to charge with a cold battery then you'll get significantly lower speeds.

There's three Ionity chargers just outside Dublin and then there'll be the Tesla Supercharger at Sandymount as well.

They absolutely will install more of the next few years, they will be at least a few dozen within the next two years.

While I haven't used the Aldi chargers, any of the Lidl AC ones I've used are in fact at least 11kW (and car has reflected that), and indeed advertised as being 22kW but I can't verify beyond 11kW due to my Niro only having an 11kW OBC.

Just on the pile of bits comment.....

1) the European cars get a better battery pack then the US spec AWDs. With (charger permitting) a 30 mins to 80 percent time.

Not the dreadful (by current standards) 1 hour to 80 percent time of the US spec AWDs that have been reported.

2) the car itself is getting great reviews from UK reviewers in terms of being a lovely thing to drive for *normal users*.

My prediction

Most Irish users coming from a diesel or hybrid will *love it*.

That’s very helpful info HTC…I’m so looking forward to getting the car. Bioscaler did you get a date for delivery ? Before the recall issue I was told 10th July and then 10days to register ….

Great…Does the boot liner and rubber mats come with it or can you buy them ? Are they costly?

Have you postponed your order for your BZ because of the onboard charger?