Toyota has recently announced its strategic plan for the energy transition and showcased 15 electric vehicles including concepts and prototypes. The company had also showcased the Toyota BZ Small Crossover, which previews the brand’s future, cheapest electric compact SUV.
Toyota CEO Aki Toyota, said that this model is destined to become of Toyota’s great commercial assets. He said, “a small battery-powered electric vehicle with a comfortable interior designed with Europe and Japan in mind.”
The future Toyota compact electric SUV will be the most efficient in the segment. It is claimed to offer a low power consumption of 12.5kWh/100km, which is close to the consumption of electric cars like the JAC e-JS1 and the Renault Zoe.
Toyota aims to popularize electric cars through vehicles with small batteries that make them lighter. Toyota’s CEO said, “the more batteries that are added to extend the range, the bigger, heavier and more expensive a vehicle becomes. Since this SUV is a small vehicle, there’s something we need to be thorough and very quirky. And that’s energy efficiency.”
The Toyota BZ Urban Compact SUV concept looks like a practical production-ready model, and will receive small changes before the final version. The small crossover shares design cues from the recently launched Toyota bZ4X and the Toyota Aygo X. It will compete against the B-segment EVs including the Peugeot e-2008 and the future VW ID.2.
The Toyota bZ4X is based on the e-TNGA platform. The upcoming compact electric SUV is likely to be based on a new platform, which is currently under development for more affordable battery-powered electric cars called the E3.
