Like its parent company Toyota, Lexus has been late in launching electric cars. The investment of the Japanese has been on cars with hybrid fuel – ie a combination of fossil fuel and electric battery.
Admittedly, an electric version of the UX is sold today, but the RZ 450e will be the first Lexus to be built from scratch as a pure electric car. It has many benefits.
With this car, Lexus shows a whole new design language, with a closed grille and a sporty rounded rear end. The interior of the pictures that Lexus has so far released, also shows that the car has something as rare as a square steering wheel.
This means that it will have so-called “steer-by-wire” technology, where there is no fixed connection between the steering wheel and wheels. When you turn the steering wheel, there will be an electric signal to an electric motor that moves the wheels where you are going.
The advantage is that you do not have to move the grip on the steering wheel and that less vibration is transmitted from the road and into the car. But it can of course sound quite frightening to the average person, who is used to the steering wheel and wheels being physically connected.
50 MILES: Lexus’ new electric car gets much of the same technology as the Toyota BZ4X. That means a range of around 50 miles. Photo: Lexus
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SPORTY: With this new design, the Lexus RZ 450e will be a sporty electric car that will compete with VW ID.4 and Skoda Enyaq. Photo: Lexus
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It is uncertain whether the first cars to come will have this technology, or whether it will be delayed until next year (2023).
The size of the RZ 450e is about the same as that of Toyota’s first electric car – also the one with a knotty name, BZ4X – which will arrive in Norway in a few weeks.
This means that the Lexus will be a luxurious competitor to, among others, VW ID.4 and Skoda Enyaq. This in turn means that it gets much of the same technology as Toyota.
ELBIL: This is the latest prototype for Mercedes-Benz, which was unveiled on Monday 3 January. Video: Mercedes-Benz. Clip: Malin Ridder-Nielsen Janssen sea view
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The range will be between 40 and 50 miles. The car can be lightning charged with 150 kW, tow a trailer of 750 kilos and get a battery warranty of ten years or 240,000 kilometers.
At the Norwegian Lexus importer, the car is long awaited.
– This is a car we are looking forward to, but the first cars will not arrive in Norway until the first quarter of 2023. Prices are also not yet clear, says the Norwegian Lexus CEO Jan Christian Holm to DinSide.
