I do not have a Monk-like attention to detail and, honestly, if Godzilla himself were ripping the roof off an office building a block away I’d probably miss it. This might be because I reserve all my attention for cars, meaning that I’ll notice a Ford Escort ZX2 with the S/R package driving the other direction six miles away. Perhaps this is why the appearance of three Toyota bZ4X electric crossovers at one charging network caught me off guard.
How could this be? The bZ4X is extremely mid, named like a late-gen Sony Walkman, and had its presumption of reliability immediately shot in the foot when the wheels started falling off the first examples. While sales and inventory are up for the bZ4X this year, that’s only relative to poor sales last year and after a lot of heavy discounting.
It was therefore a neck-snapping moment this week when I saw three bZ4Xes utilizing half the stalls at an EVgo charging location just outside of New York City. I have never seen two bZ4Xes outside of a Toyota dealer, so three getting a charge was as rare as seeing an albino squirrel or witnessing Astros relief pitching not blowing a lead.
Being a reporter and a curious person I had to go find the owners and figure out what was going on. I’ve been especially curious as I’ve seen a sudden uptick in bZ4Xes running around New York lately.
It’s Probably Not What You Think It Is
My first instinct was that the insane lease deals on the Toyota might have been the cause, and I’m sure that has something to do with why I’m seeing more on the road. If I had the ability to charge a car at my place I’d be tempted by a $ 190-a-month lease and year of free charging, too.
But as I got closer I noticed something all the cars had in common. Every one of them had a license plate starting with T followed by a bunch of numbers and a C. In New York, this means that the vehicle has one of the coveted For-Hire Vehicle Licenses. While you can be an Uber driver in just about anything in the burbs, if you wanna offer rides in the city you need to have a plate and a license from the Taxi & Limousine Commission.
It was clear right away these were Ubers, but to be sure I asked the two gentleman standing next to the cars.
“Ubers or Lyfts?”
“Ubers.”
“Ah…”
Again, my presumption here was that these two drivers got their cars recently, while the lease deals were great (most EVs used by Uber drivers I’ve talked to were leased). When I suggested this possibility they gave an unhappy shrug and explained that, yes, leases are cheaper now but they got these cars before the prices went down.
So why do it?
“It takes two weeks to get a taxi plate and it’s too hard to get a Tesla. The Toyota was easy.”
While I still see a ton of Teslas used as Ubers, the picture starts to become clearer the more I talk to them. Any EV is better than no EV if you want a license, and so whatever is available at the moment is often the best car.
In New York City, you can only get a new For-Hire Vehicle License if you’re an EV or a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. There was a brief pause where no one could get one due to a lawsuit, but that lawsuit was thrown out earlier this year so licenses started getting issued again.
In order to get a license, according to the T&LC, you have to have a VIN and prove you have an electric car, which means buying the car first. It would suck to buy a car and then have to wait for delivery as that’s money lost, so the two drivers I spoke to just got the first thing that was nice and available (they said Teslas were too inconsistent with delivery and they didn’t want to risk it). Plus, Toyota still has a great reputation among drivers and, in my experience, has the biggest share of the market in the city.
The drivers liked their cars and thought they were comfortable, but there was big problem.
The One Big Problem With The bZ4x As An Uber
Talking to the drivers I was surprised to find out that range wasn’t that big of an issue. Most of their driving is in the city and they aren’t covering huge miles, so the low 200-mile range they experienced was sufficient for their needs (I think these were all AWD models and therefore have 228 miles of range).
The issue is that DC Level 3 charging on these cars is kinda slow. From Toyota:
DC Fast Charging in ideal conditions: In AWD models, going from Low Light to 80% can take ~1 hour, which results in an average charging rate of ~3 miles/minute. In FWD models, going from Low Light to 80% in ideal conditions can take ~30 minutes, which results in an average charging rate of ~6 miles/minute.
That’s an hour to get to 80% under “ideal conditions,” but others, like Cars.com, have found it difficult to achieve those numbers:
Our fast-charging test of a FWD bZ4X XLE took considerably longer at 54 minutes to charge the battery from 25%-80%, which added 141 miles of predicted range at a rate of 2.6 miles of range added per minute. The 2.6 miles of range per minute was far less than Toyota’s best-case estimate of 6 miles of range per minute (higher is better when comparing miles of range added per minute).
The Uber drivers I spoke with said it was more like two hours to go to full which, for obvious economic reasons, Uber drivers tend to do.
When I end up at a public charger and see an Uber driver and look at the screen on the charger I’m never surprised when I see them at 98% or 99%.
This isn’t recommended by Toyota:
To help maintain long-term battery health, DC Fast Charging should be limited to two cycles of charging Low Light to 80%) per day throughout the year.
Since these are leased cars, the long-term battery wasn’t likely of much concern to the drivers.
I don’t blame them for fully charging as, in the same situation, that’s what I’d do. Still, this sucks for anyone who is waiting. Most people I meet at chargers usually only fill up to 80%, which means your max waiting time is usually around half an hour if you’re behind them in line. If you’re waiting for these guys? It’ll probably be a while.
The good news for the future is that there were plenty of Tesla Superchargers in the same garage and there was zero wait.
I ended up getting the last ’23 Solterra remaining on a dealer’s lot a few months ago. I’ve got to say that I love it. For someone that the numbers work for, it’s a great car. May not be a great EV, but it’s a fantastic car. I have a short commute, two kids in car seats, and it does everything I need well. The looks have grown on me – in pictures I never thought they looked good. I also thought they were much larger than they are. In person, I find it to be an interesting car – it also gets waaay more attention from strangers than my prior car, which surprises me.
I came out of a 2010 BMW M3 Sedan. While I miss the scream of the S65, the EV’s instant torque (even at relatively modest levels in the AWD beezterra) makes it plenty fun for daily driving, without going at “straight to jail” speeds.
For context, I did lease the car after the ’24s were already on the lot, so the pass-through EV credit took $7.5k off the sticker and the dealer took another $7.5k off to match the credit. This netted $15k off, which made it a much more competitive car for the price. My daily mileage rarely exceeds 50 miles, with typical being 10-15. I also have access to free charging at work and have a L2 charger in my garage at home for “emergency” use.
If that’s really the reason, then this is further evidence for my theory that the only people who drive for Uber are ones who are bad at math. If you’re spending an extra hour at the charger to fill up that last 20% instead of splitting it into two charging breaks where that second hour could you get you a 60% charge then you’re wasting your time. I get wanting to start a shift at 100% when you can charge “off the clock” and put off having to charge again as long as possible, but if you’re in a hurry it’s almost never worth your time to top off the battery.
If that’s really the reason, then this is further evidence for my theory that the only people who drive for Uber are ones who are bad at math. If you’re spending an extra hour at the charger to fill up that last 20% instead of splitting it into two charging breaks where that second hour could you get you a 60% charge then you’re wasting your time. I get wanting to start a shift at 100% when you can charge “off the clock” and put off having to charge again as long as possible, but if you’re in a hurry it’s almost never worth your time to top off the battery.
If an Uber driver covers much of their daily mileage on a single charge, there’s really little need for them to waste time getting that last 20% into the battery. Also, I’d imagine NYC traffic allows these Toyotas to easily exceed their EPA ranges or at least mitigate range loss from heavy A/C and cabin heater.
If an Uber driver covers much of their daily mileage on a single charge, there’s really little need for them to waste time getting that last 20% into the battery. Also, I’d imagine NYC traffic allows these Toyotas to easily exceed their EPA ranges or at least mitigate range loss from heavy A/C and cabin heater.
I’ve seen a couple Solterra’s in the wild here in the Charlotte area, which doesn’t have that Uber requirement so gotta be a cheap lease deal thing. It’s like if you like the Rav4 Prime, here’s something similarly styled but with much worse plastic cladding all over, and in general just worse. The BZ thing is stupid, should’ve just called it a REV4.
I’ve seen a couple Solterra’s in the wild here in the Charlotte area, which doesn’t have that Uber requirement so gotta be a cheap lease deal thing. It’s like if you like the Rav4 Prime, here’s something similarly styled but with much worse plastic cladding all over, and in general just worse. The BZ thing is stupid, should’ve just called it a REV4.
It was roughly 50 sitings and a few months before I finally saw a 5th Gen Prius in NYC without a T , and many of them were the primes. Like two months ago the buzz forks showed up here and now I see like 10 a day. Ive yet to see one without a T plate
I prefer Bee’s Axe, or if you have an XLE trim Bee’s Axle.
Busy Forks
It was roughly 50 sitings and a few months before I finally saw a 5th Gen Prius in NYC without a T , and many of them were the primes. Like two months ago the buzz forks showed up here and now I see like 10 a day. Ive yet to see one without a T plate
I prefer Bee’s Axe, or if you have an XLE trim Bee’s Axle.
Busy Forks
Are those 2023 or 2024 model year cars? Toyota/Subaru upgraded the DC fast charging capability for the ‘24 model year (better battery conditioning with a new heat exchanger) and they claim that the ‘24 models will DC fast charge more quickly. Subaru says the ‘24 model can go from 10% to 80% in as little as 35 minutes.
https://media.subaru.com/pressrelease/2136/1/2024-subaru-solterra-updated-faster-charging-new-features
I’m personally more concerned with the cold weather charging. In finnish car magazine TM:s extensive yearly *mega-group-winter-tests they were really bad. I mean they hardly peaked over 40kw. I came last in the 10-12 car test.
*mega as in very very comprehensive. And they use actual science to measure stuff, not just pants feel. They’ve done these winter tests for cars since the 60’s and the setup is rather nice. Wonder why any big foreing magazines aren’t interested in buying the results.
Did they test a 2023 or 2024 model year car? We know that DC fast charging on the 2023 model is rather slow. The additional heat exchanger and improved battery conditioning strategy on the 2024 model helps to warm the battery when necessary in order to increase the speed of DC fast charging in cold weather.
It might have been the 23 as it was first model year car. I haven’t really followed up if there has been any reports of improvement.
One thing to keep in mind is that the euro market cars have different batteries than the US market cars, so comparing across the pond results with the ones here have little value.
Are those 2023 or 2024 model year cars? Toyota/Subaru upgraded the DC fast charging capability for the ‘24 model year (better battery conditioning with a new heat exchanger) and they claim that the ‘24 models will DC fast charge more quickly. Subaru says the ‘24 model can go from 10% to 80% in as little as 35 minutes.
https://media.subaru.com/pressrelease/2136/1/2024-subaru-solterra-updated-faster-charging-new-features
I’m personally more concerned with the cold weather charging. In finnish car magazine TM:s extensive yearly *mega-group-winter-tests they were really bad. I mean they hardly peaked over 40kw. I came last in the 10-12 car test.
*mega as in very very comprehensive. And they use actual science to measure stuff, not just pants feel. They’ve done these winter tests for cars since the 60’s and the setup is rather nice. Wonder why any big foreing magazines aren’t interested in buying the results.
Did they test a 2023 or 2024 model year car? We know that DC fast charging on the 2023 model is rather slow. The additional heat exchanger and improved battery conditioning strategy on the 2024 model helps to warm the battery when necessary in order to increase the speed of DC fast charging in cold weather.
It might have been the 23 as it was first model year car. I haven’t really followed up if there has been any reports of improvement.
Never seen one outside the interwebz
Never seen one outside the interwebz
I rarely see these in Maine, but when I do, I call them “Busy Forks” and “Salt-error” for the Subaru model. Makes spotting a dumb unicorn of an EV more fun.
Busy Forks is a good name; I’ve just been calling them the Beezax.
The Subaru is the SoTerrible among my acquaintances who work for Subaru.
The named it after the sun (Sol) and earth (Terra) but somehow made something worthy of neither.
“Busy Forks” for me too.
I rarely see these in Maine, but when I do, I call them “Busy Forks” and “Salt-error” for the Subaru model. Makes spotting a dumb unicorn of an EV more fun.
Busy Forks is a good name; I’ve just been calling them the Beezax.
The Subaru is the SoTerrible among my acquaintances who work for Subaru.
The named it after the sun (Sol) and earth (Terra) but somehow made something worthy of neither.
“Busy Forks” for me too.
I haven’t seen one of these or it’s Subaru twin out in the wild. And my area isn’t short of electric cars either, my street alone has a couple of mach-es and polestars. Heck, I even see vinfasts driving around.
Wait, are these even available in Canada?
I see these all over Montreal, I even test drove the Solterra for the heck of it when my car was in service. It was fine, but I street-park and have nowhere to charge a car so BEV is a no-go.
Quebec makes sense with your super cheap hydro. What kind of government incentives does the province kick in?
Looking at my local Subaru dealer, the dealer is giving $3k off, then there are $12000 worth of government rebates which is pretty crazy.