• 71.4 kWh battery capacity, 313 PS power, 450 km range (estimated, J-WLTP)
• Unlike Lexus UX 300e, the Lexus RZ is built on a battery EV-specific e-TNGA platform
• Promises to ride and handle better than rival EVs – Lexus Driving Signature
• All-wheel drive Direct4 can also do either 100% FWD or 100% RWD
• Available with either traditional round steering wheel or F1-style 150-degree steer-by-wire ‘yoke’ steering wheel

Toyota is a company that Tesla fans love to hate, because President Akio Toyoda dared to disagree with their high priest Elon Musk’s vision of a binary, EV-only future.

For suggesting that the world is too diverse and too complex for a one-size-fits-all EV-only solution – a blasphemous thought to Musk’s worshippers, but now supported by BMW and Porsche - Tesla fans say that Toyota is destined to follow the fate of Nokia, and Tesla’s significantly higher stock value is proof of that.

So, would EV fans buy an EV from the supposedly anti-EV Toyota / Lexus?

Regardless, Toyota has since announced that it will sell 3.5 million EVs by 2030, with 30 models in the pipeline, a goal which is aimed at becoming one of the world’s biggest EV manufacturer, all while making fantastic dinosaur juice cars like the Toyota GR Corolla and Toyota GR 86.

And since it’s by Toyota, you know they will deliver what they say, and you know their EVs won’t rank at the bottom of J.D Power’s or Consumer Report’s reliability surveys, or suddenly go up in flames while charging overnight.

Also read: Consumer Reports on most reliable cars: Mazda SUVs, Toyota hybrids, Lexus top

This Lexus RZ 450e is the first step towards an EV-only Lexus future by 2035, and the electric mid-size SUV is due to go on sale in end-2022, starting with USA.

The Lexus RZ 450e is a Lexus RX-class product. In fact, if you imagine the front of the car with a traditional Lexus Spindle Grille, you will have an image of a 2023 Lexus RX, which will be announced later this year.

Lexus Driving Signature

The all-wheel drive Lexus RZ 450e makes 313 PS, and has an estimated range of 450 km when tested under the Japan-WLTP test cycle (a milder version of WLTP tweaked for Japanese driving conditions), or 362 km (also estimated) when tested under the US EPA test cycle.

Power comes from a 71.4 kWh battery that drives a 150 kW motor in front and 80 kW motor behind, making a combined output of 230 kW (313 PS).

Lexus’ press materials made a lot of emphasis on the Lexus Driving Signature, achieved with its Direct4 all-wheel drive. The materials were just short of claiming class-leading ride and handling.

Most battery EVs have floor-mounted battery packs, which in theory makes for great handling because the heaviest part of the car is at its centre of gravity. The keyword here is in theory.

Real-world driving experience points to a very different story, as many EVs handle very poorly. Some like the Volvo XC40 EV, is just nausea-inducing, as high weight also means high inertia, which when coupled with poorly calibrated controls, means changes in lateral movement happen only a quarter to half a second after the initial steering input.

Lexus paid great attention to ironing out this common problem in EVs. President Toyoda has previously said he is not impressed with the driving characteristics of most EVs, and Lexus’ first dedicated EV must meet the expectations of Master Driver Morizo, as he is known in racing circles, before the product can be signed off.

The Lexus RZ’s Lexus Driving Signature was refined at the Toyota Technical Center Shimoyama’s test track, essentially a scaled down Nurburgring, transplanted to Japan.

Direct4 all-wheel drive

Direct4 is not just any regular electric all-wheel drive system, because any Chinese start-up can easily hook up two motors together, but it takes a lot of experience and input from a master driver to refine it.

Where other AWDs modulate torque distribution between the front and rear axles based on available tyre grip, Direct4 goes several steps further, as it constantly measures ground contact load, regardless of road surface and driving conditions.

Cars typically pitch during hard acceleration, but keeping a certain level of pitch is essential to make the driving experience a more emotional one. Likewise for yaw when cornering.

Balancing this is tricky, a task which Lexus likens to a chef seasoning a dish.

When accelerating in a straight line, torque is split between 60:40 and 40:40 front-rear.

Steer-by-wire is a necessary step towards autonomous driving cars but such steering are usually quite rubbish when it comes to driving feel, often lacking in driver engagement of conventional steering racks.

So Direct4 also alters torque distribution when the Lexus RZ transitions from corner entry to corner exit.

Drive is biased towards the front wheels when entering a corner (between 75:25 to 50:50) but at corner exit, drive is seamlessly transferred to emphasize the rear wheels (between 50:50 to 20:80) to give it the rear-wheel drive character that keen drivers so love.

If necessary, power can be transferred 100 percent either to the front or rear axle.

The front suspension are MacPherson struts, while the rear are trailing arm double wishbones. Adaptive dampers are used, but Lexus says its Frequency Reactive Dampers (FRD) alters the dampening force on the extension stroke in response to road surface’s frequency input.

Sound – tickle your 5 senses, not mute it

Apart from weight, another problem with EVs is that they are just too boring to drive. Sure they have very high torque, and accelerates very fast – so does an MRT or any electric train. Does taking a train excite you?

The fact that EVs are very quiet is both a strength and a problem. Quiet is good, but sound is a critical element in making an engaging drive. If Lexus wants more people to buy EVs, they need to make them as fun to drive as combustion engine cars, which except for taste, tickle your remaining 4 senses.

The Lexus RZ 450e’s debut video places a lot of emphasis on sound. Not enough details is shared about this aspect yet, but Lexus’ press materials say “Lexus engineers created expressive in-cabin sounds to convey the exhilaration of driving. Engineers matched sound frequencies to the vehicle’s speed and sound levels during dynamic actions such as acceleration.”

The debut video's script reads "Listen to the oldest conversation. The joy of driving, born anew, for everyone, for everything."

Unwanted noise is filtered out but driving emotion-related sound are amplified. The Japanese video below shows us a glimpse of how 'cabin noise / active-synthesized noise' for the Lexus RZ is developed.

The 2023 Lexus RZ 450e is expected to go on sale towards the end of 2022, starting with USA, followed by Europe and other parts of the world.

More details including charging speed and on-board charger's power rating will be shared closer to its market launch.