- the battery warranty for lexus's first ev, the ux300e, will probably last longer than you'll have this crossover: either 600,000 miles or 10 years.
- lexus says it built this pack on the back of 20 years of electrified vehicles (mostly hybrids) and believes the air-cooled pack will keep at least 70 percent of its capacity after a decade.
- unfortunately, lexus doesn't extend its faith in evs to u.s. buyers for now, as the ux300e will only be sold in europe and asia.
lexus is expressing long-term confidence in the battery for its upcoming all-electric vehicle, the ux300e, as evidenced by a warranty that will last for 10 years or 621,000 miles. as befitting a european vehicle, the number sounds more impressive in kilometers: one million km. that's really just a clever marketing play, since it's extremely improbable that a driver will reach 600,000-plus miles in 10 years, especially in a relatively low-range ev, but it does show the automaker's confidence in its technology.
while the ux300e cuv will be lexus's first ev, toyota has been working on varieties of electrified vehicles for more than 20 years and has sold more than 15 million hybrids around the world. lexus vehicles made up 1.7 million of those hybrids.
lexus points to three key features meant to keep the 54.3-kwh lithium-ion battery in the ux300e working for at least a decade: an air-cooling system, heating elements for each module, and rubber seals to keep out water and dust.
lexus says it chose the air-cooling system because it is safer and lighter than water-cooled systems. the air inside the pack, it says, allows for stable battery output "even at high speed and during repeated rapid charging." the individual module heating elements under each battery module "minimize the impact of cold weather on the driving range, ensuring full power is available from the start." we'll assume you're familiar with how rubber seals work.
while air-cooled battery packs in other evs, such as the nissan leaf, use passive cooling, the lexus ux300e's air-cooled system is active and is thus connected to the cabin air conditioning, allowing the ac to send cooled air to the pack when needed. lexus says that the pack's temperature management system works to keep the battery from getting too warm or too cold, and uses multiple monitoring systems to regulate charging and prevent overcharging.
the 54.3-kwh battery pack in the ux300e is made up of 288 cells and yields a claimed estimate of 248 miles of official driving range using the nedc standard. nedc tests result in higher estimates than what the epa would declare, but the ux300e is not expected to come to the u.s., although lexus already sells gasoline-powered ux models here. the electric ux300 will go on sale in select european markets by the end of the year and japan in early 2021. it is already on sale in china.
just because the ux300e won't be sold here doesn't mean that toyota's investment in better batteries won't affect the company's cars here. a toyota spokesperson would not comment specifically on future products, unsurprisingly, but did say that toyota will offer electrified options across 100 percent of its lineup with a target to have 25 percent of its sales be from electrified vehicles by 2025. starting with the 2020 model year, toyota's electrified vehicles—hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and fuel cell vehicles—had their battery warranty extended to 10 years and 150,000 miles. "with more electrified vehicles to come, we will continue to evaluate our battery warranty strategy," the spokesperson said.
in europe, lexus says the battery's service warranty will cover "all functional defects of the bev (battery electric vehicle) main battery and capacity degradation below 70 percent," but the owner needs to keep to the prescribed maintenance schedule. in other words, if the ux300e gets 248 miles of range when it is new, after 10 years it is still warranted to be able to go 173 miles on a charge. the ux300e is also covered by a three-year vehicle warranty and a five-year drivetrain warranty. that powertrain uses a 150-kw (204 hp) electric motor connected to the front wheels to offer a claimed zero-to-62-mph time of 7.5 seconds. the battery pack can be charged at up to 50 kw using dc quick charging and 6.6 kw using level 2 connectors.