Worth waiting for? Cheapest Toyota bZ4X EV to deliver strong 516km driving range - but how much will it cost?

Toyota's long-awaited bZ4X EV has just been range-certified in Europe, with the battery-powered crossover to deliver a 516km driving range on a single charge.

We knew Toyota's incoming EV would deliver a 470km driving range in dual-motor AWD guise, but this new figure is attached to the cheaper, single-motor vehicle, which will crack the 500km barrier (both figures WLTP).

The front-drive (single motor) bZ4X models deliver up 150kW of power from the one electric motor, while the all-wheel-drive models draw frrom two 80kW motors for a combined total output of 160kW.

The range comes courtesy of the bZ4X's 71.4kWh battery, which is the same across single- and dual-motor models. Toyota customers in Europe can also opt for an "extended care program", which guarantees 70 per cent battery capacity after 10 years or one million kilometres.

The bZ4X is expected to arrive in Australia in late 2022 or early 2023, making Toyota just about last to the EV party Down Under, following models from Mazda, Hyundai, Kia and others.

In worse news, Toyota has already warned the bZ4X will "be expensive" when it arrives in Australia, given the immense amount of R&D that will have gone into it.

“It will be expensive, there will be significant research and development cost recovery,” Toyota Australia vice-president of marketing Sean Hanley said when the all-electric model was revealed.

Speaking of price, the numbers have been confirmed in the UK, with the entry level Pure trim starting at £41,950, which converts to about $A79,135. To put that into some sort of perspective, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 lists for £36,995, meaning the bZ4X is positioned above it in the UK.

In Australia, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 starts at $71,900, which – though straight conversions rarely play out accurately – suggests a starting price somewhere north of that for the bZ4X Down Under. That would also place it above the cheapest variants of the Kia EV6, the Tesla Model 3, and the Polestar 2.

In the UK, the bZ4X range then steps up to the Motion model, which adds plenty of kit but retais the single-motor layout, with pricing starting at £45,750, or $A86,304. Pricing for AWD variants is yet to be announced. 

Toyota is yet to offciially annouce local pricing or specification for the bZ4X, so watch this space.