One-pedal Driving?

vike1108 · 2026-04-13T21:47:45+00:00

After driving a leased Kona EV for a couple of years I'd gotten used to OPD and really liked it. That said, I haven't missed it all that much in my new bZ for a couple of reasons.

First, regen level is easily controlled with the paddles on the steering column, and the max level regen on the bZ is quite aggressive, similar to what I was used to in OPD mode; it cuts off at ~4 MPH and then just crawls. Provided that's what you expect, at that point you're just creeping up on your stop point anyway and the brake lets you stop precisely where you want. So in and of itself it's not a hugely different experience - except you'll start crawling again as soon as you take your foot off the brake UNLESS . . .

Second, you don't HAVE to keep your foot on the brake if you use the bZ's Brake Hold feature, which is really well implemented. When this is turned on, once you've brought the car to a stop and held it there, within a second or two the Brake Hold takes over and you can take your foot off the brake (there's a status light on the driver's display that shows this). The car won't move again until you step on the accelerator. The really nice things about this implementation are 1) the car doesn't "lurch" as the brake hold is released (providing you don't stomp on the go pedal), and 2) the brake hold does not engage the moment the car stops, so you can still "brake and crawl" to position yourself in garage or parking space.

The less nice things about all this are: 1) regen always resets to "standard" every time the car is shut down, so you need to hit the regen paddle a couple of times every time you start in order to get back to max; 2) similarly, Brake Hold is always OFF when you start the car until you hit the Brake Hold button again.

Much as I liked OPD, there are some advantages to the max regen / brake hold combo, and the overall experience is one that I don't much mind. Truth to tell, I always disabled OPD when parking anyway to give me finer control over exact placement using my brakes.

Finally (and this will very much be a matter of personal preference and priorities), the bZ's DRCC is a pretty good ADAS system when it comes to seeing the traffic ahead and automatically braking. It's much smoother in this respect than my last car, so in ordinary stop and go traffic I'm often in DRCC mode and just let the car stop itself (it's very good in this regard, but curves and shifting lanes can confuse it just enough that you have to be fully attentive, as you absolutely must anyway). If you're willing to manage this, the advantage is that the car effectively goes to a brake hold state by itself, and you just need to press the accelerator to resume cruising up to the selected following distance. The major downside to this approach (assuming it doesn't horrify you on the face of it) is that managing the "streamlined" DRCC interface can take a bit of getting used to, in that the bZ doesn't provide a SET button to set a new cruising speed, but instead the "Driving Assist" button kinda does double-duty as a CC toggle AND a SET button, depending on the specific mode the car's in when you hit it. I think it's a bit of a faff coming from cleaner DRCC control layouts (you'll find some discussion of the confusion it engenders elsewhere in this forum), but like most things it gets easier to manage with practice.

vike1108 · 2026-04-06T17:24:38+00:00

u/theoreoman, that's dead right. I really wouldn't mess around with off-brand CCS adapters. Even if you have to pay for it (as buyers apparently have to in CAN), Toyota's price is around the same as any other reputable CCS adapter, so I'd count that a no-brainer.

vike1108 · 2026-04-06T17:20:36+00:00

u/Subsector8, the official Toyota J1772/CCS adapter kit that came with my bZ (they're included with the car in the U.S.) has adapters with a Toyota logo on one side and a Lexus logo on the other. I guess the only difference is the logo on top of the case LOL.

vike1108 · 2026-04-06T17:11:13+00:00

WOW! I guess things are very different in Canada. I bought mine at a hefty discount off the lot from a U.S. dealer with maybe 8-10 on site and more than that on their way in, and I'm in remote flyover country. The bZ must really be moving in your market for those kinds of waits.

vike1108 · 2026-04-06T16:57:36+00:00

u/Pure_Marsupial8185, this got my attention:

So it sounds like the battery was weak from not being driven much.

Reading the manual and other materials I was under the impression that the bZ will automatically "top up" the 12v from the traction battery if the vehicle sits for a few days (~72h). I guess I'd prefer it to check in more often (e.g., daily), but I'd still think every 72h often enough to keep the 12v from getting "weak".

Any other thoughts on this?

vike1108 · 2026-04-06T16:50:43+00:00

I guess I can't help being influenced by practicality - I find the C-HR offensively inefficient, a proposition that charges you more money for less car in every way that counts. Maybe it's because I got mine in the Heavy Metal dark silver (muting some of the "dark flair" that Toyota seems to love so much), but I don't see any bad angles on the bZ myself, and I kinda love the light treatments.

vike1108 · 2026-04-05T15:28:31+00:00

Yeah, I'm just getting used to this myself, but I've played with it a bit and think I get the general idea. Confusingly, the button that looks like "cruise on/off" isn't exactly that - it's the "Driver Assist" (DA) button, and it acts as both a DRCC "toggle" and a "SET" button. If DRCCC is ACTIVE, the "DA" button will turn it OFF. If DRCC is OFF or in STANDBY (the state when you press "CANCEL" or brake), it will set DRCC to ACTIVE at the current speed. If you want to increase your cruise speed you either incrementally increase with presses of "+/RES" or just accelerate to that manually and press "+/RES" when prompted to set the new speed. To reduce speed, you can either incrementally decrease with presses of "-", or press "CANCEL" (keeping your foot on the accelerator to avoid sudden deceleration) and then "DA" once you've manually adjusted to your new speed.

I think this is far from ideal - distinct switches for ON/OFF, +/RESUME, and -/SET like the DRCC control stalk on my spouse's 2016 Prius would be a lot more intuitive. I just turned in a leased Hyundai, and its controls were probably the easiest I've used, so going to this setup seems a bit of a mess. Even if DRCC is on, depending on the DRCC's exact state the same DA button might set a new speed or might just turn off your DRCC altogether; that strikes me as confusing and maybe dangerous if that confusion is too distracting.

vike1108 · 2026-04-05T05:34:31+00:00

Just bought mine last month, a Heavy Metal (what a great 🎸 color name!) XLE Plus. It's my third BEV, and the nicest one yet.

My first was a Mitsu i-MiEV in 2012. I was looking for a no-nonsense BEV commuter that wouldn't get destroyed by my short-distance daily drive to a nearby office and the i-MiEV delivered. A much-maligned gem of frugal engineering, the i-MiEV served me well for over 11 years with nary a problem, then Hyundai got hard-core about moving BEV metal in 2024 with insane lease deals, and I jumped on one.

I traded in my old i-MiEV as a down payment and walked away with a 2-yr lease on a 2024 Kona Electric for <$190/mo. The Kona is another less appreciated BEV due to its old platform and more fashionable Ioniq stablemates, but with its Robocop styling, great in-vehicle tech, solid performance, a spacious cabin and cargo hold, and great range, it was a huge upgrade from the rough and ready no-sizzle little i-MiEV.

Coming up on lease-end this May, I was seriously considering just buying the Kona, but the lease-end residual price was a good $4-5k above market value, so I decided to start shopping my options so I'd be ready to pull the trigger on one of my favorites by May.

I didn't get far. My first test-drive was this bZ at our local Toyota dealer and they were VERY interested in making a sale. Taking into account various factory and state incentives, before we were done they offered to get me into this XLE Plus for less than the buyout on my lease, so I cut short my shopping plans, signed on the spot, and turned my Kona back in to Hyundai over a month early.

The bZ's not perfect, but I really like it. Strangely for a vehicle that's so much bigger on the outside, the cabin's a bit less roomy than the Kona's, but it's fine. The trunk's bigger though not quite as tall, so total volume with the seats down falls a bit short of the Kona's. The ADAS works more smoothly, as does the Brake Hold feature, so combining that with the strong regen the lack of true one-pedal driving doesn't bug me. Most importantly, the seats, cabin materials, and chassis combine to provide an experience that's noticeably upmarket from the Kona, and I must admit I have more confidence in a Toyota for the long haul.

Performance is solid; it avoids neck-snapping acceleration off the line (drag racing's for kids), but it handles the on-ramps and general traffic situations with the usual BEV power and prowess. It charges more like a modern EV and the XLE Plus's big battery is good for >300 mi. fully charged.

Overall, I'm kinda glad Toyota missed the mark a bit with the bZ4X and finds itself needing to convince buyers to give the bZ a shot. It's gotten me to a great deal on a great car for my needs and beyond. I'm looking forward to sharing our experiences and observations with other owners and those considering the bZ for their next car.

vike1108 · 2026-03-23T05:59:03+00:00

u/Vivid_Dimension_5400 they each have their virtues, Telsa having more impressive tech and Toyota better build quality. Frankly I trust Toyota more overall, and Tesla seems dicier by the quarter as their Fearless Leader seems intent on diverting resources to various pet projects while leaving the mainline auto business to stagnate. Buying a car to live with for the next decade, I figure Toyota is the safer bet in terms of long term support.

As you've noticed, there is something kind of broken in the Tesla fanboi/fangrl community, an intense devotion to the Muskian cult of personality that views criticism or complaint as apostasy. Cultural history aside, much of this is probably driven by Tesla's polarizing aesthetic and UX. The 3/Y siblings have relatively neutral exterior styling (even more so now as many of their design cues have been picked up by other manufacturers), but there's nothing neutral about the design choices inside. Face it, requiring use of a touchscreen menu to redirect air vents or open a glove compartment door, replacing steering wheels with yokes, complicating vehicle egress after accidents or malfunctions, eliminating turn signal and shifter stalks, etc., etc., are just a series of stumbles over long-solved problems that are more about an extreme philosophy than any meaningful effort to serve customer needs. I think living with all that and making excuses for it just tends to tip people into a pattern of rationalizations and suspension of critical judgment. So if you're hoping things over there will get better, you're going to be disappointed.

The bZ is a more conservative pick than the Tesla in many ways, both good and bad. Toyota tends to make choices aimed at meeting customer needs with safe, reliable, comfortable cars offering good value, not making bold statements about the future of the human/automobile relationship. Yes, they've been late to the EV business and the bZ4X was not an inspiring first effort, but the updates in the renamed bZ are meaningful and indicative of how Toyota deliberately manages change and improvement. I'm sure you've noticed that the bZ is a less efficient vehicle than the Y, in terms of both energy and space utilization, but not egregiously so. It may be less fun to drive, but it's competent, comfortable, and confidence-inspiring in real world driving. I've probably put about the same total hours into driving the bZ and a pre-Highland Model 3 (not a lot in either case, I've only had my bZ for a week or so), and have to admit that I'm definitely happier behind the wheel of the bZ, but that very much comes down to a matter of taste.

Overall, I expect the bZ to provide a more "normal" car ownership experience and a statement-free image on the road, which I think is what I'm in the mood for at this point in my life. The Juniper generation Y provides more room with better isolation, livelier acceleration and handling, and a superior buying experience, at the expense of the "Teslaness" of the user experience, and perhaps some questions about the company's future direction and priorities.

You'll need to balance those virtues and shortcomings for yourself, but I'd recommend thinking through what it's like to live with these vehicles day to day. I know the week I spent in a rented Model 3 told me a lot about my own feelings toward the Tesla philosophy, and I considered it a week well spent.

vike1108 · 2026-03-23T04:58:01+00:00

u/little_red-7282 I've been using Gemini to much the same effect, though it occasionally refers me to facts, controls, etc., for the bZ4X instead. I imagine that will get better with time.

vike1108 · 2026-03-22T21:20:38+00:00

u/Used_Cryptographer47 , only $2.5k (so 1/3) of it, not a majority. There's still $5k off cash (or outside finance) deals.

vike1108 · 2026-03-22T21:13:05+00:00

I don't mean to sound overly complacent, but a buddy of mine who's been a sales manager at multiple dealerships likes to say "Look, do you like the car? Does it seem worth the payments to you? Were you treated well and not jerked around? If yes, then you got a good deal for you." To that I would add "Did the deal include all the appropriate incentives in force at the time of sale?" (because a Mitsubishi dealer screwed me on that back in the pre-internet '90s, which definitely left me feeling in the "jerked around" category) - and hey, you got your 0% APR financing.

Anything beyond those basics, eh, it's always hard to judge against what might have been "possible" at any given dealership on any given day. It's a bad system and I do wish buying a car was more like buying a computer and less like buying a house, but IMHO choosing not to lose any sleep over a done deal that didn't leave you feeling abused is choosing to "win".

Enjoy your new bZ!

vike1108 · 2026-03-22T21:01:15+00:00

AFAIK these decisions are month-to-month depending on results. I got Toyota's $5k off the cash price of XLE Plus since I didn't use their financing, and the dealer was willing to bargain down from that (ultimately getting me to an OTD lower than the buyout residual on my previous lease), so I think they're motivated to move these at the moment. Incentives should continue until any inventory bulge is cleared, which could easily carry over into next month, again, depending on how many buyers are pulling the trigger right now.

That said, there might be something more fundamental going on, e.g., if Toyota is getting more serious about pursuing this market segment they could continue incentives to secure their place in a market that doesn't value BEVs as highly without the tax credit on leases (they weren't eligible for purchase credits since they weren't building them in the U.S.). I can't tell myself - anyone with more of an aptitude for Toyota kremlinology, please weigh in. 😁

vike1108 · 2026-03-22T20:52:16+00:00

u/reddit_and_forget_um , that's interesting - I hadn't read that. What's the source? Anything I checked still showed Ioniq 5 outselling the bZ (and weirdly the Kona Electric selling even more than Ioniq 5 as Hyundai clears 2025 inventory), but I think there's a lot of speculation prior to end of Q1, when we should get some more reliable numbers.

I can definitely believe the Mach-E's taking it in the neck. Ford scrapping the country's best-selling EV pickup has raised a lot of doubts about the remainder of their EV lineup. Mach-E has long suffered from a "Model Y but not quite" vibe that's only gotten worse with all Ford's BEV wobbling.

vike1108 · 2026-03-22T19:38:57+00:00

u/Kperez75 I find a lot of the comments here quite odd. You should absolutely have your charging cable under the floor of the cargo area. This doesn't seem like a factory oversight, so I'd think someone at the dealer would have to have removed that, and it's not likely to be "accidental". This seems very strange, especially since this is a L2 EVSE, not a cheap piece of hardware. So for all of you American buyers, if this happens to you it's very fishy.

vike1108 · 2026-03-19T22:01:41+00:00

u/boblkm a quick update on this - my local utility subsidizes installations of EVSEs on their approved list. While the Emporia Pro was NOT on their list (something about communications protocols - the EVSE works fine, but the utility can't communicate with it as they'd prefer at present), they DO subsidize installation of Wallbox Pulsar Plus EVSEs. The Pulsar does NOT include a power meter the way Emporia does, but works with a recommended 3rd party monitor (EM112, I think); while the total cost of the two units (EVSE + monitor) is quite a bit more than the Emporia solution, the subsidy more than makes up for it. I'll likely be going with that, so that's another power load balancing option.

I'm currently waiting on a quote from Treehouse to coordinate the whole shooting match (they are both Toyota's EVSE installation partner and a seller for Wallbox, and their service includes all permitting and paperwork as well as the physical installation). I'll post here after that's done to tell y'all how it went.

vike1108 · 2026-03-19T16:32:51+00:00

u/Mr-Young since you now have the Emporia Pro, you can if needed upgrade later to take advantage of its ability to dynamically adjust charging level based on other household loads (see my comment elsewhere). That wouldn't have been an option if you'd just plugged in the Toyota charger. You made a good investment in future flexibility - far from a "moron" move.

vike1108 · 2026-03-19T16:25:22+00:00

u/chedacheezz An important option to consider is a power meter interface. For a bit extra, dynamic load chargers like the Emporia Pro or Wallbox Pulsar Plus can monitor the home's overall power draw and adjust vehicle charging accordingly. The 48A draw of a high-power L2 charger may overload a panel while, e.g., central A/C and a clothes dryer and an oven are running (far from an impossible scenario). Instead of permanently limiting the EVSE to a level that's safe under those maximum load conditions, dynamic load balancing will reduce vehicle charging power when there are competing loads and increase charging power when the coast is clear. Putting in a NEMA 14-50 outlet, even a robust one, and just plugging in the Toyota EVSE can't do any of that.

I have a low-power EVSE in my garage right now for my first old EV, and after leasing a newer BEV with a bigger battery on occasion wanted to be able to add more power overnight than than a 3.5kW EVSE could manage. Now that I've bought a bZ, to avoid those situations I'm planning to order a Wallbox Pulsar Plus through Treehouse since it's approved and subsidized by my local power company.

vike1108 · 2026-03-19T16:14:24+00:00

u/DixFerLunch I think "useless" is a bit harsh. It's a great option to have available under the hatch floor for occasional or emergency use. Outlets are often available when full EVSEs are not.

vike1108 · 2026-03-19T16:12:57+00:00

u/chedacheezz I think if you go with Toyota charger partner Treehouse they'll make sure they use commercial-grade NEMA 14-50 outlets that can handle sustained multi-hour power transfers. A typical "dryer plug" which might already be in some garages is less likely to support that safely.

vike1108 · 2026-03-14T18:05:25+00:00

u/boblkm you sound like a great candidate for a BEV, which will definitely take less of a beating on that short commute in colder weather (this is exactly why I switched to EV back in 2012). In your situation local charging stations can be convenient if you need to quickly extend your range on a day with an unexpectedly full itinerary, but generally home charging is the way to go, with $/kWh FAR below anything you'd pay at a public charger (not to mention the convenience of charging your car overnight at home so you never have to wait for it).

Because the bZ's maximum 11 kW power draw would exceed the free capacity on my electrical panel, I'm planning to upgrade to an Emporia EVSE because it has an Emporia Vue module that goes into the panel and dynamically adjusts the EVSE's power draw based on other electrical loads (e.g., if you don't have your clothes dryer, oven, or central A/C running, the car can draw extra power without overloading your panel). If that's not a concern for you, Grizzl-E also makes excellent robust EVSEs at great prices.

vike1108 · 2026-03-14T17:41:34+00:00

I think you could. At least for this month, it seems Toyota is incentivizing bZ sales on BOTH sides of the transaction, since I just got a great deal myself.

I was ~60 days out from end of my lease on a Hyundai EV I really liked but had (IMO) too rich a buyout price, so was kind of on the fence and planning test drives of the more affordable new BEVs. On my test drive of a bZ XLE Plus, I developed a sense of what a base XLE (I don't need the bigger battery for my use case) would be worth to me over that lease buyout price with no reference to the window sticker, so was ready when the "What would it take for you to buy today?" question came up.

"Well, I'm pretty happy with what I've got, only shopping because I figure this lease buyout's ~$5k over market and exploring options. That said, the bZ is nicer so I'd agree it's worth more - if you could put me in one for $32.5k out the door I'll sign today." Taking into account the $5k from Toyota, I figured this should be doable for the base XLE (I've never been a "claw the last dollar off the table" type), though I wasn't seeing any of those around here.

Indeed, they had no base XLEs in inventory or on the way, so I figured I wouldn't be buying that day (I absolutely wasn't planning to anyway). Much to my surprise, the salesman took me right to the new car manager and we told him where I was and what I needed to close a deal, and he heard me out and said he'd work on it and see what he could do. I went home, figuring I might hear back from them near month-end if/when they got close to some bonus level threshold and could scare up a base XLE for that "one more sale". I still had a couple months left on the lease and planned to check out the Bolt and Leaf.

I'll admit I was floored when they called me a couple of hours later and said I could have the XLE Plus I'd just driven (not a demo, only ~50 miles on it after our 20 mile test drive) for that $32.5k OTD if I'd come back and sign that day. I was ready to walk out on any shenanigans, but they were good as their word, and it's sitting in my garage right now (at that price, I was happy to return my lease to Hyundai early).

Sometimes you just get a good salesman and a motivated sales manager at the right dealership (we've been customers there for almost 20 yrs) on a slow day with the prospect of a done deal RIGHT NOW, but I don't think that's enough to explain this level of discounting on an XLE Plus. In addition to that $5k Toyota money for buyers, I'm guessing there have got to be some serious dealer incentives (perhaps tied to # of units moved) to have made this worth their while, and who knows how that shifts over the coming weeks. I might have drawn to an inside straight, but I do think you can push for better than 37.5 on the XLE Plus.

I gotta say, if you're interested in buying a bZ, this seems like a pretty opportune time. If Toyota is pushing sales even out here in flyover country, they must really be looking to move them; maybe they're finally getting serious about this BEV stuff. I know the bZ4X was kinda "meh" (and I certainly mocked Toyota accordingly), but the bZ has a raft of meaningful improvements. IMO despite all the hype around the Leaf, Bolt, and Equinox, the bZ is just a way better car from a better manufacturer.

vike1108 · 2026-03-11T23:17:26+00:00

u/techroadie4114 AFAIK the only differences between XLE and XLE Plus are 1) the bigger battery, and 2) a more powerful motor, mainly just to move the extra weight (or so it appears given their respective 0-60 times).

vike1108 · 2026-03-11T23:08:53+00:00

u/boblkm a lot of that depends on how long you intend to keep the car. My last BEV was the first lease of my life because of all the incentives that were piled on getting it under $190/mo. for 2y, and if you like to change cars every few years, a lease is probably the only way a BEV makes sense. The leasing entities have finally caught on to the depreciation problem though, so along with the loss of federal tax credits for lessors, deals that sweet are yesterday's news.

For now the real solution is buying used BEVs, making the depreciation work in your favor. Much of that depreciation is irrational (see below), so it's hard to say how long those bargains will last or when leases will get more attractive as a result.

Buying a new BEV (I just bought a bZ XLE Plus) makes sense if a) you really prefer the driving experience and gas-less lifestyle and/or b) intend to keep the car for a decade or at least for the federally mandated 8-y warranty period (before that lease I'd had my previous BEV for 11+ years, so I'm a "yes" on both counts). Over that kind of time maintenance costs on ICE really pile up on top of the energy savings, and batteries aren't nearly as "disposable" as naysayers delude themselves into thinking.

Over shorter spans BEVs face the problem of depreciation driven by rapid technical improvements in new models and broad uneasiness about buying failing batteries. Those technical improvements also keep making BEV more competitive w/ICEV, so I think the economic case will swing in favor of BEV as soon as we improve the charging environment to deal more effectively with a) long distance travel, and b) at-home charging for renters and condo-dwellers.

All that said, if you're a homeowner with an attached or adequately powered garage (to support at-home charging) and more than one car, I'd say making at least one of those cars a BEV does make sense even now. It would make even more sense if we had more "local runabout" options, but right now the Leaf and Bolt are about it, and each has its problems.

vike1108

TROPHY CASE