Toyota Expands All-Electric bZ “Family”

April 3, 2026

Sebastian Blanco

“The customer who drives a Camry and switches to the Tesla Model 3 or something, probably this customer will be confused. But going from the Camry to the bZ, this customer doesn’t feel any confusion. It’s a normal car.” (*Sebastian Blanco*)

Toyota continues to shift gears out of sync with other OEMs when it comes to building and selling all-electric vehicles. After years of down-playing EV sales in favor of hybrids and PHEVs, Toyota is instead expanding its all-electric line-up of vehicles just as other automakers are canceling or scaling back multiple EV projects (see page X). Just don’t go looking for a bunch of new bZ models on dealer lots.

As part of this strategy, Toyota unveiled its largest EV yet, the 2027 Highlander, in February. Applying the name of a popular three-row SUV to what is now an electric-only model is surprising, but the new Highlander should have the performance figures to live up to the name. Toyota will sell two trims, the Limited and XLE, which both use a 95.8-kWh battery to provide an estimated 320 miles (515 km) of range and which can provide off-board power in emergency situations. Available with front- or all-wheel drive, the new Highlander will offer up to 338 combined system hp (252 kW) and 323 lb-ft (438 Nm). The vehicle will also boast seating for seven, more than 45 cu ft of rear storage (with the third-row seats folded down) and the latest versions of Toyota’s infotainment and Safety Sense Systems. The Highlander will be assembled at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky while the battery modules will be assembled at the Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMNC) Battery Plant and at partner suppliers in the U.S.

The all-electric Highlander joins the C-HR in getting an all-electric remake in the U.S. While Toyota has sold ICE, hybrid and PHEV versions of the C-HR around the world in recent years, the compact SUV hasn’t been offered in the U.S. since the 2022 model year, when the gas-only version was discontinued here. For 2026, Toyota is reintroducing the C-HR as a battery electric model. The fact that the Highlander and C-HR are keeping familiar names says a lot about where Toyota sees EVs going in the near term. Even though the C-HR is technically not a part of the bZ family – otherwise, it could have been called the bZ Sport – in engineering terms, it’s sort of a distant relative, Toyota chief engineer Masaya Uchiyama told SAE Media.

“The bZ name was kind of a starting point for Toyota,” Uchiyama said. “After that, we decided on the pathway approach, and battery EVs are getting more normal, so it’s better to have an existing name. That’s why we are using C-HR and [Highlander] instead of bZ Big or something like that.”

Naming differences aside, Toyota’s current EV models share plenty of technical details. The current bZ, the bZ Woodland and the C-HR all use similar batteries and motors, Uchiyama said, but the Woodland trim adds specific AWD control while the C-HR was tuned with a specific suspension for a more emotional driving feel. That makes the bZ Woodland its own beast, perhaps roughly comparable to a RAV4 Woodland trim with all-terrain tires. The EV’s AWD system uses two motors that each produce 167 kW and 198 lb-ft (268 Nm) for a combined net output of 375 hp (280 kW) and a 0-60 time of 4.4 seconds. The C-HR is similar in most regards, with the same 74.7-kWh battery and charging features, but the C-HR also offers AWD, even though the rear motor is smaller (the front motor is still 167 kW) and only produces 87 kW and 125 lb-ft (169 Nm). Overall power output is 338 hp (252 kW). Both the bZ Woodland and the C-HR have independent MacPherson strut-type front suspensions and multi-link rear suspensions, both with stabilizer bars. On the bZ Woodland, the suspension provides 8.4 in (21 cm) of ground clearance. All of them use a 400-volt architecture, which Uchiyama said was the sweet spot for today’s EVs.

“We see, currently, the 400-volt system as kind of practical for many people,” he said. “If we can switch to 800 volts, it’s going to be very expensive.”

The main thing that would prompt Toyota to shift to an 800-volt system, Uchiyama said, would be a major reduction in those costs, along with more 800-volt-ready charging infrastructure and improved battery cells. He wouldn’t say what chemistry that might be, but did say that Toyota is “doing a lot on the R&D side” and that when it comes to when an 800-volt future will make sense, Toyota is studying the possibility, but hasn’t decided anything yet.

Feeling the improvements on the road

Toyota might be keeping its “beyond zero” branding around for its marquee EV, but the changes the company made in the new bZ Woodland trim should legitimately make people forget the critical and commercial disdain that the original bZ 4X received. Toyota has reworked the entire bZ formula, taking advantage of improved technologies throughout, and made a normal-looking and -acting SUV that happens to be all-electric. Uchiyama said the engineers heard loud and clear that they needed to provide a better EV if Toyota wanted to actually compete at dealerships.

“We heard a little voice from the market about the range and also the charging speed, and also the information about the [range display],” Uchiyama said, laughing. “To do that, we improved the battery, we have a bigger battery size now, and also we completely changed motors, and also the charging system, and the heating system, and then we put battery preheating into the new bZ.” Uchiyama said Toyota improved the efficiency of the electric system and the motor’s efficiency, and upgraded some power electronics from silicon to silicon carbide.

These improvements mean the new bZ Woodland has options the original model never dreamed of. That’s why, given the potential for off-roading, the bZ Woodland has a special AWD control system that monitors the rotational speed of the inside and outside wheels, similar but different from torque vectoring. Depending upon wheel speeds, the system can transfer torque between front and rear (but not left to right), giving the car better understeer and oversteer control.

Driving the bZ Woodland is nothing like the original bZ. It’s tough to understate how much better the acceleration is now and how the increased power gives the EV a true sense of purpose, even if it isn’t going to be anything close to the quickest EV on the block. Toyota has built a confident EV that’s quiet on the highway and totally capable of driving a few adventurous miles into the back country, if the trail is right. What’s perhaps most notable about the bZ Woodland – and the CHR, which swaps out the off-roading features for a more sophisticated feeling on the road – is that these are Toyotas through and through from behind the wheel, falling comfortably in that comfortable space where a car does what it’s supposed to do without offering flashy tricks, like a tank turn or ludicrious speed.

The 2026 Toyota C-HR uses a 74.7-kWh battery, a 167 kW front motor and a larger, 167-kW rear motor for what the automaker calls a sophisticated feel on the road. (*Sebastian Blanco*)

For all of Toyota’s newfound dedication to EVs, this is still a company that’s adapting at a slow pace. This is how its customers want it, apparently, as you might be able to guess by the fact that these EVs still do not have one-pedal driving. Uchiyama reiterated Toyota’s stance that all Toyotas should behave in similar ways, whether they’re battery-powered or use another fuel source.

The new Toyota Highlander shifts to an all-electric powertrain for the 2027 model year, one of many signs that the automaker is rethinking its EV strategy. (*Sebastian Blanco*)

“Whether you are off-road, on-road, wherever, we want you to have a more natural driving feel,” Uchiyama said. “When we talk about EVs, everybody talks about acceleration or a peak kind of performance. We don’t talk about that. It’s okay that we want to have a more natural vehicle feeling, which gives the driver confidence.” Unlike competitors with RWD EVs that can provide a longer wheelbase and a bigger battery, Toyota’s EVs are front-wheel-based, so they feel that little bit more like a “normal” vehicle with a traditional powertrain. Other automakers have made a splash with the aforementioned tricks, but Toyota believes EVs should drive like any other vehicle – whether ICE or hybrid or PHEV – because that will make a driver’s eventual transition to electric power that much easier.

“[Driving our EV] feels close to those kinds of vehicles, and if we can have that, this customer is very easy to transfer to battery vehicles,” Uchiyama said. “The customer who drives a Camry and switches to the Tesla Model 3 or something, probably this customer will be confused about where a switch is or something. It’s a very different experience. But going from the Camry to the bZ, this customer doesn’t feel any confusion. It’s a normal car. That’s the kind of safe feeling we want them to have.”