Starting with the UX300e, all Lexus battery-electric vehicles will come with a 10-year, one-million-kilometre battery warranty.
The company highlights its air-cooling system as the key point for maximising long-term battery life and durability.
As opposed to usual water-cooled systems, air cooling is said to be safer and lighter as well.
“Stable battery output can be attained even at high speed and during repeated rapid charging,” said Lexus Europe.
However, a Geotab study of 6300 electric vehicles quoted by Electrek reveals the air-cooled battery in a 2015 Nissan Leaf degraded at 4.2 per cent per year, compared to 2.3 per cent for the liquid-cooled battery on a 2015 Tesla Model S.
Figures for the Lexus UX300e won’t be available until it’s been on the market for a few years. But there are differences between the cooling systems in the Leaf and UX.
Battery temperature in the Lexus managed by actively cooled air, where the Nissan battery is passively cooled by ambient air flowing past it.
Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai Australia battery warranties cover eight years, but is limited to 160,000 km. Meanwhile, Tesla Australia offers a maximum 8 years/240,000 km for the Model S and X.
Lexus’s parent company, Toyota, covers its hybrid vehicle batteries for 10 years with unlimited kilometres. Though, Toyota does use different nickel metal hydride cells for its hybrids, rather than lithium-ion batteries.
Lexus Europe’s EV battery warranty applies to all “functional defects” of the vehicle’s main battery, including capacity degradation below 70 per cent if the owner abides by scheduled servicing intervals.
The company’s first EV is already selling in China, and is poised to land in Europe by the end of this year. Japan will follow in 2021.
The Lexus UX300e contains a 54.3 kWh battery that can achieve 400km range on the less stringent NEDC test cycle.
Australian availability for the UX300e is unconfirmed, although we get the standard petrol-driven UX and its hybrid-petrol Toyota CH-R sibling.
The Lexus UX 300e starts at 362,000 yuan ($78,300). In China, it is offered alongside the electric Toyota C-HR BEV and Toyota IZOA BEV with which which it shares its underpinnings.
