Range Anxiety: New All-Electric Lexus RZ 300e

Driving the new, all-electric Lexus RZ 300e made me think of a more modern take on the famous last words of Shakespeare’s villainous King Richard III.

“A plug, a plug. My kingdom for a plug.”

I know. The nasty-boy royal was in search of a horse when he uttered his immortal words on the bloody battlefield before exiting stage right.

But I felt the king’s pain as I watched the remaining charge of this new Lexus evaporate with each mile. Range anxiety. You bet.

That’s the problem here. While I love pretty much everything about this Teflon-smooth and library-quiet RZ, its battery range sucks.

According to EPA estimates, a 300e on standard 18-inch tires, has a theoretical range of 266 miles. That’s good. But opt for the Luxury version I’m driving, with 20-inch wheels and tires as standard, and the range drops to 224 miles.

But the RZ uses its computer smarts to predict a more accurate range figure based on your driving style. Which meant that after a full-to-the-brim overnight charge, it showed a max, real-world range of just 185 miles.

Now that’s fine if you’re using the RZ as an around-town commuter. Start venturing further afield, however, and you better know where the nearest fast chargers are hiding.

That’s a pity. With the RZ being Lexus’ first all-electric vehicle, coming 19 years after the intro of the ground-breaking hybrid-electric RX400h, I expected more.

A rival Genesis GV60, for example, will deliver close to 300 miles; Cadillac’s Lyriq offers around 314 miles; and the rear-drive Tesla Model Y Long Range will go for 320 miles on a charge.

And when you come to plugging it in, it’ll take you a lot longer to charge than those rivals. Its DC fast-charge rate is 150kW compared to 200 to 250 kW from most other electric vehicles out there.

If you’re comfortable with all that, then this new RZ is a truly lovely ride. Size wise, it sits halfway between the gas NX and the best-selling RX. But its EV design means that its cabin is huge, with especially terrific rear-seat space.

Two RZ models are on offer. The front-drive 300e comes with a 201-horsepower electric motor up front and kicks off pricewise at $56,325. For more zip, there’s the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive 450e version with a combined 308- horsepower, priced from $61,025.

Take your pick from Premium or Luxury versions; our 300e Luxury tester with the must-have Dynamic Sky panoramic glass roof, and a few more bits and bobs stickered at $62,190.

See it on the street and it’s one cool-looking compact crossover. While it shares its design and tech with Toyota’s silly-named bZ4x and Subaru’s Solterra, this Lexus version somehow looks sleeker, more sophisticated.

Inside, there’s no shortage of Lexus luxury, with lovely faux leather it calls NuLuxe, and soft Ultrasuede for the headliner. The quality of materials, the fit and finish, are just terrific.

And that panoramic glass roof—a mere $550 option—not only floods the cabin with light, but it has a party trick. At the touch of a button, it goes from clear, to milky-white opaque. Just like in a Maybach-Mercedes.

Up front there’s a big, tablet-like 14-inch touchscreen in the center of the dash and a less-impressive 12.3-inch instrument display with lettering that couldn’t be any smaller. Thankfully a big heads-up display is standard.

While our 201-horsepower 300e lacks the muscle of the 308- horsepower 450e, it still has that rock-out-of-a-catapult liveliness away from a stop light. It feels a lot faster than its 0-to-60 in 7.4 secs suggests.

And I love how Lexus has focused on luxury with the driving manners of this new RZ. The car is spookily quiet, even under hard acceleration, and rides so smooth that it feels as if there are blocks of marshmallow at each corner. Sporty it’s not, but it’s just what most Lexus owners would want.

If you could be happy with a 180-mile-or so range, the RZ 300e is a terrific electric car. If not, Lexus would happily show you one of its fine hybrids.

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