Toyota C-HR+ is EV Rally Cymru’s efficiency champion

• Toyota’s battery electric SUV achieves the highest energy efficiency result in two-day rally across Wales 

• Newly crowned World Rally Champion Elfyn Evans drives the car across the finish line at Toyota’s Deeside engine plant 

The Toyota C-HR+ has demonstrated its excellent energy efficiency to carry off honours in the EV Rally Cymru, a two-day “mythbuster” test of the capabilities of all types of electric vehicles. 

The battery electric SUV proved itself the top performer in a field that included cars, vans, trucks and trailers, navigating a 385-mile route that took in all types of roads the length and breadth of Wales. 

At the rally’s ninth and final checkpoint at Toyota’s Deeside engine plant, the Toyota’s verified efficiency reading was 7.65 miles per kilowatt hour (miles/kWh), a figure considerably ahead of the model’s official rating of 4.64 miles/kWh. 

Fittingly, Elfyn Evans, Wales’s newly crowned World Rally Champion and Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team star, was at the wheel when the car crossed the finish line last Thursday (22 October).  

For the rally proper, driving duties were undertaken by Richard Seymour, an economy driving expert and past member of the Toyota (GB) press office team, partnered by content creator Rod Kirkpatrick. Their car was a showroom-standard Design grade model, running on 18-inch wheels. Equipped with a 77kWh battery, its official performance data include a driving range (WLTP) of up to 377 miles. 

Success follows the achievement of the Toyota C-HR+ and bZ4X on the recent Greenfleet Mythbusters EV Rally where Team The AA and Drivetech recorded the highest fuel efficiency with their entry of a Toyota C-HR+ and bZ4X. 

As an event sponsor and official car supplier, Toyota provided a number of bZ4X SUVs for the rally’s organising team and hosted the end of rally reception at Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK’s Deeside plant, which recently became to the first Toyota production centre in Europe to start carbon-neutral production. 

ENDS