How The 2024 Acura ZDX Promises To Stop Range Anxiety With Credits And Deals
The 2024 Acura ZDX is shaping up to be a new heavyweight in the electric SUV space, and while the automaker may be promising its usual blend of driving dynamics and distinctive style, what really stands out is just what you get for your money. Unveiled in August after a thinly-veiled preview in the shape of 2022's Acura Precision EV Concept, the 2024 ZDX will arrive in dealerships early next year.
Pricing will start at around $60,000 for the 2024 ZDX A-Spec, with a single electric motor good for 340 horsepower. However, there'll also be a 2024 ZDX Type S — as shown here — with dual motors good for 500 horsepower, making it Acura's most powerful SUV to date.
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A reservation system for potential buyers will open later in 2023, Acura says. So, too, can we expect full hardware details, including Acura's version of the GM Super Cruise hands-free driving system that will also be offered on the Ultium-based ZDX.
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While the sticker price of the Acura ZDX is one thing, anybody even vaguely familiar with the EV industry knows that the MRSP isn't the only number to bear in mind. Incentives and rebates can help take the sting out of a new electric vehicle; at the same time, upgrading a home or garage for EV charging can add an extra line-item to the bill that internal combustion cars don't require. There, Acura has another plan.
Three charging packages bundled in the ZDX's price
This may be Acura's first EV, but the automaker isn't naive about the challenges that electric vehicles face — and the preconceptions that potential owners still struggle with. Charging is, unsurprisingly, a significant hurdle. While range anxiety is most commonly associated with battery size onboard the EV itself, where and when it'll be plugged in to replenish that battery is another big question.
Acura's strategy there, or at least one stage of it, is a bundled charging package. More accurately, a choice from three charging packages, which will be included in the price of the 2024 ZDX and the ZDX Type S. They're designed to satisfy different levels of changing concern, whether that be at home or on the road.
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Basically, the trio of packages will cover home charger installation and credits for public chargers. At the one extreme, the package will be biased toward getting new-to-EV owners up and running for home charging. While the final amounts haven't been settled upon yet, it'll mean support for installing a home EV charger in, say, a garage or carport, as well as any other potential costs around upgrading electricity panels or other infrastructure.
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At the other extreme, Acura's offering will be biased toward those wanting on-the-road charging. Again, final credit amounts haven't been announced, but we've seen similar strategies from automakers offering bundled charging with Electrify America and other providers. In the middle, there'll be a more equal balance of home credit and public charger access.
Dealer support is on the rise
Acura dealers who want to sell the 2024 ZDX, meanwhile, will need to do more than go through product training. In fact, they'll sign a commitment to not only install — or upgrade — their electric vehicle chargers on-site but also get set up for any servicing requirements that the automaker's EVs require.
According to Jessica Fini, freshly installed as the head of Honda's new Product, Sales and Dealer Communications Division, so far the reception from dealers has been broadly positive. Those dealerships in locations where EV sales are proving slower to gain traction — which map, Fini says, to general trends in electric vehicle adoption around the U.S. — won't have the same demands for facility upgrades. Nonetheless, she points out, the trajectory of the industry (and of Honda and Acura's product line-ups) is clear, and it's a matter of when, not if, the hold-outs will have to get onboard.
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By that point, Acura will have more EVs, and a new connector to deal with. Though the 2024 ZDX will launch with the CCS charging port, new vehicles arriving in 2025 will switch to the NACS connector developed by Tesla and on its way to becoming a new North American standard. The 2025 ZDX, meanwhile, will also switch over to NACS, though owners of the 2024 model year electric SUVs will be able to use a CCS/NACS adapter to plug in at Superchargers and other NACS-equipped locations.
More places to plug in on the road
As for how often they'll need to be plugged in, Acura is currently quoting preliminary figures as it works toward finalized EPA numbers. Currently, the 2024 ZDX A-Spec in its dual-motor all-wheel drive configuration is expected to hit 315 miles of range. The more powerful 2024 ZDX Type S, meanwhile, will see range decrease along with its uptick in grunt: Acura says it's anticipating a 288-mile rating.
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Although owners of the ZDX will be able to plug in at existing public chargers — like those from ChargePoint, EVgo, and Electrify America — where there'll be up to 190 kW DC fast charging support, soon there'll be another public network to consider. Honda and Acura are part of a consortium of automakers (including BMW, General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis) that have formed a joint venture to build a new, high-power charging network in North America.
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The first of those chargers will be installed by summer 2024 in the U.S., but by 2030 the goal is 30,000 chargers at more than 1,300 locations. Though the network will be EV-agnostic, the ZDX's Google Maps-powered navigation will be able to not only hunt down the nearest location but also start things like battery preconditioning for the fastest possible top-up. Within the Acura app, meanwhile, there'll be payment integration so that the ZDX can use Plug & Charge: at that point, recharging the EV should be even more straightforward than pumping gas into a traditional SUV.