I had got the data I was seeking.  That informative charging session served as nice confirmation that 30 minutes of pre-conditioning would indeed be an effective range tradeoff.  It should be an easy feature to enable with a software update too.  Let's hope we get it.

Changing Landscape.  It is fascinating to see how perspectives change as they become aware of detail.  Arguing in the abstract happens far too often.  That has been detrimental to progress.  Heck, we saw that with all the Volt arguments... which were an entire decade after hybrids became a hot topic.  You would have thought after all that time, simply identifying who the competition was would have been easy.  Nope.  Knowing audience is still a problem.  That's why I focus on operational detail instead... what to look for.  Heck, just a year ago EV enthusiasts were complaining to no end about winter efficiency.  Only now are they making a connection to its relation to battery temperature.  You would think with the "yo-yo" recommendations from the summer before, someone would have shared ODB-II data... so we see the impact of temperature.  Nope.  Only now is that enlightenment happening.  Ugh.  Better late than never.  Not everyone agrees though: "It just didn't help that most competitors had better charge rates already."  Did they?  Some still don't offer pre-conditioning.  Others require you to program in a destination with a charger at least 30 minutes away.  Preparation isn't automatic.  That's wasteful.  But without detail, how will anyone know that.  Understanding pros & cons requires knowledge sharing.  Sure glad that process has finally begun:  That's where priority comes into play.  DC charging simply wasn't high up on the list.  For that matter, notice how charge-curve and battery-heating are recent topics?  There was little discussion related to them in the first decade of rollout, during the period where only early-adopters were the voice of consumers.  Think about market conditions back then, like how much slower DC stations were and how rentals & Uber/Lyft usage has altered demand.  Heck, we even hear stories now of how Bolt & Leaf owners didn't even have level-2 at home and managed just fine for years with only level-1.

Software Updates.  As a software engineer, the topic of updates is engaging.  There are countless decisions involved related to how & what should be deployed.  Over the decades throughout my career, I have used a wide variety of approaches.  Factors like audience & urgency play into the decision making process, as does the resources required to test, build, document and distribute.  It gets quite involved.  Most people are not aware of what it takes... or the risk.  If there is an update problem, is there a contingency available?  Needless to say, I have dealt with those factors.  Making those decisions is always a tradeoff, even in the best of circumstances.  That's why I focus on detail instead.  Here's what I shared today on the topic:  There will be software updates.  The hoped big one for existing vehicles would be the ability to pre-condition.  The known updates will include new dashboard info to encourage stopping at 80% by automatically providing detail stats on that while charging.  Obviously, there will be modifications to improve charge-curve which will likely include an increase to maximum allowed battery temperature (currently 35°C, could become 40°C). There is also an expectation of a small increase to usable capacity (from 65 to 67 kWh).

Hardware Updates.  On the forum for EV owners here in Minnesota, I shared this knowledge gained hoping for some insightful feedback:  Didn't realize the LFP version of Model 3 uses its motor to heat the battery rather than having a dedicated heater.  Apparently, the single-motor model was struggling to provide enough heat under those conditions in the recent Chicago incident.  The small battery-heater in my bZ4X takes forever to do the job, but it has been able to keep up.  The mid-cycle update for bZ4X (rolling out the end of this month) gets a substantial battery-heater upgrade, a water-to-water exchanger rather than the basic coil pass-thru.  Seeing Toyota turnaround feedback that quickly will catch others off guard, those thinking the legacy automaker wouldn't continue EV investment.  With respect to DC charging, seeing a few AC chargers at DC locations would be nice.  For those waiting in line to charge, being able to tap AC as a resource to generate & retain battery heat in the meantime could be quite helpful.

More Temperature Watching.  With daytime highs struggling to reach double digits, it has been easy to make observations related to battery-heater operation.  I let the vehicle get well below freezing at outside close to 90% charged, then pulled into the garage and let it charge (level-2 EVSE) to that set limit.  You can see from the graph (via EVSE app) it finished charging, then sat parked & plugged for many hours.  Eventually it turned on the battery-heater for a warming cycle, then shut down.  The next morning, I caught it automatically running another cycle.  The new ODB-II reader allows me to connect from inside the house without starting the vehicle.  With that, I could confirm battery temperature had indeed been kept a decent amount above freezing.  Notice that it does draw a little power from the battery during the warming, then it is replenished from the plug.  That activity provides a little extra warming.  Here's what I saw... bZ4X Photo Album 15

More Control, Bigger Stake.  So many are frustrated & angered with Elon, it was no surprise seeing lots of negative comments posted about him wanting more control and a bigger stake in Tesla's future.  His struggle in Europe & China makes trouble in the United States too much to admit.  He messed up.  Tesla owners are not struggling with low resale value on top of having to deal with shortcomings with the technology/approach itself.  A reset for Tesla is coming.  He knows it too.  I very happily pointed out the situation this way:  This is a textbox example of Innovator's Dilemma, predicted for now many years ago.  When niche opportunity is exhausted, it's time to move on.  There was obviously no desire from Elon to address entry-level offerings.  Model 2 must focus on necessity, providing only modest power/speed & capacity and lacking features like FSD.  It will only deliver a razor-thin profit. It will contribute to SuperCharger congestion.  And it will take production resources away from more exciting models.  The fact that CyberTruck is clearly not a F-150 Lightning or Silverado EV fighter only makes the outlook even less exciting.  In short, he sees little for him at Tesla if what's required to compete in the mainstream market become Tesla's priority.

Heat-Pump Irony.  Gotta love how certain things are worth waiting for.  In this case, it is the denial of Toyota being far better positioned for change than enthusiasts ever wanted to admit.  They dismissed plug-in hybrids, portraying the technology as a complete waste.  Supposedly, nothing used in a PHEV could ever benefit a BEV.  They were wrong, very wrong.  I find that irony was amusing.  Toyota isn't actually scrambling to catch up.  Efficiency efforts... as we have seen through motor & controller refinement... and especially use of a heat-pump... has a big payoff for anything with a plug.  I was more than happy to point out their intentional misleading too:  It's ironic how the importance of having a heat-pump is coming up now, yet the "behind" narrative about Toyota thrived for years... completely dismissing the fact that they have had heat-pumps standard since late 2016.  Others are playing catch up now to what I had on my 2017 Prius Prime, enjoying the better winter efficiency.  It's one of those carry forward benefits from PHEV to BEV naysayers disputed.

ICE Investment.  Failing to look at the bigger picture is nothing new.  In fact, that is typically a major weakness among enthusiasts... hence their group-think, enabling hope to turn into hype.  Anywho, that short-sighted attitude usually manifests itself with a statement like this: "Toyota will soon be bankrupt..."  Think about how long they have been saying that and how much evidence there is to the contrary.  Again, I had the opportunity to point that out to them:  Quite the opposite.  Toyota knows the market will become flooded with used ICE and that other legacy automakers won't stop their own ICE production entirely.  That means competition for the small slice of the market still not ready will be extremely picky about their choice... which is where a final investment to make the best of the best pays off.  It's a means of bridging the gap while plug-in sales face new challenges as that audience continues to raise the bar.  Think about how cutthroat the market will become as entry-level BEV sales compete with razor-thin profit-margins.

Just A Hybrid.  This is evidence of not having progressed beyond the early-adopter stage: "I have now had 3 encounters with Karens while charging at charging stations (free at grocery stores in my area).  They see me charging and then demand I move as I'm just a hybrid."  To become mainstream, some type of messaging must emerge... since that is literally evidence of the product having matured to the mass-market stage.  In other words, they set expectations.  Ordinary consumers will be informed what the new technology they should be considered is for.  How they will benefit should be obvious.  How they use it should be easy to see.  How they it differs should not be intimidating.  That type of understanding is what early-adopters establish.  They find a simple way to convey what they learned.  That clearly hasn't happened yet.  Sadly, we are still stuck in the adoption stage.  Being embraced by the masses will come in the form of acceptance, not quarreling about who gets to use a charger.  Ugh.  I provided something to think about, those who have a plug-in, park in front of the charger, but never actually plug in:  Since your PHEV gets far more out of the 20-25 minute shopping stop than a BEV, they should really keep their mouths shut.  I have stopped at our local grocery store for 6 years with my PHEV, many times going from completely depleted to getting enough electricity to drive home entirely in EV.  Now, I drive a BEV and the biggest problem still remains, those who park in the charging spot but don't plug in.  Overwhelmingly, they are Tesla owners.  Why?

Watching Battery Temperature.  Having already confirmed the battery-heater will start the moment you plug into AC level-2 under a variety of circumstances, I turned my attention to trying to represent the typical at home experience.  Ensuring the battery-pack started below freezing, I left the bZ4X parked outside at 90% during the day to cold soak on our first sub-zero daytime high day.  In the evening, I pulled it into the garage unheated but insulated, charge dropped to 89%.  When I plugged in, it briefly restored charge to 90% (the max I have it set to), then switched over to battery heating.  (That is indicated on ODB-II when battery-draw goes from a negative to positive value.)  The next morning, I checked temperature.  Inside the vehicle cabin measured with a laser-thermometer, it showed 12°F.  The front of the vehicle, where the system sensor is (closest to the house interior) showed 18°F.  The back of the vehicle was also 12°F.  Like any owner would do, I fired up the cabin-heater remotely before leaving the house.  Upon leaving, and was able to confirm the expected "above freezing" target for the battery-pack was fulfilled... 32°F min, 37°F max.  Following the 7.5 mile drive to the coffeeshop, 4.7% battery-capacity has been consumed and battery-temperature unchanged, despite the 1°F outside.  Here are 2 photos... bZ4X Photo Album 15

Watching That Video.  It was quite telling... just random mention of price & features, nothing in particular.  He didn't provide any detail about changes.  Toyota's rapid response to market feedback obviously scares him, since such a move positions Toyota as a threat to the status quo.  Turns out, engineers were given the priority of improving DC charge performance.  They delivered.  bZ4X gets a mid-cycle update which is missing entirely from the video, despite it being about the 2024 model.  That upgrade replaces the current basic battery-heater with a large water-to-water exchanger and adds an adjustment valve for coolant circulation.  That will most definitely provide a big improvement.  There's no excuse for leaving that information out.  Toyota included it with their pricing in the press release.  That video was a blatant effort to mislead.  Grrr!

But Don't Buy One.  Gotta love that click-bait thumbnail.  It was for a video titled: "2024 Toyota bZ4X gets New pricing and features in America".  I drew attention to the video, despite its obvious intent for those who haven't had to deal with people feeding the "behind" narrative.  There are some who work hard to undermine Toyota's progress.  This particular individual has been working at it for years, using adept tactics to confuse & mislead.  He even attempts to spin conspiracy.  Turns out, that anti-EV messaging is quiet lucrative.  He gets a lot of clicks from publishing lies.  It's quite a wake-up call for those of that haven't seen enthusiast propaganda.  His hate is quite obvious, pointed out in the comments on that video.  All I can say is prepare yourself for watching such nonsense to learn about the deliberate trouble being stirred.  This particular individual makes a living from his video channel and he has figured out that it is profitable having an antithesis.  Choosing Toyota for that tells you something.

Still Behind?  The idea of rapidly catching up isn't something those pushing the "behind" narrative wanting to face.  Their portrayal of Toyota was to spread misinformation that would sustain the belief of always struggling in the back, watching others lead.  Any possibility of a black horse scares the heck out of them.  They have no way to combat either.  This made that quite evident: "Toyota is so behind!"  Without anything to support those claims in the past, claims like that still worked within the echo-chamber.  But now that the audience is showing signs of more than just early-adopters, blind statements aren't working as well anymore.  Then when you ask them for evidence... like how they determined Toyota was specifically 10 years behind... you get silence.  Detail exposes falsehoods.  And when it comes to fanboys attacking others to make themselves look better, expect nothing constructive.  If they break the silence, it's usually an attempt to divert attention to some other topic.  That's why I try to keep my short:  Based on what?  Toyota is already rolling out a mid-cycle update for bZ4X, preparing to rollout the new smaller EV (aka "3X") in Europe this year and is preparing to build bZ5X in the United States.  That's happening while Toyota continues to phaseout ICE, moving to hybrid-only while also introducing new PHEV models.  That shows Toyota's effort to move their entire fleet forward... leaving other legacy automakers behind.

One Month Ago, software update.  I especially liked reading this recent video comment: "It is an excellent car with poor cold weather charging.  Here in Sweden in -20c really terrible.  BUT, the battery heats up when using fast DC charger, so the battery heater hardware exist?  Could it be helped by a software update that pre-condition (warm up) the battery before the charging session?  It would only take a software button on the infotainment to manually press it 15-30 minutes before arriving at the charger?  Or am I missing something here?"  That is an awesome example of an owner using critical thinking.  With the research I have done to find detail related to battery heating, it seems to have already paid off.  I have real-world values to share for those wanting more information.  I can set reasonable expectations... which is quite the opposite of nonsense I had to deal with in the past.  Remember how Volt enthusiasts would wildly speculate, turning hope into hype without any basis to support it?  Ugh.  Those were nightmare days.  They would troll Toyota, undermining efforts with false belief.  They paid the ultimate price, but that defeat caused collateral damage... a mess I'm still working to clean up.  Anywho, it's getting easier due to software updates.  Phew!  Finding out there was one on the way, then getting confirmation in the recent press-release, sure was nice.  I called my dealer's service department hoping to get some info, especially since the regional manager just happened to be making the rounds.  No word yet.  At least there is something realistic to share:  There is a "cold weather" software update forthcoming.  No detail has been shared yet, but the belief is the current heater threshold will be raised and a pre-conditioning feature will be introduced.