John's Stuff - Personal Log 1291

August 18, 2024 - August 26, 2024

Last Updated: Mon. 11/04/2024

8-26-2024 Software Bug, here. The use of "here" confirmed his scope: "jfc, no I am not going to write you up some document to please yourself. If you want the data go collect it. No one has been on here saying "Yes mine saves it, you have to do XYZ." It's just everyone saying it doesn't save between restarts. Again, learn who the audience is here. End users. I feel sorry for your coworkers who have to deal with you." It was all about attacking me, an outlet to vent his frustrations upon. I shared my background for context, wanting to prevent wasted opportunity. Far too often, someone will get hung up on thinking you have no understanding of the technology or even the market. Being treated as a newbie by the person complaining ultimately uses up their patience... especially if they lack an effective means of conveying their situation. My response to that was to point out another situation:

Reminds me of a situation a few weeks ago where a bZ4X owner complained about DC fast-charging being "too slow" but absolutely refused to tell us what criteria to define "fast" with.

Posting upset without any effort to help resolve the issue is a problem for the person complaining. Does the audience understand the original design decisions? In this case, you refused to provide anything... not even the basics. In other words, if you want a change, you have to explain why.
With regard to "no one here", that's how "know your audience" comes into play. This venue *HERE* stirs posts from those looking to vent a complaint. Those who don't have any issues tend to remain silent. It provides a distorted perspective, amplifying & misleading about the majority.

8-25-2024
Software Bug, data. I asked where I could find that data he referred to confirming the "everytime" claim. This was the response: "Me who troubleshot for 30 minutes to make sure I understood how it worked. If you need more data go buy a bZ4X and write it up and publish it." From that, it was clear he didn't actually understand the nature of the issue. 30 minutes from a single source is nothing but anecdotal information. You need multiple sources spread across a variety of situations. Not only didn't he want to provide any data, he didn't even bother to describe the circumstances. You can't get much further from scientific method for analysis and there certainly wasn't anything usual provided for an engineer to work with. For that matter, how would a project manager even decide what next steps should be? Needless to say, this is another audience problem. Customers complaining without data make it nearly impossible to figure out what they actually saw. Did he even get the same scenario to repeat? Or was it slightly different, but he was too worked up to notice?

8-25-2024
Software Bug, dismissal. The online world is looked upon as everyone being entitled to their own opinion and having the right to just as much attention as everyone else. This was the start of the post where I could see the downward spiral: "Drop the career of developing software, as another software engineer you sound condescending and it doesn't make you more knowledgeable just that you are trying to prove yourself right with out actually knowing the full problem of the software. The facts are this. Everytime you restart the car the setting for Charge limit resets." No facts were presented. He did answer one question though: "What benefit is it for the user that it resets? None." How did he draw that conclusion? I remember extensive back & forth related to how Prius owners ignored the refill warnings for gas. If you must resort to level-1 charging, what are the odds of running out of electricity? I saw countless reports of Prius owners running out of gas. Needless to say, his exchange ended with: "I can't even figure out what the hell you're talking about anymore. Good day." I saw that coming... know your audience. This is what I had to say about the unwilling to even try: Dismissal of what isn't understood has been on-going problem for plug-in vehicles. Paradigm shifts necessitate looking at the situation from a new perspective and striving to avoid making assumptions. Being unwilling to even try by responding with "none" and claiming "facts" tells us a lot about how difficult overcoming the status quo continues to be.

8-25-2024
Software Bug, level-1. Sometimes, you need to stir potential controversy to get decent feedback. Far too many assumptions were being made and acceptance without question. Ugh. I was delighted to get this: "I can tell you this charging with level 1, it resets when you start the car." It was refreshing to get something to work with. Rather than anything related to chemistry, we could start simple. Was this really just a level-1 behavior issue? If so, how do we know this was actually a change with 2024 vehicles? What if it happened with 2023 and no one noticed? After all, the overly simplistic view of charging was only DC fast-charging was important. Knowing level-2 has been treated as trivial, it is easy to see how level-1 could get dismissed entirely. Needless to say, I was excited about this possible revelation: As someone with a career developing software, I ask users a lot of questions to get to the "value added" outcome from their requests. Quite often, they get hung up on desired behavior with high cost and nothing actually gained. What benefit could their be from limiting level-1 charging anything other than a full charge? Think about Toyota's audience. Think about how there is already an ability to restrict charging based on time. Think about what the circumstances are when an owner chooses level-1.

8-25-2024
Software Bug, assumptions. I found the assumption in his reply informative: "Would still be a bug to not hold a setting from the user. While everything you said is true and widely known (except for the "required" part, LFP do just fine with only an occasional 100% charge), there's no evidence that anything changed. Same nominal voltage as '23. No new instructions." I never mentioned frequency. He assumed I meant every time. He's how I responded to that: Not knowing Toyota's history, that's a reasonable assessment. However, has anyone reporting the reset actually confirmed their nominal voltage? Think about how Tesla handled their LFP rollout. Now think Toyota's purpose & audience. It is in their best interest to quietly collect real-world data prior to issuing any type of interface update. Also, what are the circumstances behind a reset event? Is it limited to level-2 sessions? Are those sessions immediate or scheduled? How often are there charging sessions? Does it reset every time? As a software engineer with an extensive background related to vehicle charging, I see a lot of assumptions being made with almost no data.

8-25-2024
Software Bug, no fix. It's quite surprising how many people see charging limit automatically reset from whatever they set to 100% without questioning why. Everyone has been assuming the 2024 model introduced a bug causing that. How is that possible? Not a single owner of the 2023 has reported the same thing. What could have impacted such behavior difference? We have been getting lots of posts like this: "That's a known bug in the 2024s. I don't believe there's a fix yet." Why couldn't that just be poor communication? After all, Tesla pushed the 100% charging without really informing customers. It was quite subtle, even for such an active & observant audience. Customers of Toyota have far less of an participatory base; those owners want automatic features... like not having to think about charging. Anywho, this is what I posted: Is it really a bug? What if Toyota switched to LFP chemistry? After all, their provider (CATL) has been heavily pushing into that offering and their higher-density cells make a good match. 100% is necessary for proper charging. Remaining calibrated requires measurement of voltage variance to full. Everyone has been assuming it's a bug.

8-24-2024 Video: Mostly Highway Commute.

To provide another perspective, I setup the driving video capture to begin where I used to live. Lots of Prius PHV and Prius Prime filming took place from there. So, it was a nice opportunity to compare in addition to the purpose of driving a mostly highway commute.

On this drive, conditions were near ideal for temperature. There was no need for any type of cooling or heating. So, no other energy drain. It was just the bZ4X with AWD and the 20-inch wheels on a drive to work I have done countless times of the decades... except this time, in a BEV.

Efficiency was awesome. You can see on the video I got 4.4 mi/kWh, just like I have been routinely seeing throughout this summer. On slower drives, efficiency is better. But have also been a few trips with the e-bike on a platform rack in back; that results in an aerodynamic penalty (but well worth it).

The video is presented at 10X speed. You can slow playback using the YouTube speed setting to see detail. On the lower-left is the dashboard instrument cluster. On the lower-right is a phone-app reading vehicle data from an ODB-II reader.
Toyota bZ4X - Mostly Highway Commute

8-24-2024
Propaganda. No accountability is what you should always look for. If someone makes a claim, but there is no consequence for failing to deliver, what they are shoveling is probably worthless propaganda. What's the point? They are just another keyboard warrior declaring their superiority. Ugh. Needless to say, we're getting a lot of it now. That's what has been wasting my time lately. Fortunately, I have pretty much moved on by ignoring most of what has become trolling. I just wrapped up the nonsense with: There are some propaganda sources that pop up, make a number of anti-EV videos to feed narratives, then fade away. Basically, it's best to treat them like trolls. Confirm or invalidate there claims. Like any new tech, details are sketchy and it always takes longer than expected. So, don't get too excited regardless of your stance.

8-23-2024
Becoming A Troll. this is where that posting from two days ago went: "Stay away... Weakest EV you can buy." The discuss devolving to that was quite predictable. They have nothing. Enthusiasts just like to argue for the sake of claiming a win. Actually doing anything to change the status quo isn't a priority. Most keyboard warriors don't care. Their online domain is their own world, not a reflection of the market... hence, know your audience. That's why most of my replies to the truly out-of-touch are just a single sentence. Their absence of engagement is a dead giveaway of the futility. So, I keep posts brief. In this case, it was 2 sentences though to point out lack of critical thought: Without detail to support such a claim, that comment is just trolling. You want to help, include substance.

8-21-2024
Three Rows. Knowing that Toyota is planning to take on the highly sought after high-profit market of large SUV sales with two choices of BEV makes headlines like this a standout moment in history: "Ford's Three-Row Electric SUV Is Dead". Wasn't the point of electrification to upset the status quo? That means targeting the bulls-eye, taking on the biggest challenge. That's extremely difficult. Success will upset many. But for change to be true & wide, that is the outcome to expect. It's not change if you don't actually change. That's why those empty promises last year were a joke from the start. We were given nothing to take seriously. Ugh. I posted this comment in today's stir: Enthusiast chants of "all in" were an exercise in futility. Without a bridge to end ICE dominance, infrastructure being so inadequate, and the general popular simply not understanding the technology, the business risk made it totally unrealistic. Basically, it's the early-adopter mindset creating barriers for themselves. They don't like "self charging". They don't like "HEV". They don't like anything with a gas-engine... even if it breaks the status quo, getting the most stubborn of consumer to accept change. The first step is the most difficult. Getting a hybrid owner to consider a hybrid with a plug is trivial in comparison. That positions consumers for realistic consideration of a BEV purchase... which will become easier by the end of the decade as production of new battery chemistries ramps up. Ironically, this news put Toyota in a far better position then the narrative portrays. They are aggressively phasing out ICE in favor of hybrids and have TWO 3-row BEV in the works.

8-20-2024
Investment Concern. This is understandable, but not an absolute: "All these emission reduction technologies in ICE are necessary but introducing new problems and more maintenance to the user and showing the deficiencies of outdated ICE tech." I wonder how my reply to it will be taken: That's an unfortunate narrative, because it is quite incorrect for Toyota. Their hybrid technology is so mature, design refinement has proven significant favor. There are no new problems. There is not more maintenance. That is why 100% hybrid offerings are becoming standard, ending ICE-only models. Camry saw the big switch this year. Belief is RAV4 will do the same next year. In addition, that design success ushers in a simple path to offering plug-in models.

8-20-2024
Already Here. There was an article today talking about how the future of EVs is already here. Focus of that was the improvements from solid-state batteries. Energy density is a significant gain. That means far more EV range can be squeezed into the same amount of physical battery space. The cells themselves are lower resistance, which means less heat is produced. As a result, less cooling will be needed. It's a win-win situation. The article went on to mention efficiency gains from switching to silicon carbide for the inverter. That was my opportunity to point out what Toyota has likely already done:

That title of "already here" seems to be more relevant than people realize...

27.0 kWh/100mi = 2024 Lexus RZ300e (FWD 18" wheels)
30.0 kWh/100mi = 2024 Toyota bZ4X (FWD 18" wheels)

Same platform, yet the one delivers significantly better efficiency. The theory as to why is that plan we heard years ago from Toyota about delivering efficiency improvement through the use of silicon carbide has now been delivered in the Lexus model.

8-20-2024
Charge Frequency. Those old references to "only 2" continue to confuse. That's easy to understand when there's nothing new readily available. People pass along hearsay, rather than actual information from the source. Absence of detail is a problem too. Most everyone assume a "charge" at the DC fast-charger is anytime you plug in. It is actually only when you charge a substantial amount, like the typical 10% to 80% range. That is rarely the scenario most people encounter though. Many will stop to charge before level gets that low (in the 20's) and stop when the speed drops (charge curve reduction, around 60%). Those don't count as a "charge". That's why some of us don't actually see the throttling to slow even after 3 fast-charges. Of course, technically it is 3.8 within 24 hours. Plugging in to level-2 during that time supposedly provides some leeway too. Anywho, this is what Toyota provided in that regard on the Lexus website: "In order to ensure effective charging and preserve battery health over the life of the vehicle, please plan no more than three DC fast charging sessions per day. After three 10–80% state of charge DC charging sessions, a threshold can be reached, which will result in DC charging speed being significantly reduced."

8-19-2024 Efficiency Offerings. Smaller battery-packs using LFP are becoming the focus for affordable offerings. That puts many enthusiasts in a hypocritical position. Their own assessment of what's acceptable and what's dead on arrival are words that they will likely make an effort to avoid. I don't want to give them a chance. That would just be a distraction; instead, I'll post content to focus on breaking the status quo. A means of doing that is to provide detail up front, before they get a chance to interject any type of rhetoric. Here's my attempt:

An interesting problem with an EPA rating of 272 miles from a 60.9 kWh battery will be the impact of winter. As efficient as the vehicle is designed with regard to aerodynamics & propulsion, draw from the heater will be the same as vehicles with larger batteries. That equates to a great percentage loss of EV range in the winter.

Basic math demonstrates impact. Driving 150 miles from a less efficient vehicle in the winter (2.5 mi/kWh) would consume 60 kWh. That same distance with greater efficiency (3.0 mi/kWh) would consume 50 kWh. Both using the same heat-pump would consume the same 15 kWh of electricity. It makes the difference easy to see:

15/60 = 25%
15/50 = 30%
With all the stir over winter efficiency, it's difficult to argue 5% isn't significant when the battery is very small to begin with. This is why chemistry adds a layer of complexity to the discussion. LFP routine charges to 100% can make up the difference.

8-18-2024
Remembering Who. Just like all those years ago, what happens today is about who's being targeted. It's why I continue to ask who the audience is. That's obviously makes some antagonists crazy. They want to make it about me, a personal attack. In fact, this as the response in the latest exchange when I asked: "YOU, if you're paying attention." From a well known keyboard warrior that clearly doesn't care about the bigger picture, it was exactly what I had anticipated... a pattern quite familiar. That "who" question played a major role in the past and is most definitely will again now. I remember. I let him know it too: Just wanted confirmation that you were barking up the wrong tree. It's a common mistake among enthusiasts and difficult to overcome as technology moves into the mass-market stage. The audience is ordinary consumers.

8-26-2024	Software Bug, here. The use of "here" confirmed his scope: "jfc, no I am not going to write you up some document to please yourself. If you want the data go collect it. No one has been on here saying "Yes mine saves it, you have to do XYZ." It's just everyone saying it doesn't save between restarts. Again, learn who the audience is here. End users. I feel sorry for your coworkers who have to deal with you." It was all about attacking me, an outlet to vent his frustrations upon. I shared my background for context, wanting to prevent wasted opportunity. Far too often, someone will get hung up on thinking you have no understanding of the technology or even the market. Being treated as a newbie by the person complaining ultimately uses up their patience... especially if they lack an effective means of conveying their situation. My response to that was to point out another situation: Reminds me of a situation a few weeks ago where a bZ4X owner complained about DC fast-charging being "too slow" but absolutely refused to tell us what criteria to define "fast" with. Posting upset without any effort to help resolve the issue is a problem for the person complaining. Does the audience understand the original design decisions? In this case, you refused to provide anything... not even the basics. In other words, if you want a change, you have to explain why. With regard to "no one here", that's how "know your audience" comes into play. This venue HERE stirs posts from those looking to vent a complaint. Those who don't have any issues tend to remain silent. It provides a distorted perspective, amplifying & misleading about the majority.
8-25-2024	Software Bug, data. I asked where I could find that data he referred to confirming the "everytime" claim. This was the response: "Me who troubleshot for 30 minutes to make sure I understood how it worked. If you need more data go buy a bZ4X and write it up and publish it." From that, it was clear he didn't actually understand the nature of the issue. 30 minutes from a single source is nothing but anecdotal information. You need multiple sources spread across a variety of situations. Not only didn't he want to provide any data, he didn't even bother to describe the circumstances. You can't get much further from scientific method for analysis and there certainly wasn't anything usual provided for an engineer to work with. For that matter, how would a project manager even decide what next steps should be? Needless to say, this is another audience problem. Customers complaining without data make it nearly impossible to figure out what they actually saw. Did he even get the same scenario to repeat? Or was it slightly different, but he was too worked up to notice?
8-25-2024	Software Bug, dismissal. The online world is looked upon as everyone being entitled to their own opinion and having the right to just as much attention as everyone else. This was the start of the post where I could see the downward spiral: "Drop the career of developing software, as another software engineer you sound condescending and it doesn't make you more knowledgeable just that you are trying to prove yourself right with out actually knowing the full problem of the software. The facts are this. Everytime you restart the car the setting for Charge limit resets." No facts were presented. He did answer one question though: "What benefit is it for the user that it resets? None." How did he draw that conclusion? I remember extensive back & forth related to how Prius owners ignored the refill warnings for gas. If you must resort to level-1 charging, what are the odds of running out of electricity? I saw countless reports of Prius owners running out of gas. Needless to say, his exchange ended with: "I can't even figure out what the hell you're talking about anymore. Good day." I saw that coming... know your audience. This is what I had to say about the unwilling to even try: Dismissal of what isn't understood has been on-going problem for plug-in vehicles. Paradigm shifts necessitate looking at the situation from a new perspective and striving to avoid making assumptions. Being unwilling to even try by responding with "none" and claiming "facts" tells us a lot about how difficult overcoming the status quo continues to be.
8-25-2024	Software Bug, level-1. Sometimes, you need to stir potential controversy to get decent feedback. Far too many assumptions were being made and acceptance without question. Ugh. I was delighted to get this: "I can tell you this charging with level 1, it resets when you start the car." It was refreshing to get something to work with. Rather than anything related to chemistry, we could start simple. Was this really just a level-1 behavior issue? If so, how do we know this was actually a change with 2024 vehicles? What if it happened with 2023 and no one noticed? After all, the overly simplistic view of charging was only DC fast-charging was important. Knowing level-2 has been treated as trivial, it is easy to see how level-1 could get dismissed entirely. Needless to say, I was excited about this possible revelation: As someone with a career developing software, I ask users a lot of questions to get to the "value added" outcome from their requests. Quite often, they get hung up on desired behavior with high cost and nothing actually gained. What benefit could their be from limiting level-1 charging anything other than a full charge? Think about Toyota's audience. Think about how there is already an ability to restrict charging based on time. Think about what the circumstances are when an owner chooses level-1.
8-25-2024	Software Bug, assumptions. I found the assumption in his reply informative: "Would still be a bug to not hold a setting from the user. While everything you said is true and widely known (except for the "required" part, LFP do just fine with only an occasional 100% charge), there's no evidence that anything changed. Same nominal voltage as '23. No new instructions." I never mentioned frequency. He assumed I meant every time. He's how I responded to that: Not knowing Toyota's history, that's a reasonable assessment. However, has anyone reporting the reset actually confirmed their nominal voltage? Think about how Tesla handled their LFP rollout. Now think Toyota's purpose & audience. It is in their best interest to quietly collect real-world data prior to issuing any type of interface update. Also, what are the circumstances behind a reset event? Is it limited to level-2 sessions? Are those sessions immediate or scheduled? How often are there charging sessions? Does it reset every time? As a software engineer with an extensive background related to vehicle charging, I see a lot of assumptions being made with almost no data.
8-25-2024	Software Bug, no fix. It's quite surprising how many people see charging limit automatically reset from whatever they set to 100% without questioning why. Everyone has been assuming the 2024 model introduced a bug causing that. How is that possible? Not a single owner of the 2023 has reported the same thing. What could have impacted such behavior difference? We have been getting lots of posts like this: "That's a known bug in the 2024s. I don't believe there's a fix yet." Why couldn't that just be poor communication? After all, Tesla pushed the 100% charging without really informing customers. It was quite subtle, even for such an active & observant audience. Customers of Toyota have far less of an participatory base; those owners want automatic features... like not having to think about charging. Anywho, this is what I posted: Is it really a bug? What if Toyota switched to LFP chemistry? After all, their provider (CATL) has been heavily pushing into that offering and their higher-density cells make a good match. 100% is necessary for proper charging. Remaining calibrated requires measurement of voltage variance to full. Everyone has been assuming it's a bug.
8-24-2024	Video: Mostly Highway Commute. To provide another perspective, I setup the driving video capture to begin where I used to live. Lots of Prius PHV and Prius Prime filming took place from there. So, it was a nice opportunity to compare in addition to the purpose of driving a mostly highway commute. On this drive, conditions were near ideal for temperature. There was no need for any type of cooling or heating. So, no other energy drain. It was just the bZ4X with AWD and the 20-inch wheels on a drive to work I have done countless times of the decades... except this time, in a BEV. Efficiency was awesome. You can see on the video I got 4.4 mi/kWh, just like I have been routinely seeing throughout this summer. On slower drives, efficiency is better. But have also been a few trips with the e-bike on a platform rack in back; that results in an aerodynamic penalty (but well worth it). The video is presented at 10X speed. You can slow playback using the YouTube speed setting to see detail. On the lower-left is the dashboard instrument cluster. On the lower-right is a phone-app reading vehicle data from an ODB-II reader. Toyota bZ4X - Mostly Highway Commute
8-24-2024	Propaganda. No accountability is what you should always look for. If someone makes a claim, but there is no consequence for failing to deliver, what they are shoveling is probably worthless propaganda. What's the point? They are just another keyboard warrior declaring their superiority. Ugh. Needless to say, we're getting a lot of it now. That's what has been wasting my time lately. Fortunately, I have pretty much moved on by ignoring most of what has become trolling. I just wrapped up the nonsense with: There are some propaganda sources that pop up, make a number of anti-EV videos to feed narratives, then fade away. Basically, it's best to treat them like trolls. Confirm or invalidate there claims. Like any new tech, details are sketchy and it always takes longer than expected. So, don't get too excited regardless of your stance.
8-23-2024	Becoming A Troll. this is where that posting from two days ago went: "Stay away... Weakest EV you can buy." The discuss devolving to that was quite predictable. They have nothing. Enthusiasts just like to argue for the sake of claiming a win. Actually doing anything to change the status quo isn't a priority. Most keyboard warriors don't care. Their online domain is their own world, not a reflection of the market... hence, know your audience. That's why most of my replies to the truly out-of-touch are just a single sentence. Their absence of engagement is a dead giveaway of the futility. So, I keep posts brief. In this case, it was 2 sentences though to point out lack of critical thought: Without detail to support such a claim, that comment is just trolling. You want to help, include substance.
8-21-2024	Three Rows. Knowing that Toyota is planning to take on the highly sought after high-profit market of large SUV sales with two choices of BEV makes headlines like this a standout moment in history: "Ford's Three-Row Electric SUV Is Dead". Wasn't the point of electrification to upset the status quo? That means targeting the bulls-eye, taking on the biggest challenge. That's extremely difficult. Success will upset many. But for change to be true & wide, that is the outcome to expect. It's not change if you don't actually change. That's why those empty promises last year were a joke from the start. We were given nothing to take seriously. Ugh. I posted this comment in today's stir: Enthusiast chants of "all in" were an exercise in futility. Without a bridge to end ICE dominance, infrastructure being so inadequate, and the general popular simply not understanding the technology, the business risk made it totally unrealistic. Basically, it's the early-adopter mindset creating barriers for themselves. They don't like "self charging". They don't like "HEV". They don't like anything with a gas-engine... even if it breaks the status quo, getting the most stubborn of consumer to accept change. The first step is the most difficult. Getting a hybrid owner to consider a hybrid with a plug is trivial in comparison. That positions consumers for realistic consideration of a BEV purchase... which will become easier by the end of the decade as production of new battery chemistries ramps up. Ironically, this news put Toyota in a far better position then the narrative portrays. They are aggressively phasing out ICE in favor of hybrids and have TWO 3-row BEV in the works.
8-20-2024	Investment Concern. This is understandable, but not an absolute: "All these emission reduction technologies in ICE are necessary but introducing new problems and more maintenance to the user and showing the deficiencies of outdated ICE tech." I wonder how my reply to it will be taken: That's an unfortunate narrative, because it is quite incorrect for Toyota. Their hybrid technology is so mature, design refinement has proven significant favor. There are no new problems. There is not more maintenance. That is why 100% hybrid offerings are becoming standard, ending ICE-only models. Camry saw the big switch this year. Belief is RAV4 will do the same next year. In addition, that design success ushers in a simple path to offering plug-in models.
8-20-2024	Already Here. There was an article today talking about how the future of EVs is already here. Focus of that was the improvements from solid-state batteries. Energy density is a significant gain. That means far more EV range can be squeezed into the same amount of physical battery space. The cells themselves are lower resistance, which means less heat is produced. As a result, less cooling will be needed. It's a win-win situation. The article went on to mention efficiency gains from switching to silicon carbide for the inverter. That was my opportunity to point out what Toyota has likely already done: That title of "already here" seems to be more relevant than people realize... 27.0 kWh/100mi = 2024 Lexus RZ300e (FWD 18" wheels) 30.0 kWh/100mi = 2024 Toyota bZ4X (FWD 18" wheels) Same platform, yet the one delivers significantly better efficiency. The theory as to why is that plan we heard years ago from Toyota about delivering efficiency improvement through the use of silicon carbide has now been delivered in the Lexus model.
8-20-2024	Charge Frequency. Those old references to "only 2" continue to confuse. That's easy to understand when there's nothing new readily available. People pass along hearsay, rather than actual information from the source. Absence of detail is a problem too. Most everyone assume a "charge" at the DC fast-charger is anytime you plug in. It is actually only when you charge a substantial amount, like the typical 10% to 80% range. That is rarely the scenario most people encounter though. Many will stop to charge before level gets that low (in the 20's) and stop when the speed drops (charge curve reduction, around 60%). Those don't count as a "charge". That's why some of us don't actually see the throttling to slow even after 3 fast-charges. Of course, technically it is 3.8 within 24 hours. Plugging in to level-2 during that time supposedly provides some leeway too. Anywho, this is what Toyota provided in that regard on the Lexus website: "In order to ensure effective charging and preserve battery health over the life of the vehicle, please plan no more than three DC fast charging sessions per day. After three 10–80% state of charge DC charging sessions, a threshold can be reached, which will result in DC charging speed being significantly reduced."
8-19-2024	Efficiency Offerings. Smaller battery-packs using LFP are becoming the focus for affordable offerings. That puts many enthusiasts in a hypocritical position. Their own assessment of what's acceptable and what's dead on arrival are words that they will likely make an effort to avoid. I don't want to give them a chance. That would just be a distraction; instead, I'll post content to focus on breaking the status quo. A means of doing that is to provide detail up front, before they get a chance to interject any type of rhetoric. Here's my attempt: An interesting problem with an EPA rating of 272 miles from a 60.9 kWh battery will be the impact of winter. As efficient as the vehicle is designed with regard to aerodynamics & propulsion, draw from the heater will be the same as vehicles with larger batteries. That equates to a great percentage loss of EV range in the winter. Basic math demonstrates impact. Driving 150 miles from a less efficient vehicle in the winter (2.5 mi/kWh) would consume 60 kWh. That same distance with greater efficiency (3.0 mi/kWh) would consume 50 kWh. Both using the same heat-pump would consume the same 15 kWh of electricity. It makes the difference easy to see: 15/60 = 25% 15/50 = 30% With all the stir over winter efficiency, it's difficult to argue 5% isn't significant when the battery is very small to begin with. This is why chemistry adds a layer of complexity to the discussion. LFP routine charges to 100% can make up the difference.
8-18-2024	Remembering Who. Just like all those years ago, what happens today is about who's being targeted. It's why I continue to ask who the audience is. That's obviously makes some antagonists crazy. They want to make it about me, a personal attack. In fact, this as the response in the latest exchange when I asked: "YOU, if you're paying attention." From a well known keyboard warrior that clearly doesn't care about the bigger picture, it was exactly what I had anticipated... a pattern quite familiar. That "who" question played a major role in the past and is most definitely will again now. I remember. I let him know it too: Just wanted confirmation that you were barking up the wrong tree. It's a common mistake among enthusiasts and difficult to overcome as technology moves into the mass-market stage. The audience is ordinary consumers.