John's Stuff - Personal Log 1307

January 22, 2025 - February 3, 2025

Last Updated: Weds. 6/25/2025

2-03-2025
Smart Move. There is hypocrisy to be found when you research history. For example: "This could be a smart move for Tesla: test the new tech in a low-volume, high-margin product so it be perfected before going with a wide rollout." Sound familiar? I pointed out how this history already happened, but it wasn't called smart then: Funny how when Tesla does that it's just fine, but for Toyota to use the same approach bankruptcy is inevitable. That's quite hypocritical. It's ironic too... how use of stainless steel gave the automaker a reputation stain. Time for critical thinking. Chasing hype and short-term gain has consequences. Tesla failed to deliver a high-volume seller (bad) but will be able to salvage some delivered tech (good). The catch is, this reinforces Toyota's approach. Think about how gen-1 Prius history parallels gen-1 bZ4X history. In other words, the "smart move" isn't always what enthusiasts want to endorse.

2-02-2025
Die! I remember this same type of hate well over 20 years ago: "Hybrids are 20 year old tech. I agree, praise Toyota for that first decade, but now they need to just die." It isn't really a resentment for Toyota. It's having to face the reality of progress moving far slower than the enthusiast wants. Having a scapegoat to release emotion upon is a natural result of that. But now things are getting worse. We see Toyota's success rising up to a level some never imagined. Skipping the step of transition hasn't worked. Everyone cannot go directly from ICE to BEV. Having something in between is proving necessary... and hybrids are what fills that gap well. This is how I stated that bittersweet reality: Hybrids becoming more profitable than ICE is new. The tech took awhile to evolve... just like BEV. Notice how they cannot compete with ICE directly yet. They will in a few years, which Toyota is preparing to capitalize on. It's quite telling when some want Toyota to die for not being innovation and pushing technology forward, yet turn a blind-eye to their efforts to do exactly that... like bi-polar cell design.

2-02-2025 Empathy. This was very good advice, very well put: "A bit of empathy goes a long way. Listen to people's stories." It was part of the success for Prius way back. Think about what things were like upon introduction, when neither oil-dependency nor "global warming" were getting much attention. Both were easily dismissed; yet, there was a small group showing unusually strong interest for hybrids. Why? Those who took the time to find out were pleasantly surprised. I added this to that discussion:

"Know your audience" has become my mantra after observing response to the inevitable after 25 years. In my case, that was the electrification of vehicles. That "...until I realized that we tend to judge what we don't understand" sums up the situation well. Arguments were loaded with incorrect assumptions. Empathy has indeed been a means of overcoming the barriers they created.

What we are witnessing right now is a political disaster, self-destruction on a such a scale it will take decades to repair. Rather than being proud of our potential, using our brilliant engineers and entrepreneurial spirit to overcome our problems associated with oil dependency, we declare the solution to just drill for more. It is a literal "head in the sand" response, knowing sun & wind with battery storage is a viable solution.
We are actively causing harm to the world as well as to our own people. What happens to the climate is a "boil the frog" problem most people won't see until it's far too late. But economic damage unfolding right before our eye is staggering. When will they swallow their pride and deal the terrible decisions that got us into this mess?

2-02-2025 What? It is sometimes mind-boggling how much waste takes place online. I pointed that out by posting the following in our Minnesota EV owners group:

After driving PHEV, driving 2 generations over a decade's time, my research of a BEV purchase was meant with great disappointment. What the @$%&! had supporters been doing all this time?

Turns out, they were a well informed bunch of enthusiasts with engineering background, focusing on that great technology... neglecting what the masses actually needed... a means of relating that technology. Proving it is reliable & cost-effective is only the initial steps in a long journey.

Fortunately, I have been able take what I learned in the past to apply it to our future. I started creating simple education videos that look beyond the basics of BEV ownership... the stuff that will make the experience easier & compelling. That was the secret of success with Prius over 20 years ago. Why not take advantage of that formula to appeal to this new audience, curious about the plug-in experience?

I'm look for suggestions on what ideas to share. Let me know what may be helpful.

This is my latest attempt, pointing out a convenience most owners likely don't know about... ChargePoint on Android Auto

This one focuses on navigating to DC fast-chargers, a handy resource when you're on a road trip... quick tutorial on ABRP (A Better Routeplanner)

This one answers the "how did they figure that out" question when newbies see a well-informed owner sharing data... Toyota bZ4X - ODBII data
NACS adoption has stirred a lot of interest in this topic, when those researching a DC option discover what's already available... Toyota bZ4X using Tesla MagicDock

1-31-2025 Magic. The effort to spread FUD about Toyota, in this case doubt, still thrives. In fact, there are some enthusiast websites that leverage the "behind" narrative to ensure there's a scapegoat for when things so wrong. Nonsense like this is what feeds that: "They have been tough on Toyota. That's justifiable. That is the understatement of the year, last year and the 10 years before. Keep on firing at them on all cylinders. Broadsides are even more effective. Sink them without trace until the either go under or properly adopt EVs." Such an attitude is subtle enough to give the impression of being objective. Reality is, they can see Toyota catching up at a rate far faster than they imagined. So, they attempt to spin any such recognition of that as if it was magic. Toyota is meant for bankruptcy, period. Magic is only for the other legacy automakers. Ugh. It's an invitation for me to post info about what's really happening. So, I do:

It was quite telling 2 years ago when the other legacy automakers made their "all in" pledges without providing any milestones or citing any consequence. They would just magically transition from ICE to BEV without disruption. It was praised without justification.

Toyota was declared the anti-thesis, used as a distraction. Enthusiasts expected Toyota to come out guns blasting, not giving any care to the cost of selling a loss-leader. They completely disregarded history and insisted Toyota must follow the herd. The idea of economic success from taking a different approach, as well as diversifying, was unacceptable.

This article labeled bZ4X as "half-assed", which is a confirmation of viewing the situation from the eyes of an enthusiast. In their mind, a BEV must push range & speed to be worthy. Ordinary consumers clearly don't share those priorities, no matter how much online narratives stress road-trips as being absolutely essential to the purchase decision.

Reality is, Toyota is treating gen-1 bZ4X just like they did with gen-1 Prius. It was never intended for wide-audience or high-volume sales. It was a means of collecting valuable real-world experience to build a profitable high-volume second generation offering. That's why replacing ICE with hybrids has been such a focus.
In other words, it takes many years to establish a reputation for reliability. Seeing a modest number of PHEV and BEV on the road for a while and hybrids becoming the base makes consideration of something with a plug quite realistic. No magic required.

1-28-2025
Investor Pressure. Gotta like the spin, desperate efforts to paint a rosy picture for Tesla. Today, it was discussion about a supposed Model Q. That's what the compact vehicle from Tesla, stripped-down beyond the base version of Model 3, to target entry-level shoppers would be called. Enthusiasts still don't get it though. They don't understand what affordable and no-frills actually means. You know, want verses need. As a result, they continue to fail to see what should be obvious about the business. So, I pointed it out: This is a textbook example of Innovator's Dilemma. We all watched... and even encouraged... the path Tesla took. Now backed into a corner without anything competitive on the horizon for mass-market sales (entry-level priced able to compete directly with ICE), investors are getting nervous. They are well aware how Tesla's business depended upon alter revenue streams, like the sales of carbon credits. They see what other automakers are doing to gain market share. They knew it was only a matter of time even before Elon saluted.

1-28-2025 Semantic Arguments. I tend to ignore the trolls. Others, I give them a benefit of doubt... like this: "That would be true if that was a unique platform, but it has been used for years on ICE and hybrid vehicles. It is not new. It has been used since 2015." Sometimes, you get a constructive reply. So, I gave it a shot:

Do you really think semantics will make a difference to ordinary showroom shopper? What they consider "platform" is not what you and I see from an engineering perspective. That's why we now hearing from some bZ4X owners who made their purchase based on the "avoid the first year or two" approach... the same pattern as with Prius, no major upgrade necessary.

Detail about whatever is offered as "gen-2" won't matter either. It comes down to the same thing as in the past... owner endorsement. The more real-world stories we share, the more their intimidation fades. That secret to Toyota's success isn't really much of a secret... time. To really establish a new technology, patience is an essential part of the formula. Shoppers understanding how results were achieved is not.
I find the process quite fascinating, since the reverse is true too. Impatience and obsessing with detail has been the downfall of others... which is how "know your audience" came about.

1-27-2025
Predictable. That's the point of studying history. You look for patterns. Upon confirmation of a repeat, you provide a prediction based it. This isn't rocket science... though, I do have to continue to point it out what some should recognize: That's what we have been expecting for awhile. It mimics Prius history, including the rhetoric. That first generation was on a unique platform, never intended for high-volume sales. It was an opportunity to real-world design test for creating a gen-2 hybrid targeting the masses. Toyota hit the ground running with that gen-2 rollout too. Seeing the successor to bZ4X being a BEV model of RAV4 is a natural next step. Heck, even the timing works well for those reliving that history.

1-26-2025 Diverse & Flexible. So many enthusiasts mocked & belittled Toyota, laughing at what gave the appearance of "half hearted" efforts. It's the same nonsense we are dealing with on the presidential level now. They don't really understand the problem and are unwilling to invest in anything that doesn't provide a quick & large return. Ugh. This type of critical thinking is absent at that level: "And unless governments mandate that all homes should have EV charging, many of our chances of ever changing that situation are also waning. My probabilities of ever owning my own home feel like zero right now. Apartments for life it is, and just finding an affordable one that isn't 2/3s my income is already hard to do." It sure is nice reading it in forums though. Some people get it. I added:

That's exactly what PHEV will thrive in this next decade. Being a wealthy industrial nation, getting any type of investment in the future was a painful & disappointing process. Elsewhere, there are even greater challenges. Households jumping onboard with a PHEV is a big step forward. It enables the purchase of an entry-level BEV offering, which is a win for everyone since that carries the entire market forward.

Unfortunately, we have had the supposed BEV leader resting on it laurels. Tesla completely ignored the entry-level market, handing over the opportunity to BYD. We knew of the profound impact that could have long ago, when Toyota made statements about the entry-level market. We were told how an affordable BEV would be cheap to fuel & maintain while also delivering performance formally exclusive to performance ICE vehicles with the silence of luxury vehicles.

That paradigm-shift was not taken seriously. Cramming more battery into the vehicle to compensate for efficiency shortcomings was key... hence Tesla's fall from grace with Cybertruck, now an industry icon of what not to do. Seeing Toyota strive for balance, hence the modest range & power for bZ4X, has been reassuring. Next will be a boom from RAV, where an expectation of an HEV base with PHEV becoming a common choice, there's great potential. It's reasonable for a BEV model to become the next-gen version of bZ4X too.
So whether or not 3-row BEV offerings attract a large market share, the core consumer-base... those shopping for RAV4... are being targeted. That makes the enablement of smaller offerings realistic... Urban Cruiser on the BEV side and something leveraging the Prius/CH-R platform for PHEV. It's all about being diverse & flexible. That's an approach Toyota thrives with while others struggle. If all you have is level-1 for charging, that's ok.

1-25-2025 He Was Right. This was an exciting article title: "It turns out that Akio Toyoda was right." A link to it was posted on the big Prius forum. It started with the abrupt CEO departure for Stellantis and the former returning. It highlighted the delay of the REV (range extender) model of RAM pickup, then focused on the slow nature of change. Toyota is well aware of what happens when there's a genuine effort to change the status quo. There are far more challenges than any enthusiast would ever care to admit; each one chips away at profit too. Skipping steps simply doesn't work either. GM learned that in a painful manner with Volt. Unfortunately, Ford recently had to with F-150. Those ground-breaking offerings... break things. Needless to say, the age of hybrids is far from over... despite what the rhetoric would have you believe. Heck, even BYD is selling lots of plug-in hybrids now. This was my jump into this recently industry epiphany:

"Know your audience" is my mantra which drives a few here crazy. They don't like the reality of how ordinary consumers actually perceive the technology and deal with change. The slow & cumbersome nature of their choices is bewildering to them. When you look in depth at the analytics of my YouTube channel, that story of progress becomes easier to understand. I'm seeing growth in my older content. Prius Prime videos are drawing interest. I hadn't anticipated stuff from years ago becoming popular search results.

Hope was always that ICE would be phased out to create a base of hybrids that could later be leveraged for plug augmentation. Seeing the stage Toyota is now setting for RAV4 makes that choice a sound business move. It simply made no sense 2 years ago when the legacy automakers were making "all in" pledges without any actual plan on how they would deal with the transition years between ICE and BEV. We have all heard the "stop gap" and "leapfrog" rhetoric and witnessed how those empty promises fell apart.

Starting my PHEV ownership 13 years, since then adding a second PHEV to the household later followed by a switch of one to BEV, it's become quite clear enthusiasts are the wrong audience to listen to. They tend to dismiss challenges of plug in setup for multiple vehicles as trivial. PHEV can exploit level-1 to the fullest, overcoming those challenges as well as inhibition that comes with new technology adoption. Toyota is well aware of that opportunity.
Things are about to get very interesting.

1-24-2025
Video: SubZero - To The Lake And Back. Each video continues to show improvement. Adding a live map has worked well. There's an intro screen now too. Lighting with the window camera is next (to reduce the amount of post work needed). The goal is to create useful content to combat those forces working against EV progress, finding a means to ensure people are well informed. Here's the latest I shared: With the temperature well below freezing and the sun dropping to the horizon, it was too good of an opportunity to miss. I setup the cameras to go for a drive. What I captured is useful information to share about how an EV performs in sub-zero conditions. There's lots of detail, along with an element of entertainment. Hope you enjoy watching... Toyota bZ4X - SubZero: To The Lake And Back

1-22-2025
35% Sales. That requirement for the 2026 model year, for those sales supporting the second level of California rules, has grabbed our attention again. It obviously an attempt to distract from the chaos now from the new administration... who has vowed to end all subsidies related to EVs and supporting infrastructure in favor of "drill baby drill". More oil makes no sense. Where will it be refined? We don't actually have that many refineries and they are already at maximum capacity. Building up more capacity costs money. How will adding supply to the system lower cost when there isn't demand growth? Needless to say, it's all really just talk... like this topic. I already went through the numbers back in November. They didn't support the rule, even before this political nightmare. I was told that GM will have no problem reaching that level of sales. Clearly, he didn't actually do any research. So in the most simplistic snapshot of market activity, I shared: A quick look at GM sales for Q3 of 2024 in CA, counting Equinox EV, Blazer EV and Silverado EV puts them at 20.4%. That's a far cry from 35%.

2-03-2025	Smart Move. There is hypocrisy to be found when you research history. For example: "This could be a smart move for Tesla: test the new tech in a low-volume, high-margin product so it be perfected before going with a wide rollout." Sound familiar? I pointed out how this history already happened, but it wasn't called smart then: Funny how when Tesla does that it's just fine, but for Toyota to use the same approach bankruptcy is inevitable. That's quite hypocritical. It's ironic too... how use of stainless steel gave the automaker a reputation stain. Time for critical thinking. Chasing hype and short-term gain has consequences. Tesla failed to deliver a high-volume seller (bad) but will be able to salvage some delivered tech (good). The catch is, this reinforces Toyota's approach. Think about how gen-1 Prius history parallels gen-1 bZ4X history. In other words, the "smart move" isn't always what enthusiasts want to endorse.
2-02-2025	Die! I remember this same type of hate well over 20 years ago: "Hybrids are 20 year old tech. I agree, praise Toyota for that first decade, but now they need to just die." It isn't really a resentment for Toyota. It's having to face the reality of progress moving far slower than the enthusiast wants. Having a scapegoat to release emotion upon is a natural result of that. But now things are getting worse. We see Toyota's success rising up to a level some never imagined. Skipping the step of transition hasn't worked. Everyone cannot go directly from ICE to BEV. Having something in between is proving necessary... and hybrids are what fills that gap well. This is how I stated that bittersweet reality: Hybrids becoming more profitable than ICE is new. The tech took awhile to evolve... just like BEV. Notice how they cannot compete with ICE directly yet. They will in a few years, which Toyota is preparing to capitalize on. It's quite telling when some want Toyota to die for not being innovation and pushing technology forward, yet turn a blind-eye to their efforts to do exactly that... like bi-polar cell design.
2-02-2025	Empathy. This was very good advice, very well put: "A bit of empathy goes a long way. Listen to people's stories." It was part of the success for Prius way back. Think about what things were like upon introduction, when neither oil-dependency nor "global warming" were getting much attention. Both were easily dismissed; yet, there was a small group showing unusually strong interest for hybrids. Why? Those who took the time to find out were pleasantly surprised. I added this to that discussion: "Know your audience" has become my mantra after observing response to the inevitable after 25 years. In my case, that was the electrification of vehicles. That "...until I realized that we tend to judge what we don't understand" sums up the situation well. Arguments were loaded with incorrect assumptions. Empathy has indeed been a means of overcoming the barriers they created. What we are witnessing right now is a political disaster, self-destruction on a such a scale it will take decades to repair. Rather than being proud of our potential, using our brilliant engineers and entrepreneurial spirit to overcome our problems associated with oil dependency, we declare the solution to just drill for more. It is a literal "head in the sand" response, knowing sun & wind with battery storage is a viable solution. We are actively causing harm to the world as well as to our own people. What happens to the climate is a "boil the frog" problem most people won't see until it's far too late. But economic damage unfolding right before our eye is staggering. When will they swallow their pride and deal the terrible decisions that got us into this mess?
2-02-2025	What? It is sometimes mind-boggling how much waste takes place online. I pointed that out by posting the following in our Minnesota EV owners group: After driving PHEV, driving 2 generations over a decade's time, my research of a BEV purchase was meant with great disappointment. What the @$%&! had supporters been doing all this time? Turns out, they were a well informed bunch of enthusiasts with engineering background, focusing on that great technology... neglecting what the masses actually needed... a means of relating that technology. Proving it is reliable & cost-effective is only the initial steps in a long journey. Fortunately, I have been able take what I learned in the past to apply it to our future. I started creating simple education videos that look beyond the basics of BEV ownership... the stuff that will make the experience easier & compelling. That was the secret of success with Prius over 20 years ago. Why not take advantage of that formula to appeal to this new audience, curious about the plug-in experience? I'm look for suggestions on what ideas to share. Let me know what may be helpful. This is my latest attempt, pointing out a convenience most owners likely don't know about... ChargePoint on Android Auto This one focuses on navigating to DC fast-chargers, a handy resource when you're on a road trip... quick tutorial on ABRP (A Better Routeplanner) This one answers the "how did they figure that out" question when newbies see a well-informed owner sharing data... Toyota bZ4X - ODBII data NACS adoption has stirred a lot of interest in this topic, when those researching a DC option discover what's already available... Toyota bZ4X using Tesla MagicDock
1-31-2025	Magic. The effort to spread FUD about Toyota, in this case doubt, still thrives. In fact, there are some enthusiast websites that leverage the "behind" narrative to ensure there's a scapegoat for when things so wrong. Nonsense like this is what feeds that: "They have been tough on Toyota. That's justifiable. That is the understatement of the year, last year and the 10 years before. Keep on firing at them on all cylinders. Broadsides are even more effective. Sink them without trace until the either go under or properly adopt EVs." Such an attitude is subtle enough to give the impression of being objective. Reality is, they can see Toyota catching up at a rate far faster than they imagined. So, they attempt to spin any such recognition of that as if it was magic. Toyota is meant for bankruptcy, period. Magic is only for the other legacy automakers. Ugh. It's an invitation for me to post info about what's really happening. So, I do: It was quite telling 2 years ago when the other legacy automakers made their "all in" pledges without providing any milestones or citing any consequence. They would just magically transition from ICE to BEV without disruption. It was praised without justification. Toyota was declared the anti-thesis, used as a distraction. Enthusiasts expected Toyota to come out guns blasting, not giving any care to the cost of selling a loss-leader. They completely disregarded history and insisted Toyota must follow the herd. The idea of economic success from taking a different approach, as well as diversifying, was unacceptable. This article labeled bZ4X as "half-assed", which is a confirmation of viewing the situation from the eyes of an enthusiast. In their mind, a BEV must push range & speed to be worthy. Ordinary consumers clearly don't share those priorities, no matter how much online narratives stress road-trips as being absolutely essential to the purchase decision. Reality is, Toyota is treating gen-1 bZ4X just like they did with gen-1 Prius. It was never intended for wide-audience or high-volume sales. It was a means of collecting valuable real-world experience to build a profitable high-volume second generation offering. That's why replacing ICE with hybrids has been such a focus. In other words, it takes many years to establish a reputation for reliability. Seeing a modest number of PHEV and BEV on the road for a while and hybrids becoming the base makes consideration of something with a plug quite realistic. No magic required.
1-28-2025	Investor Pressure. Gotta like the spin, desperate efforts to paint a rosy picture for Tesla. Today, it was discussion about a supposed Model Q. That's what the compact vehicle from Tesla, stripped-down beyond the base version of Model 3, to target entry-level shoppers would be called. Enthusiasts still don't get it though. They don't understand what affordable and no-frills actually means. You know, want verses need. As a result, they continue to fail to see what should be obvious about the business. So, I pointed it out: This is a textbook example of Innovator's Dilemma. We all watched... and even encouraged... the path Tesla took. Now backed into a corner without anything competitive on the horizon for mass-market sales (entry-level priced able to compete directly with ICE), investors are getting nervous. They are well aware how Tesla's business depended upon alter revenue streams, like the sales of carbon credits. They see what other automakers are doing to gain market share. They knew it was only a matter of time even before Elon saluted.
1-28-2025	Semantic Arguments. I tend to ignore the trolls. Others, I give them a benefit of doubt... like this: "That would be true if that was a unique platform, but it has been used for years on ICE and hybrid vehicles. It is not new. It has been used since 2015." Sometimes, you get a constructive reply. So, I gave it a shot: Do you really think semantics will make a difference to ordinary showroom shopper? What they consider "platform" is not what you and I see from an engineering perspective. That's why we now hearing from some bZ4X owners who made their purchase based on the "avoid the first year or two" approach... the same pattern as with Prius, no major upgrade necessary. Detail about whatever is offered as "gen-2" won't matter either. It comes down to the same thing as in the past... owner endorsement. The more real-world stories we share, the more their intimidation fades. That secret to Toyota's success isn't really much of a secret... time. To really establish a new technology, patience is an essential part of the formula. Shoppers understanding how results were achieved is not. I find the process quite fascinating, since the reverse is true too. Impatience and obsessing with detail has been the downfall of others... which is how "know your audience" came about.
1-27-2025	Predictable. That's the point of studying history. You look for patterns. Upon confirmation of a repeat, you provide a prediction based it. This isn't rocket science... though, I do have to continue to point it out what some should recognize: That's what we have been expecting for awhile. It mimics Prius history, including the rhetoric. That first generation was on a unique platform, never intended for high-volume sales. It was an opportunity to real-world design test for creating a gen-2 hybrid targeting the masses. Toyota hit the ground running with that gen-2 rollout too. Seeing the successor to bZ4X being a BEV model of RAV4 is a natural next step. Heck, even the timing works well for those reliving that history.
1-26-2025	Diverse & Flexible. So many enthusiasts mocked & belittled Toyota, laughing at what gave the appearance of "half hearted" efforts. It's the same nonsense we are dealing with on the presidential level now. They don't really understand the problem and are unwilling to invest in anything that doesn't provide a quick & large return. Ugh. This type of critical thinking is absent at that level: "And unless governments mandate that all homes should have EV charging, many of our chances of ever changing that situation are also waning. My probabilities of ever owning my own home feel like zero right now. Apartments for life it is, and just finding an affordable one that isn't 2/3s my income is already hard to do." It sure is nice reading it in forums though. Some people get it. I added: That's exactly what PHEV will thrive in this next decade. Being a wealthy industrial nation, getting any type of investment in the future was a painful & disappointing process. Elsewhere, there are even greater challenges. Households jumping onboard with a PHEV is a big step forward. It enables the purchase of an entry-level BEV offering, which is a win for everyone since that carries the entire market forward. Unfortunately, we have had the supposed BEV leader resting on it laurels. Tesla completely ignored the entry-level market, handing over the opportunity to BYD. We knew of the profound impact that could have long ago, when Toyota made statements about the entry-level market. We were told how an affordable BEV would be cheap to fuel & maintain while also delivering performance formally exclusive to performance ICE vehicles with the silence of luxury vehicles. That paradigm-shift was not taken seriously. Cramming more battery into the vehicle to compensate for efficiency shortcomings was key... hence Tesla's fall from grace with Cybertruck, now an industry icon of what not to do. Seeing Toyota strive for balance, hence the modest range & power for bZ4X, has been reassuring. Next will be a boom from RAV, where an expectation of an HEV base with PHEV becoming a common choice, there's great potential. It's reasonable for a BEV model to become the next-gen version of bZ4X too. So whether or not 3-row BEV offerings attract a large market share, the core consumer-base... those shopping for RAV4... are being targeted. That makes the enablement of smaller offerings realistic... Urban Cruiser on the BEV side and something leveraging the Prius/CH-R platform for PHEV. It's all about being diverse & flexible. That's an approach Toyota thrives with while others struggle. If all you have is level-1 for charging, that's ok.
1-25-2025	He Was Right. This was an exciting article title: "It turns out that Akio Toyoda was right." A link to it was posted on the big Prius forum. It started with the abrupt CEO departure for Stellantis and the former returning. It highlighted the delay of the REV (range extender) model of RAM pickup, then focused on the slow nature of change. Toyota is well aware of what happens when there's a genuine effort to change the status quo. There are far more challenges than any enthusiast would ever care to admit; each one chips away at profit too. Skipping steps simply doesn't work either. GM learned that in a painful manner with Volt. Unfortunately, Ford recently had to with F-150. Those ground-breaking offerings... break things. Needless to say, the age of hybrids is far from over... despite what the rhetoric would have you believe. Heck, even BYD is selling lots of plug-in hybrids now. This was my jump into this recently industry epiphany: "Know your audience" is my mantra which drives a few here crazy. They don't like the reality of how ordinary consumers actually perceive the technology and deal with change. The slow & cumbersome nature of their choices is bewildering to them. When you look in depth at the analytics of my YouTube channel, that story of progress becomes easier to understand. I'm seeing growth in my older content. Prius Prime videos are drawing interest. I hadn't anticipated stuff from years ago becoming popular search results. Hope was always that ICE would be phased out to create a base of hybrids that could later be leveraged for plug augmentation. Seeing the stage Toyota is now setting for RAV4 makes that choice a sound business move. It simply made no sense 2 years ago when the legacy automakers were making "all in" pledges without any actual plan on how they would deal with the transition years between ICE and BEV. We have all heard the "stop gap" and "leapfrog" rhetoric and witnessed how those empty promises fell apart. Starting my PHEV ownership 13 years, since then adding a second PHEV to the household later followed by a switch of one to BEV, it's become quite clear enthusiasts are the wrong audience to listen to. They tend to dismiss challenges of plug in setup for multiple vehicles as trivial. PHEV can exploit level-1 to the fullest, overcoming those challenges as well as inhibition that comes with new technology adoption. Toyota is well aware of that opportunity. Things are about to get very interesting.
1-24-2025	Video: SubZero - To The Lake And Back. Each video continues to show improvement. Adding a live map has worked well. There's an intro screen now too. Lighting with the window camera is next (to reduce the amount of post work needed). The goal is to create useful content to combat those forces working against EV progress, finding a means to ensure people are well informed. Here's the latest I shared: With the temperature well below freezing and the sun dropping to the horizon, it was too good of an opportunity to miss. I setup the cameras to go for a drive. What I captured is useful information to share about how an EV performs in sub-zero conditions. There's lots of detail, along with an element of entertainment. Hope you enjoy watching... Toyota bZ4X - SubZero: To The Lake And Back
1-22-2025	35% Sales. That requirement for the 2026 model year, for those sales supporting the second level of California rules, has grabbed our attention again. It obviously an attempt to distract from the chaos now from the new administration... who has vowed to end all subsidies related to EVs and supporting infrastructure in favor of "drill baby drill". More oil makes no sense. Where will it be refined? We don't actually have that many refineries and they are already at maximum capacity. Building up more capacity costs money. How will adding supply to the system lower cost when there isn't demand growth? Needless to say, it's all really just talk... like this topic. I already went through the numbers back in November. They didn't support the rule, even before this political nightmare. I was told that GM will have no problem reaching that level of sales. Clearly, he didn't actually do any research. So in the most simplistic snapshot of market activity, I shared: A quick look at GM sales for Q3 of 2024 in CA, counting Equinox EV, Blazer EV and Silverado EV puts them at 20.4%. That's a far cry from 35%.