It's that heightened awareness of efficiency impacting factors.... speed, temperature, traffic... that help alleviate range anxiety.

2025 Sales.  The final tally for United States sales was 2,518,071 vehicles.  That's up 8.0% compared to 2024.  Growth overall is obviously good, but more interesting is the percentage of vehicles now electrified.  That number is officially at 47.0% now.  The count was a total of 1,183,248.  It's a 17.6% gain, even before RAV4 becoming all hybrid.  2026 certainly will make things especially exciting.  Surpassing 50% will be very easy.  I have no idea what kind of supply or demand to expect for the BEV counts, but it's easy to predict a lot of questions.  2026 will be when the table turns, that long-awaited paradigm shift.  Hybrids becoming standard raises the bar, setting focus on what plugging in has to offer.  Whether it results in much right away or builds up slowly, growth is inevitable.  There will be a lot of attention looking forward.  I don't expect to hear "drill baby drill" anymore; instead, there will be lots of questions related to charging.

Imply & Evade.  This is all I got from my "abysmal" reply after a long wait: "It's a literal quantifiable difference on road trips.  If this is still 400v and 150kW, then it's already missed the opportunity to spec it with details that will wow customers." He didn't quantify it.  Nothing.  I have been dealing with nonsense like that for decades.  They say the answer is easily acquired and absolutely refuse to provide it.  Ordinary consumers aren't going to research to that depth.  Heck, they won't even know what to look for.  The point is his answer was an effort to imply & evade.  I'm well aware of what the higher voltage systems can deliver.  They are expensive and results are very small (if any) with the chargers currently available.  Sure, you'd have the potential, but the extra cost simply wouldn't be worth it.  Note how neither Model 3 nor Model Y are capable of 800-volt charging and none of the existing stations support 800 volts.  Everyone has to wait for the V4 upgrade, which will involve more than just swapping out the charging units.  Anywho, none of that matters.  Here's why:  Diminishing return comes into play.  The data reveals an improvement not worth the cost.  Tradeoffs are a unfortunate reality when it comes to engineering verses business.  In other words, only a few minutes are eliminated... which is why that quantity hasn't been provided.  The benefit is negligible in everyday circumstances.

Video: Toyota bZ - Winter Fast Charging.  Here's a look at what it takes to DC fast charge my Toyota bZ at a Tesla Supercharger when the temperature is well below freezing.  I did indeed take advantage of preconditioning on the drive to the location.  Upon arrival, I had to figure out where to actually park.  Painted lines for each stall were extremely difficult to see with snow & ice covering the pavement.  You have to get extra close for the short cord to reach too.  I was thrilled about not needing an adapter.  In fact, that part went so well it could all be done with just one hand.  Conveniently, you can see me holding the camera in the reflection of the vehicle.  I had chosen that time of the day with hope that lighting would cooperate.  I got really lucky.  It worked out awesome for a how-to video.  The charging speed itself was impressive too.  That peaked at 114 kW.  The plug & charge feature called "PnC" in the Toyota app worked great.  Having already enabled, all I needed to do to start the charging session was plug in.  You can see that for yourself here...  Toyota bZ - Winter Fast Charging

Abysmal.  It's nice to see comments like this almost entirely gone now: "Never mind the now-abysmal fast-charging performance if this is only capable of 150 kW."  If there actually was a major advantage, that information would not only be widely available, it would likely also have some type of motto associated with it by now.  Instead, there's nothing but that single word insult.  I find it ironic that the same insult was used in the past... which amounted to nothing.  Enthusiast rhetoric is always vague and incapable of swaying ordinary consumers.  All it really achieves is online distraction.  Think about it.  Why not just state the gain faster delivers?  How many minutes are saved?  Heck, long along we got "gas saved" as an online chant.  Of course, that fell apart when the numbers never matched.  Everyone presented their own interpretation of saving.  Notice how no speed or time is ever stated when it comes to what we should expect?  I'm done with that nonsense.  No need to argue.  I just point out their failure:  Calling 150kW abysmal is the modern equivalent of 0-60 times.  Ordinary consumers using critical thinking will see it's just messaging that results in no substantive difference.  That's easy to prove too, since such claims never include any real-world data.

Doom & Gloom.  I'm on offense now.  This article title on one of the websites with a lot of anti-Toyota posting was too good to miss: "Toyota's Most Promising Affordable EV Arrives This Year".  Just last week, that source published an article about how Toyota was favoring hybrids and the future of C-HR was uncertain.  I knew that was just setup for click-bait later.  Heck, yesterday I got a text notification from Toyota about their upcoming electric vehicles.  Anywho, this is what I posted as a provoke to push the troublemakers into defense:

Watching the "behind" narrative draw to a close has been interesting.  It was impatient enthusiasts playing the role of the hare and showroom shoppers the tortoise.  Choosing not to engage in the loss-leader game hasn't had consequences for mainstream sales.  Tragedy did not fall upon Toyota proclaimed.

Dependency on tax & carbon credits had too much of an influence for growth beyond early-adopters to be realistic.  Each automaker knew they had to deliver something that could overcome ICE advantages.  It's still an uphill battle, but bringing back C-HR as only a BEV is a clear effort to break status quo.

Leveraging the propulsion system in bZ will help bring about some economy-of-scale benefit, in addition to reputation building.  It's a second-generation design taking advantage of the opportunity for growth by offering a smaller body.

I'm quite curious what kind of spin this will bring about from those who spread so much doom & gloom about Toyota's future.

Half Assed.  Ugh.  This is the kind of stuff I have to put up with, but often don't address directly.  I tend to find other means of responding, often by providing real-world substance.  Antagonists don't like detail... hence that "half" not referring to  anything in particular.  It's just a subjective assessment rather than any type of objective measure.  Nonetheless, today's got some attention: "Toyota half-assing it as it licks the Oil companies mango popsicles."  When GM was investing heavily in new V8 development, they conveniently ignored that.  When Tesla rolled out its giant electricity guzzler, they conveniently ignored that.  And of course, when Ford dealer pushback became a serious problem, they conveniently ignored that.  Toyota was both their scapegoat and a handy distraction.  Ugh.  I didn't ignore anything today.  The effort to revive range & speed shortcomings of the past were no match for the shift of attention to a new audience consisting of people who have no idea what happened in the past.  I posted:  Quite the opposite.   Offering an affordable pickup which clearly meets the needs of a daily driver will scare the hell out of Oil companies.  Reality is, only those who don't own an EV have range-anxiety.  EV owners see the recent rapid increase in DC fast-charge locations and shake their heads at the pointless rhetoric.

150 Miles.  Here we go again, another article on the new Hilux EV that Toyota will soon rollout.  Estimated range only 150 Miles.  Purists are freaking out over that as supposedly being a major shortcoming.  This isn't a car though, intended as a full replacement for the masses.  It's a pickup which could serve commercial owners quite well.  Think about deliveries.  We have a local hardware store that will drop-off any snowblower purchase.  That pickup doesn't need a large bed and doesn't need to travel far.  The same hardware store will service any large equipment you need repaired too... snowblower... lawnmower... rototiller.  Offering pickup & delivery is an important part of that.  150 miles easily covers the necessary range.  Purists don't think of that; though, they should.  For them, it's always been about pushing for more range rather than considering usage.  Ugh.  I kept my reply simple, saving that hardware example as a rebuttal later.  This is how I started the "only 150 miles" pushback:  Vehicles used for city or park service don't need that much range.  Why add something to the fleet (remember many organizations have fuel, emission and maintenance reduction initiatives) that greatly exceeds daily requirement.

New ODB-II Standard.  It's nice having smart & resourceful individuals participating in online discussions.  Today the following was shared: "SAE International J1979-3, also known as ZEVonUDS, is the new OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) standard for Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) like electric cars, focusing on propulsion system diagnostics (battery, motors, chargers) instead of combustion engine emissions.  It's built on the Unified Diagnostic Services (UDS) framework, making it a modern replacement for legacy OBD-II modes for EVs, mandated in the U.S. starting from model year 2026 for some vehicles and 2027 for all."  That explains a lot.  It seemed rather odd that nothing was working anymore.  Connections to all my apps failed.  The internet was silent about it though.  Then came others sounding off with the same problem.  Today, that post explain why.  Unfortunately, it means I can't provide any battery related data until support is provide.  That means video with timing & temperature won't happen for awhile.  Hopefully, it will still be winter when I can finally connect.  Hmm.  Makes me wonder if it will be called ODB-III.

Rationalizing electric pickups will be a challenge, but the new complication emerging from this new stage is market saturation in the middle.  Consider pressure on ID.4, Mach-E and Model Y as the push from GM ramps up.  Then there's Toyota, rolling out 3 new EVs based on their next-gen system.  Pickups won't be getting much attention.

New ODB-II protocol.  The mystery was solved today with this posted comment: "Looks like modern EVs are using a new ODBII protocol called J1979-3 (ZEVonUDS).  This new protocol is specific to Zero Emissions vehicles.  I highly suspect we need to wait for updates to the ELM327 hardware to be able to communicate with this protocol."  That totally makes sense.  Just like with the prior revision, standardized data needs to be sharable.  Think about how important that will be later, when people are purchasing used EVs and what to bring them to their own mechanic for a checkup.  What's new now will be quite old later.  So establishing something for supporting aged hardware is vital.  Consider how little wear a brushless electric-motor will experience or its invertor with no moving parts.  Miles will greatly exceed that of traditional vehicles.  People think nothing of repairing or replacing a very old transmission.  EVs don't even have a transmission.  They have batteries though.  We know for a fact first-generation Leafs are being fitted with second-generation batteries.  I got to tour one of the local shops actually doing that.  The guy doing those swaps had to build his own support hardware though, for lack of a standard even within the same brand.  This new protocol should simplify such efforts in the future.  For now though, we're all stuck waiting for the readers to become available.  I know, patience.

Warm Battery Efficiency.  This seemed a reasonable question: "Anyone precondition the battery on Level-2 home "shore" power for range in cold weather?"  Efficiency will indeed be boosted if you leave home with a warm battery.  That act of warming consumes electricity though.  That brings us back to the arguments from Toyota when it a began with EVs for the masses, taking that electricity consumption into account too.  Knowing Tesla always did this and owners simply brushed aside that waste as an unknown "vampire" draw was annoying.  It was so obvious the shortcome of lithium chemistry was being compensated for in that manner.  Heat was also used to speed up fast-charging, which is exactly why Toyota simply didn't include anything more than just a modest heater that provided only enough warmth to overcome sub-freezing resistance.  Consuming electricity only for the sake of faster charging was an absurd idea.  Know your audience.  That's why preconditioning is now available for gen-2.  But just like when EV-mode was introduced, there will be some who misunderstand its purpose.  But hey, if they are asking, that's a good sign.  Here's the answer I tried to provide with hope of being constructive:  What is "cold weather" for you?  For me in Minnesota, it was 13°F and I did indeed precondition the battery.  That was only for DC fast-charging though.  Normally, I don't bother.  There's no point for daily driving, since you'll consume more electricity warming the battery than the return you'd get in efficiency.  Short answers...  COMMUTE=No  but for  TRIPS=Yes

80% Charging.  Stopping at 80% is outdated advice for battery longevity.  That came about many years ago as a best practice, back when the gauge showed you true level and there were not other safeguards in place.  Once upon a time, there were unknowns to somehow address too.  Simply avoiding stress was an easy solution.  But now that tolerances are well understood and there's software for better control, stopping at 80% makes no sense.  Yet, that's what countless newbies still ask about.  It's a good sign that they question such advice.  Fortunate for me, I was well prepared when I got first bought my 2023 bZ4X.  I had the ODB-II reader setup to check battery status.  I compared it to battery status just prior to selling.  I measured a 1.6% degradation from always charging to 90% and occasionally 100%.  Stopping at 80% never made any sense for me, so I didn't.  For others who only need DC fast-charging from time to time and don't live in a climate where the battery will routinely get cooked from heat, could reasonably expect the same kind of results from following the same decision I made.  I'm doing the same with my 2026 too.  Of course with that upgrade, there's a built-in screen for checking battery health... no need for an ODB-II reader.