50 (outlet) or 60 (hardwire) circuits are also options available.  Both will deliver faster AC charging to the 2026, but not the earlier models.

Video: Cold Battery, Highway, Fast Charge.  Parked out on the driveway all day, the battery got cold.  I jumped in the car that evening and went for a drive to the DC fast-charger 28 miles away.  It was a great opportunity to find how what the power reduction would be from the temperature well below freezing and how fast it would charge after the drive.  I was not disappointed.  In fact, I was rather impressed... Cold Battery, Highway, Fast Charge

Seating Angle.  I stumbled across a review today from an odd source.  It wasn't the typical media overview.  It was from someone who raced professionally, then moved into the teaching afterward.  I was intrigued what he had to say about the 2026 bZ.  Turns out, he really liked it as a choice for the masses.  A few features even stood out from his perspective, surprise appeal to someone trying to be critical.  He was at one point too.  He complained about not being able to see the new speedometer no matter what he did.  That was odd.  No one else has.  Toyota's redesign did a pretty good job of addressing criticism of the past.  So, what the heck did he take issue with it?  After watching the video repeatedly, I finally figured it out.  He was laying back while driving.  I was shocked when one of the camera showed him sitting with the seat reclined to such an extreme.  The angle made him leaning so much that his head was surprisingly low.  What caught my attention was the fact that looking out to his left would involve seeing through the rear window, rather than the driver window.  Whoa!  It made me wonder if the entire outside mirror was even visible.  Strange.  Anywho, that made the problem obvious.  He wasn't sitting upright like you're supposed to.  Perhaps his legs are really short and his arms long.  I had no idea, but I did wonder how that would affect operation of the airbags.  Anywho, I tried to come up with a comment I could post that he wouldn't find insulting.  I wanted to somehow constructively share my observation.  After all, he was criticizing about a problem he created.  This is what I came up with:  I always wondered why some people struggled to see the speedometer.   It's never been a problem for me.  This video revealed why, shedding light on that long mystery.  Your position has the seat angled way back, rather than upright.  That would indeed contribute to an obstructed view.  Thanks for sharing!

2026 upgraded to an aggressive heating system that allows you to run it off of the battery itself.

Winter Opportunity.  It's slipping away already!  The extreme cold is fading.  Rather than week or so of really low temperatures, it will be a brief Artic blast... if any.  Forecasts for the next 2 weeks is for the temperature to climb above freezing and stay there.  Blah!  Sure glad I captured what I could.  It was quite a scramble.  With the vehicle so new, I had to push online to get enough feedback to make the best use of my time.  This was the next step, attempting to stir discussion based on what I was able to achieve so far:  I just filmed 2 different precondition scenarios (which will be available on my channel at some point).  First was 7 hours parked outside with a brief (5-minute) precondition.  That really didn't have any impact.  DC charging at the end of my 28-mile drive was impressive though... 8% to 82% in 38 minutes (58.4448 kWh).  Speed averaged 91.57 kW.  The next test was a 25-hour soak, sitting in the driveway with temperatures in single digits.  I preconditioned for 15 minutes before departing.  Power was still reduced.  But with 338 horsepower normally available, it wasn't noticeable.  16 minutes later I parked at the DC fast-charger . For some reason, I only saw a peak rate of 84 kW during my 20 minutes of charging.  Not sure if it was the cold, the station or the adapter.  Whatever, it worked just fine; the battery was fully warmed afterward too.

Toyota's approach worked.  Camry became 100% hybrid last year.  RAV4 just became 100% hybrid last week.  Later when Corolla gets a next-gen upgrade, it is also expected to become 100% hybrid.  Ending ICE is raising of the bar, which will enable easier transition to plug-in offerings... breaking the status quo... true trail blazing.

Since I traded up from a 2023 to a 2026, claims from enthusiasts are easy to confirm as just rhetoric.  As this article points out, the audience now are those haven't been paying attention.  Ordinary consumers do the "wait for bugs to get worked out" purchase delay.  So, past opinions don't mean much anyway.  They know technology evolves quickly.

First Winter.  New owner questions focus heavily on the coldest conditions.  I'm still racing along trying to assemble a comprehensive coverage of all things winter.  It's suddenly turning into a rush.  The next 2 weeks is a forecast for rising temperatures, above freezing with no chance of snow.  Blah.  Anything could happen in February, but extreme cold seems unlikely.  I remember the odds being really good 2 decades ago.  But now, only a brief artic blast is realistic.  We should get snow at some point.  March can bring the heavy, wet stuff.  I will be well prepared to film that.  It should reflect what many on the East Coast see.  So, at least that driving can provide useful video.  I may be out of luck for the deep-freeze material though.  Oh well.  Generic advice works in the meantime:  With regard to range in the dead of winter, make sure tires are firm (40 PSI measured cold), heater setting is low (65°F to 68°F), and avoid excessive speed.  (Driving slower makes a huge difference.)  Lastly, don't be afraid to charge to 100% with level-2.  (The system is designed for that.)

Precondition?  I wondered how long it would take before a comment like this would be posted: "I understand one should precondition the battery for L3 charging.  But suppose it's cold, my vehicle is outside, and I'm planning to leave within the next hour.  What exactly should I do?"  People use to routinely warm up their vehicle before going for a drive.  How is the logic changed?  You want the vehicle to operate at full performance, you need to warm it up.  It isn't necessary if you don't though.  It will run fine cold.  The same behavior for traditional vehicles depending on gas carries over to those that depend upon electricity.  I put it this way:  Preconditioning is unnecessary.  The battery will condition itself automatically upon plugging in.  Benefit of "pre" is not having to wait for the warm-up after you park, since it can be manually invoked or started by planner ahead of time while driving.

Dead Teslas.  It took a surprisingly long time for the death of Model S and Model X to finally come about.  It was inevitable years ago.  Such large, high performance choices made no sense when the far more affordable models were available.  Sales plummeted shortly after Model 3 and Model Y rolled out.  Heck, way back when the reveals first happened their end was predictable.  That's what happens when technological advancements become a high-volume offering.  In fact, that's what is supposed to happen.  Of course, taking this long makes absence of any type of successor a big problem.  There is quite literally nothing to look forward to from Tesla anymore.  Earning reports show favor for Elon's other interests, especially artificial intelligence investments.  That leaves Cybertruck to die on the vine and both 3 & Y to flounder about.  There is no business model supporting Tesla automotive progress.  Focus is elsewhere.  Other automakers will fill in the void left behind, including Toyota.

The next few years will bring the inevitable paradigm shift we all saw coming.

Cold Charge.  It has been a scramble to take advantage of the rapidly vanishing opportunity to get video of really cold conditions.  Being able to DC fast-charge means planning ahead.  In other words, I need to forego habit by not plugging in.  I have to make sure to commute and drive elsewhere enough to have the battery at a low state; otherwise, there won't be much to film.  I want to capture scenarios people may actually encounter when out & about.  Having such convenient charging at home and at work don't represent such situations.  But it's easy enough to envision driving over to someone's house fairly far away or without planning ahead, leaving the vehicle parked outside all day in temperatures well below freezing, then journeying home.  With my most recent effort to capture real-world experience, here's what happened:  I have a 2026 bZ (in Minnesota) that I cold DC charged last night.  It was only 9°F and I intentionally left it parked outside for 7 hours to see what would happen.  Preconditioned for only 5 minutes.  Charging was from 8% to 82%.  It climbed to about 100 kW, then stayed there for a bulk of the session.  Average speed worked out to 91.6 kW. 58.4 kWh delivered in 39 minutes.  Cost $24.81 (at the new Ionna in Oakdale).

Then & Now.  Some look back efforts are pointless.  For example: "And at the beginning of its run, the crossover was dogged by lackluster range and charging speeds."  What does such an incredibly vague statement achieve?  There was no solid expectation back then and there isn't now.  So, it's basically just a post wasting everyone's time.  With detail, that's different.  Of course, most don't understand the numbers anyway.  Know your audience.  With all that in mind, I tried to provide something constructive in return:  Despite it being the depth of winter here in Minnesota, the efficiency bump from upgrading my 2023 AWD to a 2026 AWD is obvious.  Toyota's next-gen eAxle, which includes the switch to SiC semiconductors, makes a big difference.  The new preconditioning feature has allowed me to top out a 300-amp DC charger too.  It drew a solid 111 kW for several minutes.  I can't wait to have an opportunity to see what a 500-amp DC charger can provide.  Toyota rolling out these new size choices throws an interesting twist to what has been a tortoise & hare race.  2026 is quite a contrast to 2025.

PHEV Drawbacks.  Makes you wonder how many times I'll end up responding to comments like this still: "PHEVs don't make sense because you get all the drawbacks of both gas and EV, and you need to charge AND fill a gas tank."  I remember how infrequently the gas tank was filled.  I'd drive well into the warm season still carrying winter-formula gas in the tank.  Charging everyday is no big deal.  It takes a few seconds, not much different from plugging in your phone.  You grab the cord, then plug in.  It becomes routine.  And if you ever forget, no problem.  There's a gas-engine that needs to be run from time to time anyway.  The advantage gets overlooked though... its simple design.  There are not 2 independent systems as many portray or believe.  This way my reply to that nonsense today:  No starter.  No gears.  No belts.  No transmission.  Reduced maintenance.  Cheap commutes.  What are the drawbacks?

Random Samples.  I wish more documenting of my real-world drives was possible.  Without the ability to read ODB, it's kind of a waste of effort.  Too much of what happens can become speculative, since it is anecdotal observation rather than collecting actual data.  In other words, I need battery temperature to have an insight into how the system is responding.  Guessing doesn't provide any boundary or tolerance discoveries.  That opportunity will have to wait until next year.  Oh well, at least I can share random samples in the meantime.  This waiting game is nothing new.  It's part of the next-gen experience, so you just chalk that up as another patience exercise.  In this case, I'm also waiting for receiver-hitch availability and the warm weather to be able to use it.  That's still a few months away.  For now, I share driving information:  Temperature got up to 2°F on the drive home.  It was colder on the drive to work and colder when running errands later in the evening.  I ran the cabin-warming twice today.  Total miles driven was 42.  Started at 90% in the morning, not plugged in overnight, ended at 61%.  No clue what the mi/kWh for the day was, but I see the on-going average is at 2.7 mi/kWh.