New Strategy?  Talk of how expensive the upcoming new Prius Prime could be has stirred comments like this: "They are pricing gen 5 into luxury territory.  Guaranteed to keep sales low. new toyota strategy?"  I was intrigued, wondering if I could get any type of constructive feedback to what pointing out something this long-time group member should recognize:  How would you avoid the Osborne Effect?  Making a product that truly shines, but results in a price at the high-end of mainstream, is an approach control.  For those paying attention, that was a test-the-waters effort we got from RAV4 Prime, a foreshadow of what was likely to come.  Think about what's next. As Toyota pursues other PHEV offerings... Crown, CH-R and Harrier/Venza... we will see Prius follow the course here it is already on in Europe.  Becoming an PHEV only at a premium price, allows the others to retain whatever market they established in the meantime.  This about that delicate balance for transition to BEV.  Don't forget that Toyota will have at least 3 models of bZ intermixed within the market at the same time.  Think about financial well-being in the next few years, where profit will come from for legacy automakers.  What appears to be "keep sales low" strategy is far more likely to be a quiet setting of the stage to get through the remainder of the decade while retaining a reputation for quality & reliability.

Legacy Automakers.  Virtually every article you'll encounter about the BEV race, the two players sighted are Tesla and Toyota.  It is somewhat bizarre how VW is left out, treated as an independent force.  That could be due to the sales struggle they are having now in both China & Europe, making huge amount of debt incurred & upcoming a barrier too big to cross.  That tends to make sense.  VW doesn't have any type of transition technology to bridge the gap.  Who knew having a "stop gap" would now be looked upon as a good thing?  Financially, for those looking at the short-term well being, that's a difficult advantage to dismiss.  The catch is, Tesla supporters claim Toyota will get trapped on that bridge.  What was said today was an interesting twist: "...the legacy OEMs will not be catching Tesla any time soon as they are too far ahead and they innovate more quickly."  That was the conclusion of a statement made by a long-time Prius supporter who started with: "All the legacy guys have going for them is image.  Tesla is 5-10 years ahead..."  I was so glad to see the other legacy automakers finally drawn into discussion.  Ignoring VW and pretending GM doesn't even exist has been bizarre.  (As for Ford, many think that automaker is simply lost in their own BEV turmoil.)  Anywho, those comments were part of that on-going exchange initiated by that industry expert.  Only thing was, the takeaway from that first video was incorrect.  I attempted to remedy that:  That's not what he said yesterday.  Yes, legacy automakers are indeed behind in terms of production speed & cost, as well as efficiency, but how they catch up isn't as grim as narratives portray.  That was expressed as especially true for Toyota.  He clearly stated that determination to overcome challenges is what they thrive on and have exceled at in the past.

History Teaches.  Some never learn.  There was an article written today stating how Tesla aims to ramp up production to 20 million vehicles annually within the next decade.  That level of volume never made sense.  How could it grow to the size of Toyota & VW combined, especially with an automaker like BYD focusing so much on mainstream consumers... quite unlike Tesla currently.  The fact that the date is no longer 2030 is what really stands out.  Moving goal-posts already is a sign of trouble, challenges some absolutely refuse to talk about still... like Tesla abandoning its proprietary plug, adopting CCS-1 here like it did with CCS-2 in Europe.  Anywho, that article was written by a "guest contributor".  Ugh.  That type of anonymity is telling.  Not standing behind your own opinion sends a message of irresolution, making you question their hesitance.  Why hide?  Needless to say, my stance on such a view on the market hasn't changed.  I could see the warning signs.  Upon reading the article, all I got was engineer commentary.  Again, ugh.  What I have seen from history was clearly not apparent with this writer.  I posted:  Typical engineering perspective attempting to solve issues heavily attributed to the business itself, not just a problem of manufacturing cost... There are some who never learn from history.

Most Miles.  There's an entirely new audience out there.  The newest BEV being offered are a better fit for ordinary consumers.  They aren't targeting mainstream shoppers yet, but they clearly aren't appealing to enthusiasts like in the past either.  What we saw in 2022 is already beginning to fade.  Many purists are already starting to panic.  Calling 0-60 acceleration for bZ4X a failure falls on deaf ears.  Who is so obsessed with speed that less than 7 seconds is too slow?  That's absurd.  It's like trying to appeal to someone wanting to purchase a tablet by presenting a high-performance laptop.  Regardless of how impressive the performance is, they simply aren't interested.  Priorities differ.  You've heard that from me countless times.  Now, I no longer have to say it.  That message is getting recognized as important...  not acknowledged... but nonetheless can no longer be ignored.  It comes down to the same thing, every time.  They think more is better.  A newbie will innocently contribute to that enthusiast mindset too, a sense of validation to legitimize the priority.  This morning, it was the most miles getting attention... again!  Remember that same obsession with hybrids?  That followed after acceleration was no longer a talking-point.  Notice the pattern?  Such repetition never ceases to amaze me.  Oh well.  At least I know how to deal with it from so much practice in the past.  New audience, same problem.  Ugh.  Here's the reply to that most recent nonsense:  Here we go again... focus on distance rather than efficiency.  It's not like miles aren't informative, it's just that they can be extremely misleading due to being incomplete.  That alone doesn't give us the big picture.  It also excludes those of us who recharge more often.  So when reporting miles, please include your efficiency as well.  That's the MI/KWH number.  It's what you'll end up using to calculate miles remaining more accurately than the dashboard estimate.

In the meantime, enjoy your long distance driving.

In other words, the videos now aren't of much consequence.  Watch what you want and continue to promote plugging in whatever way you can.

New Owners, Vehicle Data.  The most challenging problem to address is setting expectations for new owners who haven't interacted online.  How do you reach them?  All they have is a distance estimation on the dashboard.  Since range expressed in miles is a means of conveying vehicle data in a form that's easy to understand.  The catch is, that's just a crude estimate based on factory defaults.  Until real-world numbers can be collected for that vehicle by that driver, there's no way to convey much in terms of truly being useful.  It's just a wild guess... hence the coined name of "guess-o-meter".  There is simply no way of showing any accurate without basics available, like speed & temperature.  You don't get that from sitting in a garage or at the dealer charging.  In fact, that will contribute to a gross over-estimate in the winter.  There isn't much we can do about that... hence my brief post pointing out what is clearly not obvious:  The estimate is based upon data available.  If you increase speed or start a mountain climb, it will at some point take that new information into account and recalculate an estimate accordingly.

New Owners, efficiency value.  Attention to range results in a loss of perspective.  That mantra of YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) is most definitely applicable to BEV usage.  It will indeed.  Sadly, it does not get any attention.  New owners focus on estimated miles, not actual miles-per-kilowatt-hour.  That is really unfortunate.  This will become especially troubling when a new owner incorrectly uses an app to map out of a course to a DC fast-charger but fails to input the correct efficiency.  Accepting a default can be a very unfortunate oversight... as we have already witnessed from a few who ventured out in the winter poorly informed.  Some of that comes from other BEV owners not disclosing their own efficiency.  Watching videos from those who truly want to help, you get the real story.  Their mi/kWh is often quite a bit less than what online chat would lead you to believe.  In fact, that's why so many of the Toyota attacks have gone so far.  No one wanted to attack VW for the very same thing, even though ID.4 owners were experiencing the same thing.  Oh well.  All you can do is push for awareness.  That starts with sharing of information like:  80% capacity is roughly 50 kWh of electricity.  If you were traveling at very high speed with the heater on, dropping below 2.0 mi/kWh is quite realistic (especially with new tires).  That's why it is so important to watch that efficiency value.  Dashboard estimates prior to starting your trip won't be able to take those unknowns into account.

New Owners, full charge.  We have now entered that stage where need for a User-Guide is emerging.  The most obvious first problem is for a new owner to charge to "full" without any awareness of what that level actually is.  They just assume 100% is where the recharge will start.  That's quite understandable and shouldn't be a big deal if they are relying on a range estimate anyway.  That quantity stated in miles should provide a clue of what's going on and set expectations accordingly.  Eventually, that will come back to bite them upon pushing limits.  But since the typical owner does not, that shouldn't be much of an issue or concern.  However, the experienced owners have found that when any clue of a potential misunderstanding emerges, we should jump on it to provide usage information.  That type of background is priceless for newbies.  They often have no idea what to look for or that options are even available.  Here's my effort to start that sharing:  Charging stops at 80% because that is what the default is set to (for battery longevity).  To get 100%, you have to change that option in the vehicle's menu.

Review Comments.  Sometimes I read them before watching the video.  When bZ4X is reviewed, you don't know what to expect.  By checking out comments beforehand, you find out what the takeaway was.  Then when you watch, you have figure out if the audience was bias or the facts stated were false.  It is usually pretty easy to tell.  The really negative (clearly bias) comments emerge from reviews that point out detail without expressing an opinion.  That really burns enthusiasts who just want more material to support their narrative... like a video making claims that are clearly not true.  Ugh.  In this case, I found one of those factual reviews... the kind troublemakers especially don't like.  After a day and many hundreds of posts, I added:  It is quite hypocritical how Prius was attacked relentlessly for the hybrid not resembling a conventional vehicle, being absent of any ICE counterpart.  That would have obviously resulted in an efficiency tradeoff; yet, enthusiasts simply didn't care.  They insisted a counterpart approach was better, period.  Now from BEV rollout, there is backlash from enthusiasts having followed the demand of enthusiasts.  The high ground-clearance and rugged styling of bZ4X very closely resembles RAV4 without compromising on AWD or longevity.  In other words, Toyota ignored the hypocrites and focused on their own customers instead.  Reading through the comments, that seems to have been a wise choice.  This is about long-term reputation.  Grumblings of those who clearly aren't interested in purchasing something from Toyota anyway is pointless.  Notice what happened following Prius?  Roughly two-thirds of Toyota hybrid sales were not Prius.  Their technology spread to other vehicles. That's the plan with the technology bZ4X lays a foundation for as well.  Just like with hybrids, it's not about the initial BEV offering.  Next steps are what matter.