Needless to say, claims of "bad name" serve no purpose.  Those examples above clearly confirm that.  Want more?  Look up the rest of the BEV list just from the United States alone.  There are far more letter/number names than most people realize.

No Glovebox.  The video review today came from a Tesla owner.  He complained about speedometer being impossible to see.  Ugh.  He was gripping the steering-wheel with only one hand, at the top (12 o'clock position).  Who actually drives like that?  He also complained about the absence of a glovebox.  Missing that is a tragedy.  Ugh.  It's like the huge deal people made out of the original Prius shifter.  They couldn't handle the lever pulling toward you rather than down.  It's amazing what some find such a stir.  Heck, some go nuts over the name too.  It makes you wonder if constructive exchanges are even possible.  With certain venues, it is inherently a challenge.  Their design promotes continued discussion.  A clumsy interface will stimulate quarrel & repetition.  It's quite annoying.  I hoped for the best posted this as a comment to the video:  Why no glovebox is obvious when you get the weather package.  It features an INFRARED HEATER.  That radiant warming aimed directly at your legs is an awesome efficiency innovation.  I own a bZ4X and can tell you how great that feature works, a winter advantage other automakers don't offer. 

Notice how the legacy automakers who present an "all in" sentiment really don't have any type plan for how to deal with their own transition?  It is about to get ugly, when demand for their plug-in puts their dealers in an extremely difficult position of having no reasonable alternative to actually sell.  Long wait-lists are inevitable. It's that part of the S-Curve no one wants to talk about.  For those of us who's career involves long-term strategy, we see lots of warning flags popping up.

Best Electric SUVs of 2023.  It was a bizarre article.  Changing the title from "SUV" to "Car" would have made no difference whatsoever.  There wasn't any mention of what makes a SUV stand out... you know, the high ground-clearance, heavier suspension and AWD.  No distinguishing trait to separate them from other BEV choices made it an arbitrary selection.  Making matters, the vehicle awarded best acceleration wasn't actually the fastest.  The article itself pointed that out too.  bZ4X made the list, sighted for "best technology".  Strangely though, a con for it was listed as "limited rear legroom".  That was very odd, since that clearly isn't the case... especially when among those selected.  By the time I reached the bottom of the article, it was obvious the publication didn't actually review the actual vehicles.  It was nothing but a draw for their readers.  In other words, we are now getting "me too" articles.  That's a sign of market interest growing, now striving to reach an audience with no background whatsoever.  In fact, articles like this likely serve as their introduction to electric vehicles.

Most Traded.  Here is comes again: "Toyota squandered a real opportunity here.  Shame!"  Remember how that same nonsense was milked for years in the past, from Volt enthusiasts.  They carefully had to avoid new data.  Referring to outdated sources was key then.  Now with so much more happening in the market, distorting demand is easier.  You can just cherry-pick to mislead.  The point is to prevent you from considering results yourself.  Trades from those who previously owned a Toyota are important.  Growth beyond the limits of Toyota's reach is necessary for market change.  Who contributes to that doesn't matter.  It's all about getting dealers from other automakers to also sell vehicles with a plug.  Having someone trade a Toyota with them is a win-win.  That stimulates growth for that other brand with the new sales and an easy used sale to follow.  Those spinning rhetoric tend to overlook how great resale values are for Toyota vehicles.  Think about the difficulty getting a decent trade-in price for some other brand.  The vehicle from Toyota enables opportunity others would not.  That's what critical thinking is all about.  Think about the situation.  Here's how I replied, focusing on the bigger picture instead:  Quite the opposite.  Toyota learned from hybrids how to pull other automakers into the mainstream.  Getting out the niche requires bottom-up, which is exactly what those customers bring.  It's a principle in macro economics those looking at micro easily overlook.

Supposedly Slow.  This is why it is pointless taking any type of enthusiast source seriously with regard to mainstream interest: "BZ4X crawls from 0 to 60 in 6.4 seconds in its FWD configuration and in about 5.8 seconds in its AWD configuration.  The figures may seem impressive until we're reminded that we're looking at an EV."  Since when is an EV supposed to outperform need to such an extreme?  Moving the goal-posts that much is absurd.  Remember when gen-1 Volt's 0-60 acceleration in 7.1 seconds was vastly superior?  It was overkill.  You don't need acceleration that fast.  My slower Prius Prime worked just fine in EV mode.  Highway merging was not a problem.  Portraying it as some type of death-trap scenario was pure rhetoric.  Claims of "supposedly slow" falls into propaganda category now, a blatant effort to mislead.  Dropping the pedal to the floor simply isn't on radar anymore.  EV drive eliminates that as a draw, since the ceiling for need has been exceeded.  It's a want, a niche, not by any means a shopping priority for ordinary consumers since even the base return is plenty fast.

Toyota Sales.  This was the hot topic today: "It disclosed it has so far sold just 17,473 battery electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide, including those of its luxury Lexus brand, for the first three months of 2023.  That compared with 24,466 battery EVs sold by Toyota worldwide for the whole of 2022."  Comparisons to rollout-year sales never make sense.  First and foremost, rollout never starts on January 1st.  It is always sometime later in the year, once warm weather returns and most of the major autoshows have concluded.  With the case of Toyota, rollout for bZ4X included Solterra and hit a number of diverse markets all at the same time.  That skews results heavily.  There's no way to gauge demand under normal circumstances with such a spread.  But when there is a stop-sale and a huge wave of anti-Toyota sentiment, meaningful rollout is impossible.  It is far better to take it slowly.  In this case, Toyota/Subaru focused on making things right with owners who got snarled up with that resulting recall.  It simply made no sense bringing in new owners before the existing ones were properly taken care of... which is something no enthusiasts or article-writer will ever mention.  They focus entirely on immediate results, not meaningful background.  Ugh.  That's why it is best to wait until the first full year has taken place before doing any type of sales analysis.  Rhetoric is blind though.  Those contributing to it simply don't care... which is why I didn't even bother posting anything on the topic today.

By 2030.  Words from someone supporting absolutes: "I really think there simply won't be a market for anything with a gas tank in 2030."  They often react with dismay that such an obvious overcome is challenged.  Not being familiar with the automotive business is typically why.  Focusing entirely on engineering or from an environmental/political perspective, it seems a no-brainer that we would push to make the transition happen as quickly as possible.  Failing to recognize barriers of the past is a good place to start.  What prevented smaller steps, like hybrids, from becoming the norm?  Then you have to look at challenges within our own immediate market.  I see token DCFC rollouts, just one station per brand.  There is just one EVgo and just one Electrify America in my entire metro area.  That's a population of 3.5 million people.  There are DCFC using ChargePoint just opened up, very recently.  Those are the slower type intended for local use, not with immediate highway access like the other two.  There is a Volta that has been offline for over a year.  There is also an open-to-the-public ABB set of DC fast-chargers relatively close to me.  A nearby Electrify America station will break ground in a few days too.  The point is, those are all starting points.  That puts 2030 only 6 years away.  Ending the sale of anything new with a gas tank that quickly here would be extremely difficult.  Here!  Imagine in rural areas.  Not even considering less fortunate countries.  Just here in the United States, we face an uphill battle even if the opposing forces stop fighting to retain status quo.  I focused my reply the basics, dealing with rhetoric that claim makes with its immediate audience:  Thinking infrastructure will be built up to such a level in the next few years that those fighting to retain the status quo will just give up...  Concerns of cost & reliability, as well as competitiveness, will suddenly evaporate leaving a clear path of no resistance...  What kind of fantasy world is that realistic?  It will not happen as quickly as hoped, period.  There are challenges we still face which rose-colored glasses will not fix.

Distraction Efforts.  The narrative of doom & gloom is evolving: "Right now, Toyota is winning by being the last man standing with ICEVs.  Basically taking market share dropped by other automakers.  What do they do when the ICEV market is gone in 2030?  They don't have the supply chain in place or the expertise to rapidly switch to BEVs."  I saw right through that nonsense and fired back with:  Using Toyota as a distraction isn't constructive.  We know that Toyota is heavily investing in BEV build up and already has the expertise needed.  They have had the BEV models of CH-R and UX300e for years and rolled out their first platform-dedicated bZ.  Phasing out ICEV by 2030 is extremely realistic, moving the entire passenger fleet over to hybrids, PHEV and BEV.  Looking at big other legacy automakers... GM, Ford, Stellantis... what will become of their fleets?  ICEV certainly won't be replace entirely by BEV within the "gone" timeline.  For that matter, even VW striving for 100% by then is a bit of a stretch.  The reasoning why is what enthusiasts try to avoid addressing, hence the distraction.  It shines Toyota in a very favorable light. During transition to BEV, any automaker able to leverage non-BEV profit to fund BEV build-up will be in strong financial position to compete.  Notice how the "all in" pledges lack any type of milestone or penalty for not fulfilling that obligation, nor is there any type of plan for how the transition will take place?  Distracting from that by focusing on Toyota is key.

Revisiting Hybrids.  It is rather remarkable... almost astounding sometimes... how discussions of the past are reborn.  There's an entirely new audience for hybrids now.  These are the individuals who dismissed them in the past and never really gave them anymore thought.  Either they simply weren't in the market to purchase anything or they had already made up their mind on what to purchase next.  They are only now on the fence, taking a new look at an now well-established category... or perhaps not.  That is the question.  This was the supposition: "I think in Europe the Toyota-style hybrids are usually referred to as "full hybrids".  Obviously, "Strong" is a more marketing-friendly term and indeed the article this story quotes from seems waaaay too friendly to Toyota :) "  I was quite intrigued what the reply would be to what had shaken out from the past, how we ended up dealing with the differences.  Would the same approach work again?  I tried to find out with this reply:  The term "full" (now known as "strong") came about to describe a hybrid as having the ability to send generated electricity in two directions (both to the traction-motor and the battery-pack) at the same time as well as provide electric-only propulsion. The term "assist" (now known as "mild") lacked those abilities.

Preconditioning?  This was a sensible question, another refreshing thing to encounter online:  "So does this Solterra have battery preconditioning?"  I was happy to reply with:  The term "precondition" means to warm the battery-pack prior to arrival at a DC fast-charging station specifically for the sake of achieving a faster charge-rate.  That is a waste of energy, a clear contradiction to the purpose of reducing carbon emissions.  So, neither Solterra nor bZ4X have that.  They still have a battery-warmer though, which ensures battery temperature remains above freezing.  It won't heat the pack to 50°C (122°F) though, for the fastest possible rate.  There was talk a few months ago of Toyota possibly allowing a more modest manual warming option though.  If provided, it would come in the form of a screen option for existing vehicles and a physical button on future models.

Nonsense.  Ugh, speaking of dealing with rhetoric.  I got this on a different group shortly after posting my intro info: "I'm still waiting to meet an actual owner.  With a sales limit of 10k in the US, there won't be too many.  I have seen many YouTube videos on the fast charging issues.  And I saw this fun fact the other day."  I was uncertain if that was trolling bait or a genuine request for pragmatic reply.  So, I posted:  Enthusiasts are notorious for focusing on what they want more information on, rather than seeking out feedback from comprehensive reviews.  So things like the impressive AWD get blown off an unimportant.  As for meeting an actual owner, you are having a discussion with one now.  I replaced my Prius Prime, which I recharged at work so commutes in both directions were almost always entirely EV.  6 years of that much electric-only driving prepared me well for not accepting the narrative of significantly faster DC charging being absolutely essential.