Video Comments, to 100%.  Ugh.  When the complaint is about how long the DC fast-charger will take to reach 100% charge, how are you supposed to reply?  That goes against everything well-informed owners recommend.  In fact, that is what makes them supporters.  They are very forthcoming with information, giving you extensive detail so you can decide for yourself.  What we get from enthusiasts is quite the opposite, a narrative telling us we should be disappointed without actually spelling out why.  Again, ugh.  I was rather frustrated having to reply to such nonsense; nonetheless, I did anyway with:  As for saying "DC charging system is a pitifully slow, taking well over a couple of hours to charge the car compared with other manufacturers minutes", that's absurd.  Who charges to 100% using DC fast-chargers?  When the speed drops significantly, commonly around 60%, you should consider stopping.  That charge-curve slow down is what EV road-trippers do everything they can to avoid.  Pushing it to 80% isn't good etiquette either.  We should be considerate of others... which is what apps ABRP take into account.  They help people take advantage of the charge-curve by planning travel stops accordingly.

Video Comments, heating.  The next complaint was about heating.  That comment sighted ineffectiveness & complexity as the concern.  I was intrigued by the absence of any comparison.  Having encountered several ID.4 owners now, I can confidently say that closest available match to bZ4X here pretty much delivers similar results in cold weather driving.  Notice how everyone focuses on range or estimates?  When you get the opportunity to exchange actual efficiency observations, the story changes.  The supposed situation for Toyota isn't really as dire as enthusiasts claim.  This is how I replied to that:  With regard to cabin heating, it's unfortunate reviewers haven't been using the radiant-heater.  That works great for targeting what the seat-warmer does not.  Seeing them set the temperature so high is a bit of a mystery too.  Those of us who live in the north have nice coats that we wear while we drive.  I would melt at settings like that, especially with my backside and legs already getting supplemental warmth.  It simply isn't a reflection of how we actually drive.  Don't forget, you can pre-warm the cabin directly from the grid before starting too.

Video Comments, abysmal.  The comment started with a complaint about range.  Ugh.  All I could do for that was provide some perspective:  Claims of range being "abysmal" are out of touch with what the market truly needs.  Early sales catered to a niche willing to pay a premium for more.  That's fine, but it is a want favoring infrequent long road trips... not by any means a requirement for day to day driving.  Without looking at China, where small EVs with very small batteries are popular, here in the United States we see VW offering ID.4 with a range of 209 miles.  Looking at the brand new Kia Niro, we see a 253 mile range... just 1 mile more than bZ4X prior to the software update.  Then there's the standard range Ford F150 Lightening delivering 230 miles.  So what if Toyota's first offering focuses more on being a SUV and longevity more than squeezing more range.

Video Comments, control.  How to handle comments posted on your own video channel is an extremely difficult topic to address.  The very popular EV channel I follow had been dealing with attacks for months, seriously hate.  It got so bad, they shut off comments.  As soon as they did, subscribers stopped getting new content notifications.  They obviously couldn't interact with the content-creators any more either.  Search results dropped out of favor as well.  It was an ugly situation.  They finally gave in and turned comments back on.  They had to.  That was a portion of the income they depend upon to support their creation of new content.  Fortunately, I don't have to deal with stuff like that.  Basically, I have a tiny audience and my purpose is to teach the teachers.  So, interaction with viewers is quite different.  I have long-term followers though.  The comments they post require critical thinking and sincere replies.  I got one such comment yesterday, which included a link to a video creator who just plain does not like Toyota's approach.  He's an enthusiasts hoping for a vehicle to be enthusiastic about.  Toyota disappoints in his mind.  That made the reply especially difficult.  With so little content on bZ4X currently available beyond just basic reviews, I'm challenged with lack of content.  Finding new equipment for the new filming circumstances is difficult.  Heck, even figuring out to film takes time.  So at this moment, the following is information I was able to share based on the long comment posted.

For What Purpose?  I mentioned having stopped to try a DC fast-charger.  The response was an attack.  With a vehicle that currently takes so long to charge completely, I should never do that... since it blocks chargers for others.  I questioned why 100% would be anyone's objective.  I used the charging opportunity for the exact purpose it was intended... while I was there shopping.  It took 24 minutes to find & purchase a few items.  How much electricity I got wasn't important.  Like other places I stop that offer the ability to charge, I plugged in.  All the others are AC, which are much slower.  But like with the DC, that doesn't matter.  That's why none of the experts ever recommend going beyond 65% when your goal is to get the most out of the charging session.  I stopped to shop.  If was traveling and that was for the sake of being able to make it to the next charger, I would be focusing on time rather than shopping.  That's why you should always find out detail.  Get all the facts.  I was called out for something I didn't actually do.  I made sure he (and everyone else reader that) knew why, pointing out the length & purpose of my stay ,then:  It is all about spreading knowledge.  Faster speeds are gross overkill, completely unnecessary yet promoted as absolutely essential... somehow a terrible loss if not purchased... making some here their own worst enemy.  You stop to shop, you benefit from the time there while patronizing the business.  That's why the pilot rollout for Starbucks uses 62 kW chargers.  It matches speed to practical visits, while taking hardware installation & operational costs into account.  If you truly need fast, you wait until SOC is low and stop the session when speed begins to drop.  Look at how many reviews focus on how long it takes to charge to 100%.  What a waste of a teaching-moment.

Conversion Misleading.  I hadn't seen this tactic is a very, very long time.  The source provided as supposed proof that Toyota's system was not efficient came in the form of a link to an article stating data to confirm it.  Only problem was, when you converted the number from the unfamiliar "kWh/100mi" system to "mi/kWh", the result looked quite good.  Believe it or not, that type of misleading is progress.  Last winter, rhetoric regarding efficiency simply came from WLTP estimates.  Toyota's stated range was way less than actual observed.  Those pointing that out were failing to take the buffer into account (driving to until the vehicle could no longer go, instead just seeing zero-percent on the dashboard) and failing to recognize shortcomings of that estimate system.  In other words, it was legitimized dishonesty.  People could lie by using those misleading numbers assumed to be an accurate measure.  Ugh.  Needless to say, some of those efforts to undermine have been exposed.  That's why this move from range to efficiency is being attempted.  Antagonists will try to portray those numbers as bad.  It should work for awhile too, since most people don't actually know what those numbers mean.  And with most of the articles coming from Europe, the measurement system being different will mask those numbers... enabling assumptions.  Oh well.  All I can do is try to provide conversions.  In this case, it was a response to my post saying 3.5 mi/kWh was indeed a good result.  He argued it wasn't using 28.5 kWh/100mi sighted in the link provided was not.  I don't know if he was dumb enough to not bother converting or he just assumed that value was bad.  At least those reading my reply will know:  That is exactly what the article stated... 28.5 kWh/100mi = 3.508772 mi/kWh ...an inconvenient truth for you.

Paying Attention.  Most don't.  Sadly, we have very short attention spans.  That's why recognizing when history repeats simply doesn't happen.  We're doomed to repeat from those who simply won't ever bother, like from this individual: "Toyota, all you do is talk, talk….talk, talk, talk, talk….all you do is talk, talk."  Noticing detail is an impossible expectation.  Heck, I still hear people refer to range as efficiency.  They think the further the vehicle can go, the more efficient it is.  That dimwitted belief comes from being lazy and making assumption.  Many simply don't want to take the time to learn is a problem.  You can see it too.  I try to point that out:  That is a rather desperate narrative.  It forces the paradigm of expending effort to dismiss what was said for the sake of distracting from what is actually happening.  For those who are paying attention, they'll notice the "all in" talk is an empty promise.   There are no milestone requirements or any penalties for not fulfilling the vague commitment.  What we do see focus on is electricity guzzling.  The fastest charging-speed achieved from pre-conditioning the battery is heavily endorsed, despite the reality of electricity being consumed simply for the sake of reducing charge time.  Then there's the push for giant battery-packs to deliver road-trip EV range as a necessity for everyone and as standard for giant BEV.  It promotes inefficiency.  Notice how the very idea of mi/kWh is quickly dismissed as unimportant... too much talk, talk, talk?

Patently False.  We are reaching that point where the "EV Market" is so far removed from what ordinary consumers still experience that it is easy to just make things up.  Antagonists can basically say whatever they want, since there's so few with actual knowledge to challenge their claim.  For example: "For Toyota's system, it also needs complex gearing to be able to run the motor and/or engine at the same time.  It (quite obviously) suffers the complexity and cost of being both systems at once.  There is more to go wrong, more to need servicing and more expense if it does need repair."  Whether or not is it helpful to even reply to that is like deciding if the troll is worth the effort.  In this case, there was an audience who would benefit.  So, I did:  That is patently false.  Toyota hybrids eliminated complexities of traditional vehicle.  There is nothing but a power-split-device connecting the engine to the motors, which is essentially a 3-way differential.  When have you ever heard of someone's differential ever needing repair?  It doesn't break, because there are no gears.  Claims that is suffers from complexity & cost have overwhelmingly been proven false.  Eliminating gears, making components electric (no serpentine-belt, no power-steering fluid, no starter-motor), and having an electric-motor to reduce stress on the gas-engine is engineering advancement most fail to recognize.  Increasing battery-capacity to significantly reduce use of the gas-engine is the epitome of striving to decrease ownership expense for those unable to go entirely electric.

Cherry-Picked Facts.  The pattern of arguments get old.  We have seen this countless times already: "Look up the facts.  Opinion is worthless without them."  The effort is to stir emotion based on selective data.  They present only what you are supposed to know.  It is real-world story-telling... a portrayal of what they want you to believe... a narrative.  This was my callout of that nonsense today:  Anyone can cherry-pick facts.  It takes effort to ignore what's happening with regard to margins.  We see GM, Ford and Tesla focusing heavily on high-profitable vehicle sales... large trucks... as their next step in electrification.  Avoiding the razor-thin profit vehicles has been so common, it is feared normalized.  EVs are still looked upon as too expensive by the masses and enthusiasts continue to be unwilling to accept compromise of range & speed.

World Leader.  Without bringing up the many questionable definitions of leadership, I have to wonder how timelines are drawn.  It's all quite arbitrary, exactly like the tortoise & hare.  The race how only begun.  So when this gets brought up, all I can do is reply with a question: "Don't get me wrong, for the sake of the climate, I'm rooting for Toyota to succeed but the company that brought us the Prius should be the world leader on zero emissions by now not near to dead last."  I posted:  How are you rating status?  Ironically, those who are basing success on Prius are the same ones who criticized Toyota's approach with Prius. Now, we see a similar situation playing out... where focus was on mainstream consumers and enthusiasts ridiculed what that meant.

1.5 Million by 2026.  I was amused when someone replied with statistics they found contradicting this claim: "If they do introduce what we know of as a proper BEV and if they want to continue in business on most of Europe... then they will have a major about face to contend with.  Almost ALL their TV advertising here is about the (dubious) advantages of no need to plug in with their 'magic' vehicles."  Proven false or not, I was more interested in the use of proper.  So, I asked:  Who defines "proper BEV" and what is it?  From enthusiasts that frequent this venue, there's an obsession with driving-range & charging-speed.  Their priorities are a sharp contrast to what is popular in China.  Looking at newer offerings, like BYD Dolphin, how this that ranked by the "we know" crowd?  It's all quite arbitrary still, based on circumstances of the moment.  Toyota's business pretty much ignores noise from enthusiasts, focusing on what their own audience will be interested in.  That's why they don't follow automakers selling loss-leaders.  As for advertising, I see a lot of television commercials from automakers who Toyota is supposedly trying to catch up to promoting vehicles they don't actually have available to sell.  That reveals an aspect of greenwash being overlooked.  In other words, the messaging from everyone is unclear.  You can see & hear what you want.  Toyota is focusing on coming out of this transition (next 5 years) strong financially, while having built up a customer base for their next-gen BEV platform in the meantime... something the "who" refuse to address.

Losing Money.  Don't you love how people just make stuff up to feed the narrative: "Apparently they're handmaking the bZ4X so they must be losing money hand over fist even pretending to be in the game."  Annoyed, I started with efficiency feedback which started the discussion, then followed with a reply to that nonsense:  There is no question of efficiency.  I own a bZ4X and just drove it to get morning coffee.  3.8 mi/kWh is the answer.  As for losing money, there are no indications of that. bZ4X is built on their e-TNGA platform, which focused heavily on cost-reduction with their current production approach.  It is on their own line in Japan, where Subaru Solterra is also produced.  So at this point in time at the current price, it is quite reasonable to see a razor-thin profit from each sale.  In fact, that's why planned volume is not expected to increase.  With regard to "the game", which game... short, mid or long?

Practical EV.  Toyota re-launched promotion of their bZ sub-brand today.  It was what had been prepared for a year ago, an advertising campaign that was put on hold.  Content is still relevant, but audience is now focused on infrastructure.  It's rather interesting that the vehicle itself is less of a standout already.  That's the point.  In fact, that is exactly what irritates enthusiasts.  They want to retain niche status.  Becoming common is basically a death sentence.  They move on to something else at that point.  We saw it with both hybrids and plug-in hybrids.  That's a problem with "EV", since there is no obvious next step.  Giving the label of "practical EV" to offerings like bZ4X is exactly what some hoping to enjoy the status quo have feared.  It's exactly why they never liked Camry or Corolla.  Remember 2 decades ago.  Same problem for those wanting the technology to still be treated as special.  Having it become ordinary wrecks the excitement.  They have nothing to hype anymore.  That pattern is what Prius followed.  We're seeing it repeat.  Ironically, that history was very exciting.  Know your audience.

Signs of Spring.  There are many, especially here in Minnesota.  Seasonal change is something I always enjoy... once I accept the reality of the other being over.  Growing up there was biking as a favorite non-winter activity.  22 years ago is when the arrival of warmth brought other interest... efficiency from the Prius.  It would increase significant as the snow faded away to a distant memory.  That took on a whole new meaning 6 years back when I got my first plug-in vehicle with a heat-pump... but that had an impact on range.  With so much larger of a battery-pack now, I can focus on the actual electricity consumption.  3.02 mi/kWh is what I watched it climb to today.  Finally rising beyond the 2's is really nice.  It will continue upward too.  Those in southern states have been hinting at what is to come.  Heck, I got the "3" average even while still using the heater.  No longer necessary will is an obvious gain.  That value is a manual calculation, including charge losses.  34.43 kWh of electric stated by the EVSE.  104 miles displayed on the odometer.  Charging so much less often, it will be harder to track.  I currently only have the option of total or trip average to display.  Seeing immediate results from the current trip is more informative for me... how I'm gauging the progress of Spring this year.