Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Toyota has not only announced an EV (bZ4X) and had previously offered an EV (RAV4), but they announced solid state battery technology to be appearing in products in the not too distant future.
It was bad timing for all the manufacturers to jump into EVs this early because battery technology sucks, and not just a little. Only a great fool would get into an unprofitable game and rave about how awesome the sucky technology is. A better strategy is to point out the obviously terrible current state of technology while continuing development in secrecy.
I tend to agree hydrogen is a dumb idea, but that's only evident by hindsight. Had hydrogen gained political favor, Toyota would have been among the few to mightily benefit. They gambled on that and probably lost. It was high risk, high reward.
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Meanwhile other automakers place higher bets on the EV game, Toyota is not placing all its eggs on just one basket. And even though Hydrogen doesn't make much sense for the average Joe as CNG could do, Toyota can easily fund its advanced R&D, selling both its hybrids and some "outdated" stuff which actually works good enough for its conservative customer base all around the world.