Toyota is also probably stuck in a weird version of the sunk costs fallacy at this point, having spent R&D money continuously on hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles since the 1990s. Luckily for them, a good hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is just a good EV with a really weird "refillable battery", so their sunk costs aren't likely to sink the company because the rest of the "drive train" is the roughly the same for HFC and battery EV.

Exactly, they were originally acting extremely forward thinking. The one thing they simply did not see coming is the mid-2000's mobile tech revolution. The cost of lithium batteries fell like a rock to where they are today (due to smartphones, etc) and that was simply unforeseeable 20 years ago. What Toyota needs now is a single skateboard platform for both BEV and FCEV and then to simply build the FC models with a dummy pack structure and keep the entire rest of the design the same.

To keep weight/handling similar they could probably even fill it with as many batteries as they can subtracting only the full weight of a filled fuel cell (ie, it may not be so much of a "dummy" pack). That might keep HFC EVs in line to be the last surviving PHEV model as ICE retires, which would keep/permanently enshrine Toyota's (Prius) spot in the PHEV hall of fame.

Well, to be fair, a Model S weighs more than some F-150s, and a Model 3 can weigh more than 4000 pounds, which is pretty porky for such a small car.

But ... I don't see what that really has to do with paying for roads. We will replace the gas tax, and in fact most places are already talking about how to do it. Doesn't seem like an intractable problem at all, and will probably be fixed well before EV adoption gets into the double digits.

I agree wholly on the second point though I will say as per the weight thing, the Model 3 actually weighs about 150 pounds more than a BMW 3 Series, its direct competition. Not a really light car but also not crazy heavy as claimed. The same goes for the Model S whereas its competition the MB S-Class, Audi A8, and BMW 7 Series all have similar weights. They are heavy cars for sure, compared to most compact cars, but that's more of a factor of their size and class rather than their drivetrain. Future BEV's will gain range from lighter drivetrains so it's def. a goal they will be seeking.

Well maybe this is different in the US but in Europe electric cars are easily 20% heavier than similar models.

The traction idea is not absurd. Tesla owners claim the tires last around 25000 kilometers instead of 60000 when the drive 'insane' all the time.

Takeshi Uchiyamanda was always talking about the environment when he talked about hydrogen. And even now he sees that battey cars are taking off he still stand by his point.

But that is all marketing talk?

The first two points don't really apply to future electric cars however.

Euro Electric car models (like the e-golf or such) are generally adapted gasoline models that require additional hardware to make the design work, this is obviously inefficient. To make it clear, the current non-tesla/Jag/Audi EVs are almost all examples of designs that will not be seen in the future so I don't think they are fair to compare. The VW ID3 would probably be the best example of a future euro electric car.

The traction idea is absurd for a few reasons: 1: fast cars exist currently. 2: There is no proof to the idea that accelerating hard has any effect at all on roads. 3: Tesla's Performance is incredible, sure...but that's a $100K car, it is not what will be sold mass market or bought mass market. It's priced near that of a Porsche 911 turbo, which accelerates somewhat near to the level of the Model S and has never been this kind of issue.

As for hydrogen, look at this Toyota-press chart: https://insideevs.com/news/353600/toyota-six-global-bevs/

1: they are not all in on FCEV 2: Their own chart shows them believing that BEVs will eventually outsell Fuel Cell (but of course not before FC takes off..which it hasn't. )

Tire manufacturers warranty their tires for a specific amount of miles/kilometers. If a person buys a set of tires that are supposed to last for 50,000 miles (assuming they buy the correct size, load, and speed rated tires for their vehicle) and the tires wear down in half that distance, we would have seen a spate of people claiming their warranty replacements, and we have not.