They've been trying for years. No sign of them being worthwhile yet.

That's cool but there have been attempts to build EVs at least as far back as the late 60s [0].

[0] https://autoesporte.globo.com/um-so-planeta/noticia/2021/04/...

Yes, exactly, and now we have them at mass market scale, whereas hydrogen is not at the same scale by a large margin. I don't think your argument goes in the direction you want it to go.

I think it does. It took 50-60 years to get EVs where they are today. Why abort all efforts for hydrogen now? It could take 50, 60 or 200 years. It will only happen if they're allowed to keep developing it though.

Longer than that. The first electric cars were over a century ago. Battery tech is even older than that, maybe another century. It took many lifetimes for the tech to get to where it is today.

But why ban hydrogen fuelled cars?

Virtually all hydrogen fuelled vehicles use fuel cells, so do not use combustion engines, so wouldn't be banned.

Yet.

But no one has proved our green hydrogen at car scale yet. So right now hydrogen is fossil fuel (because it’s extracted from methane)

Toyota is infamous for their resistance to BEVs and their insistence on sticking with cars that have ICEs. They've gone so far as to distribute corporate propaganda to grade schoolers that "teaches" them that BEVs are evil and hybrids are "better."

It's for several reasons, interwoven.

One, Toyota lagged behind everyone else. VW and GM, the other giants, are far ahead of them. Even Nissan, the shittiest manufacturer in Japan, is far ahead of them. Took them a bit (the Leaf was a joke until its most recent incarnation because of Nissan's cost-cutting, refusing to implement proper, liquid-based thermal management.)

Toyota, and the Japanese economy, are heavily dependent upon the Japanese replacing their cars every few years, which is why they obsessively re-style their products with little changes "under the hood." For something like decades the Corolla by and large did not change much except for body panels and interior changes. Another reason people replace their cars is the unreliability as they exit the warranty period. BEVs are much more reliable, so people won't replace them as often.

Japan's economy is heavily dependent upon a huge cottage industry of mom and pop car part suppliers, and BEVs are both vastly simpler and much more reliable, meaning there will be far less demand for parts during manufacture, in warranty, and post-warranty sales.

Japan's economy is also heavily dependent upon people replacing their cars often, as previously mentioned, to keep fueling the whole industry. Further, they export a huge number of used vehicles, mostly to the rest of Asia - and there's a very large industry around that. Transporting the cars, evaluating their condition, auctioning them, shipping them.

If people keep their cars longer, that all grinds to a halt...particularly because the cars often go to countries where frankly there's little hope of there being EV infrastructure any time soon. So as used EVs enter Japan's used car export economy, nobody will want them. Because nobody will want them, auction buyers won't buy them. So dealers won't be able to get much money for the cars. Which means they won't be able to offer good trade-in values. Which means people won't be able to afford buying a Toyota Camry with differently shaped headlights and bumpers every 3 years. Which means the Japanese economy, frankly, grinds to a halt.

Further: Dealers make all their money on maintenance and service, especially out-of-warranty. BEVs require far less maintenance and service. So dealers are pissed about the huge drop in income from these BEVs. So keeping ICEs means dealers keep getting maintenance and service on the engines.

By the way: another reason Toyota changes the headlights/taillights bumpers so often? They're the most commonly damaged in a collision, and by changing them constantly (and assuring that only one or two model years will fit a car...saaaaay, by making them stretch deep into other body panels like the front fenders with long bits that, oh by the way, happen to be pretty fragile!), they get to keep the parts expensive, and aftermarket suppliers (and the used car parts industry) have a nearly impossible time keeping up.

Further by-the-way: some cars, it's incredibly difficult to change the headlight bulb. Guess why? That's right: helping dealers inflate the labor costs for a bulb change. 15 minutes at $120/hour isn't sexy. But if you have to take apart a dozen things in the engine compartment? Why, now you can justify an hour's labor!...and because your techs are probably paid for the "book time", they figure out how to do it a lot faster....and both the dealership and tech make out like bandits, while the customer gets fucked for the full book time labor charge.

1997/Prius hardly seems “behind” everyone when it was groundbreaking.

IMO Toyota has chosen a path that is congruent with the reality that is, not what might be.

I call that pragmatic. Those calling for full electrification right now when we can’t even keep our porch lights illuminated every single night in California, not so pragmatic IMO. Present battery tech requires a huge infrastructure buildout required and I’m not talking about charging solutions for residents of multi-family dwellings.

If such a time should come to pass where those problems are solved, Toyota will at that time capitalize on everyone else’s mistakes and possibly buy solutions like batteries and enter the market then. It’s a basic risk containment strategy.

Reminds me of the german anxiety about EVs[1]. Particlarly the mom and pop car part suppliers, the japanese equivalent to the famed german Mittelstand.

[1]: https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/02/09/will-german-engineer...

> Toyota is infamous for their resistance to BEVs and their insistence on sticking with cars that have ICEs.

Is that actually based in reality? Toyota's hybrid vehicles that have ICE engines also have battery packs, and the newer hybrid models have battery packs approaching 6-7 kWh. These aren't even classified as PHEVs.

Their PHEVs have battery packs upwards of 10 kWh (between 10 and 20 kWh) and sell like hot cakes.

So if you were to look at the aggregate capacity of all the batteries Toyota is shipping with their vehicles, I would bet it's at least average or actually higher than other manufacturers, e.g. Ford or Chevy or VW.

Basically, unless you have the raw numbers for comparison about aggregate pack capacity, your whole point is kind of moot.