it's really funny to hear how confused the signals even inside the industry are. Have one friend who sells cars. To hear him, the dealers and the sales arms of the Car Cos are ready to ****can the whole EV experience. Have another who works in research for a car Co: "This is typical market psychology blip for a technology introduction - there is no going back"
I think the funny thing is that Mr. Toyoda, who was forced out for pushing back against the all EV future is going to turn out to be half right - he said you have to go through wider adoption of hybrids as the transitional tech, and he is going to turn out to be right. (though I still believe he was wrong in his fascination with Hydrogen....). The manufacturers were hoping to avoid hybrids, esp plug in hybrids - as that is the most expensive car to build, but this is what will actually work for Americans who mostly commute short distances but believe they may have to drive cross country at any moment's notice.
Plug-in hybrids could probably still reduce gasoline consumption by 80% without having to overcome owner range paranoia while longer range non-IC tech evolves.