Why Toyota Is Intentionally "Falling Behind" On EVs | Morning Brew (10:10)

On top of that, there's the fact that Toyota have been investing heavily in hydrogen fuel cell technology for years, instead of BEVs. They put their bets on the wrong horse, and have been slow to adapt as a result.

Edison motors. They've already got a working prototype electric diesel hybrid semi and have begun working on conversion kits. The big benefit is that when batteries eventually get good enough, you could just remove the diesel generator.

I don't know how much research/traction this idea has, but I've heard of a reverse hybrid system that seems to be a good solution in my mind. The electric engine operates the drivetrain, and the combustion engines runs continuously at its most efficient configuration to act as a generator for the electric engine

This is a very common setup, usually it’s diesel-electric. Diesel trains often work like this, it’s also used on submarines, ships, trucks, etc.

There was a report that Mazda was going to do this with their next release cycle, except they’re going to use Rotary engines because they can make small pancake ones shoved in the corner of a trunk do it.

It depends on use case. If you're driving in a city or living in a small country or state, electric makes a lot of sense.

Range anxiety only really kicks in if driving long distances. But 300 miles on a full charge is already common among electric cars. I'm in the UK - that'd easily covet the 200 mile journey from Manchester to London.

I think the real anxiety around range is a lack of chargers either on the journey or at the destination. Without that infrastructure then it will put people off electric cars. But the infrastructure is getting better every day -at least in Europe anyway.

I'm not sold given that you've got the mechanical complexity of two types of engine systems in a hybrid.

I think just getting the charging network sorted out would basically make EVs fine for most people.

hybrids might be a PART of the way, but there’s absolutely no reason they need to be the only way. For many many use cases BEVs already work better than hybrids and those cases are only going to grow in number as the charging infrastructure is built out and energy storage tech improves. Maybe there will always be fringe cases where hybrids are practical, maybe not.

I think plug-in hybrids are probably the way, particularly outside the US where Tesla hasn't made a bid for controlling the charging network by overinvesting in proprietary charging spots.

At that point it's probably the price that is the issue, but otherwise that seems to be the proposal that people are most comfortable with. The scalability of "EVs as tech toys" upstart approach has always been a bit weird, and without that leading the way as much I don't know that there are incentives to fully transition without an in-between step.

True hybrids that can get 50+ mpg are better than ICE for sure. But plug-in hybrids are not the way forward. You can travel 20-30 miles on the tiny electric battery then it's a full on ICE vehicle and mpg usage. Environmental impact on those plug-in hybrids is way worse the more miles you drive, really only a good fit for low mileage drivers that will be consistent with plugging in at home.

they definetly can help us transition, yeah. the downsides currently there for full EVs don't need to be a thing when you have a small ICE attached to the electric motors to help it out when needed.

nothing stopping us from taking an easier step in the right direction.