Toyota EV.

[sandpiper]

It didn't happen quickly but it looks like Toyota has finally come to see the rather obvious.

I'm assuming that all the BS about "taming the Li Ion battery" is nothing more than a rather weak justification for having wasted the last several years pointlessly mucking about with fuel cells.

Toyota Claims To Have “Tamed” Lithium-Ion Battery Technology — “Will Enable Us To Also Produce All-Electric Cars In The Future”

 

[BluestarE3]

Seems more like a stalling tactic to mollify potential EV buyers to hold off buying someone else's EV because Toyota will have a better version "soon". "Meanwhile, can we steer you toward a nice Mirai or Prius?"

That "triple braced... safety, safety, safety" comment implies that current EVs somehow have dangerous battery packs that should be avoided. I wonder if they triple braced the hydrogen tanks for safety, safety, safety in their Miraiagible?

 

[sandpiper]

Seems more like a stalling tactic to mollify potential EV buyers to hold off buying someone else's EV because Toyota will have a better version "soon". "Meanwhile, can we steer you toward a nice Mirai or Prius?"

I tend to think not. Toyota moves slowly and deliberately. This fuel cell boondoggle smells like a project that was carried far too long by inertia (and unwillingness to lose face over a bad decision). I'd bet a sashimi dinner that that the wording of the announcement (safety bla bla) was 80% designed to help some internal management types retain their pride (not a dumb decision, we were protecting the consumer from lethal batteries!) while still allowing the company to make a required change in direction.

The Mirai is as good as dead. Unless it comes back in the form of a Mirai EV.

 

[BluestarE3]

The Mirai is as good as dead. Unless it comes back in the form of a Mirai EV.

Better to let the Mirai name fade away and give any future EV the Prius moniker, which has creds as a "green" car.