Toyota has stepped up lobbying to preserve its investments in hybrids, hydrogen

> 1.5L engines are still pretty sizeable once you take into account the head, valve cover, oilpan. Then all the external parts needed to support combustion like water pump, radiator, coils and their wires and engine mounts. The total volume is a lot more than the 1.5L cylinders. Add in the fact Volt can directly power the wheels with the engine and now you are forced to put certain components in very specific, highly valuable places.

This entire paragraph is like saying an electric motor needs batteries and those batteries need cooling systems and those cooling systems need pumps and those pumps need power and...

No one claimed the entire drivetrain is 1.5L, but 1.5L gives you an idea of how relatively small the engine is. All the components you listed scale down in turn. Smaller engine running at a better point in its power band needs less cooling, less oil capacity, fewer oil changes, etc.

> The worst now outweighs (in this case literally as well as figuratively) the best.

I don't believe in this view point if we're being realistic about a low emission future.

We have an extensive gas infrastructure just sitting there today, meanwhile we have grids that can barely handle our current demands.

PHEVs are a chance for innovative solutions to that. Imagine power companies being able to direct people to use gas during (what will be increasingly frequent) extreme weather events then switch back.

And consider that PHEVs don't need to be Voltec-style all-in drivetrains. Conventional car designs can be converted to PHEVs like the old 3 series ActiveHybrid was.

And while people immediately recoil at the less than optimal results of not designing from the ground up around batteries and EV requirements, there's no changing the fact that designing new cars is expensive.

Affordable PHEVs based on current designs could open up EVs to more segments of the market than currently possible.

> you have the authority to decide only to the point of electing politicians that push what you consider to be the right thing. This takes time.

Funny, a few posts ago you were talking about moral authority. Oh how the goal posts move!

Also, as a society we’ve already decided to use our legal authority to incentivize EVs, that’s what Toyota is whining about! They have lost both the political and the social (“hearts and minds”) argument, and are trying to use bribes to get their way again.

> How would you feel if you would personally be targeted in an effort to reduce global warming?

Drawing a parallel between a person being “targeted” (loaded word) and a corporation making the wrong decisions is extremely weird.

Toyota was not targeted, they failed to take advantage of the incentives available to them. Ford, Hyundai, VW, Porsche, and Tesla all took advantage of the programs available to them, Toyota did not. That’s less “targeted” and more “made a mistake”.

> That EV you dream of as stopping global warming may overall be responsible for more CO2 emission that my “normal” car depending on how the power you use has been generated.

This is actually oil industry propaganda, good to see that it still has legs.

EPA estimates show that an EV is marginally cleaner than a gasoline car for a pure coal powered grid for total emissions. Of course you have to live in West Virginia before “100% coal power” is anywhere close to an accurate approximation of what your power grid looks like.

Also, it’s not a stretch to say that Toyota’s fuel cells are powered by oil. The primary source of commercial Hydrogen is from natural gas.

Politicians are cheap.

> All the components you listed scale down in turn

But don't go away altogether, which is my point. There is a space cost to be paid in any PHEV that is significant, both in absolute volume terms as well as prime placement. The engine occupies extremely valuable real estate. In a pure EV that's space you can move the cab forward for more legroom or cargo space (or just make the car's overall footprint smaller).

> Affordable PHEVs based on current designs

What affordable PHEVs are there? They still command a price premium over the ICE version. Here in Canada Kia Niro hybrid is $27K, PHEV is 34.5K and BEV is $45K.

PHEVs also vary wildly in carbon reduction based on owner action. If the owner plugs in each day consistently they are great. Unfortunately, in the EU PHEVs have turned into tax shelters and studies have shown most drivers never plug them in, resulting in more emissions than if they had just bought the regular hybrid.

5 years ago PHEVs were a great solution while batteries were very expensive, but their window of value is rapidly closing and will be gone once batteries hit $100/kWh in likely mid 2023. I certainly wouldn't spend money on a new one now knowing that inflection point is coming so soon. Used Gen2 Volt is one of the great deals to be had in cars at the moment, but new PHEVs just don't make sense to me.

the question about the moral authority was a rhetorical one. Apologies if it came across as a genuine question.

I think you’re missing the point: Toyota made their decisions (which they probably had more data then you have for) and now they are making the most out of it, while also trying to extract the most value possible.

Does this, in retrospect, look like a mistake? Maybe, but most of the times decisions like this are made with imperfect information and there is a good dose of guessing involved.

Again, I’m not saying that what they did or are doing is good/bad right/wrong. I’m saying that it’s totally understandable and as long as this is within the law I don’t have a problem with it.

Also, research a bit the solid state battery work that Toyota has allegedly done. I’m not saying it’s going to pan out, but they definitely did not sit around twiddling their fingers and plotting on how to lobby more effectively.

Here: https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.html

Also factor in the carbon emissions for manufacturing the battery: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/may/11/viral-imag...

And depending where your battery is produced you need to use your EV anywhere between 2-5 years before you can say that you emitted less than an equivalent gas powered car. This totally ignores PZEV cars btw. It also ignores the environmental impact of the battery after it no longer works.

Also, here is a bulletproof way of reducing carbon emissions and reducing impact on environment: buy less stuff. Including but not limited to buying a new car less often. I’m gonna bet you real money that the impact my SUV has on the environment if own it for 12 years instead of 5 is lower, per year than if I buy an EV every 5 years.

So I’m not sure that you can claim EVs are much much better, but if you have any credible sources I’m open to changing my mind.