Toyota has been claiming to have EV-killing tech 3-5 years away for 20 years. It's part of the plan for selling hybrids.

This, 100%

I mean…. Really? Toyota kind of kicked off the whole EV shebang by introducing the first commercially successful hybrid in the Prius. And they’ve been innovating in the space ever since. Don’t mistake this for me believing they have a solid state battery right around the corner. But Japanese auto companies aren’t known for being on the forefront. They’re known for doing what everyone else does with better reliability and lower costs.

Me too. And their revolutionary hydrogen car that everyone will turn to by the year yesterday

No they haven't.

That was several years ago when they wanted their developed hydrogen cars to get market and IMO, right now, they're still right. All electric with current batteries are still no good. Range anxiety, charge issues, batteries that are huge and have to be built under the vehicles in a way that extremely expensive to replace 10 plus years down the line when they start going bad. It's no good. Basically any car built that way in the sub $50,000 market will be worthless in around 15 years. Won't be worth the battery replacement cost.

Right now, until batteries are better, like solid states are supposed to be, hybrids are the way to go. Smaller, cheaper, easier batteries to replace, still great gas mileage, and no range anxiety or charge location issues. All electric just isn't realistic right now for most people. Now if you're a home owner with a garage and get a new vehicle every 5 years and don't need to take many long trips, or use a different vehicle for long trips, it could be great, but those people aren't most people.

If they kept systems as hybrids until better battery tech shows up, I still think that would be the best bet (for the US market, at least). Needing a 1500 pound battery that's hard as hell to replace, costs usually over $5,000 just for the battery, and will slowly degrade with time until complete failure in 15 years or so seems like a right bad idea for a large amount of people. Smaller batteries in shorter range models isn't good enough for trips away from town, and for the millions of people living in apartments, they have to charge away from home, which is often no cheaper than gasoline and takes longer. Hybrid systems are the sweet spot for now. No range anxiety, no plugging in, and no giant 1500 lb batteries, while the gas motors last ages because they aren't working as hard. When my old prius battery went out after being around 13 years old, I bought a new one from toyota for $1900 and swapped it out in an afternoon.

I don't think hydrogen will happen in the US. I think that's also a fairly poor choice just because of how much power it takes to make the stuff and getting stations for hydrogen all across the country.