I went to a great talk
I went to a great talk recently by John Bozella of Global Automakers. He went over in detail how much more attractive hydrogen is compared to BEV with regards to CARB compliance. You mentioned that in the middle of the story. My mental note was that an H car is about 3X better than a BEV for automakers. Toyota looked for the best path to maximum profits within CARBS guidelines and decided that it can make all the ZEVs it needs to comply with far fewer H cars. I don't think they care one whit about the infrastructure challenges. If they build the cars and the state (CA) hasn't kept up their end I don't really see a problem for Toyota. At their profit level they can almost give away the cars, or better yet, sell them to the states and municipalities that are asking for them to use in fleets. - One last thing, with dozens of hybrid models, some about to enter their fourth generation, and with more gasoline saved than can be credited to all EVs combined, Toyota is not exactly the top environmental evil doer in the auto industry. - I love your last paragraph here. I think you nailed it. It seems to me that both Honda and Toyota already have excellent plug-in EVs at the 90% stage. If batteries increase in density and the cost comes down (or is subsidized) all of Toyota and Honda's hybrids suddenly are perfect platforms for either plug-in hybrids, or EREVs.