Citing the slate.com source
Citing the slate.com source would be more appropriate than the current link, but neither states supporting evidence for many of the off-the-cuff opinions and poorly paraphrased sentences that are stated as facts in this article.
One fact not addressed supporting Toyota's commitment to gas engines is that they sell a huge number of vehicles to underdeveloped countries housing a good deal of our global population where gasoline is prevalent but electricity is scarce and car batteries power the one or two light bulbs they may be able to run from charging during the day. They are not going to leave those customers "in the dark" by "fully committing" to any one type of propulsion technology.
Toyota's future for years has been clearly stated as hydrogen-based to provide the greenest vision without the need to mine and refine chemicals needed for battery production, which uses vast amounts of fossil fuels, and they were continuously ridiculed for it. I find it amusing how many people are now reporting on how innovative the aviation sector is by working on hydrogen power as their grand new idea.
Mr. Toyoda is still touting hydrogen and has been taking his hydrogen-burning GR racers on demo-laps around global race tracks. This and the recent twin AE86 concepts showing a similar platform both touting and contrasting battery and hydrogen power as evidence of their future vision. I think in the coming years there will be more attention given to converting gas engines to hydrogen use, similar to the same trend with natural gas -- which worked great but never really took hold because of the ubiquitous nature of gasoline. Maybe someone will come up with home hydrogen generators capable of keeping up with household vehicle and home heating needs.