I don't think these…
I don't think these companies were being any more deceptive than is routine for every other corporate entity. Like everything else they do, providing information to the public is tailored to maximize benefit to the company. Keeping the local financial ecosystem alive is actually kind of advanced thought for a corporation.
That said, I think they should make horizontally opposed free piston generators and use them to power EVs that have a minimal battery. If all the cars are built on a minimal battery EV platform, and the combustion engine, the extra battery, the fuel cell all become range extenders, that builds in flexibility about the fuel source and allows the customer rather than the auto manufacturer to make the granular decisions about fuel source adoption. Also, if you can swap the engine modules for batteries on a per-cylinder basis, then you can also swap them for other engine modules, which means that all repairs and modifications to the engines can happen on the bench. Also, battery modules being built to facilitate exchange means that vehicle life isn't limited to battery life.