It took Toyota two decades to sell 11 million hybrid and electric cars. But in another 12 years, Toyota thinks it can sell 5.5 million of them annually.
Until now, Toyota had been reluctant to commit to dedicated battery-electric cars, instead offering limited-scale, expensive retrofits like the RAV4 EV. Now it plans to have 10 battery-electric cars in its lineup by the early 2020s and to sell one million fully electric cars annually by 2030. By 2025, all new Toyota and Lexus models will offer hybrid or electric trims. To put those numbers into perspective, Toyota’s prediction of  5.5 million electrified-vehicle sales in 2030 is more than half its current 10 million worldwide sales of all its vehicles.
This certainly is not the end of internal combustion, however. Toyota will sell dedicated electrified vehicles as it does now, such as the Prius and the Mirai, while offering an option of hybrid and electric powertrains across its lineup. This means traditional hybrids in the grand Prius tradition, plug-in hybrids like the Prius Prime, performance hybrids for Lexus, heavy-duty hybrids for trucks, electrified powertrains for low-cost models, battery-electric vehicless, and hydrogen fuel-cell electrics for both passenger and commercial duties.
It’s interesting that despite naysayers and the dearth of refueling stations, Toyota isn’t giving up on hydrogen, the world’s most abundant element. Without going into specifics, Toyota said it will arm hydrogen...