The world's largest automaker Toyota appears to be gradually catching up with the battery-electric vehicle (BEV) trend
Including battery, hybrid, plug-in, and fuel cell vehicles, nearly a quarter of Toyota sales
the US are BEV-related. Some believe Toyota ought to have moved more quickly and forcefully towards full electrification.
Toyota's ambitions for electrification can still be viewed as cautious
out of step with how quickly the market is developing and upstart EV firms are gaining ground.
However, it is impossible to criticise Toyota for how innovative it was in 1997 when it first introduced the Toyota Prius.
The first version, which had 123,000 units sold at the end of its production cycle