Hybrids vs Electric Vehicles

Aren't you describing hybrid cars?

Why hybrids, Why not just go for full electric?

I'm curious, why aren't you looking into PHEVs? Prius, GM Volt, and Honda Clarity?With 50 mile all-electric range available, these cars can be pure electric in most daily-driver situations. In fact, Volt drivers are reporting 85% electric to 15% gasoline usage, typically (with those gasoline usage being those long trips that rack up a lot of miles).With Gen1 Volts hitting 100k miles, its more or less proven itself as a methodology and as a general technology. Unfortunately, Volt

What's wrong with Toyota's hybrids and plug-in hybrids? Up-front cost?

Misleading title: it's going hybrid, not going electric.

I own an EV (Ioniq) and believe this is the future. But Toyota Hybrids have been known to drive 400k miles without major hiccups. There exist use cases that EVs just can’t fulfill right now. So why not save 30-40% fuel while battery production is ramping, which will take a few more years.

I would agree with Toyota. Excluding hybrids from the mix is simply wrong, as global electric mix (64% fossil fuels, mostly coal) poor performance in harsh conditions, charging time and infrastructure, are still so unmature. Hybrids with smaller batteries are great middle step and solution for now, as you can have best of the two worlds. And in the most countries, they could be better in terms of environment compared to pure EVs.

It should be a plug in hybrid tho

Edit the title: it's a plug-in hybrid, not an electric car.

It also seems to be a common misconception that hybrids are a logical intermediary step between ICE and EV, and this is made more confusing by cars like the original Hyundai Ioniq that came in hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric versions. So I wouldn't be surprised if Toyota's lack of interest appeared to be contrarian when it was the opposite.