One more example of Toyota falling further behind! Combined with declining quality a sure sign of failure of vision.

I'd have to agree with Toyota on this. EVs really don't hit the mark in the mass market for private cars. 100km range sounds good and would cover much of my driving needs but at the same or higher price as a high efficiency diesel I have to ask why? Why get stuck with 100km range and a battery pack with questionable longevity? The diesel will keep running for years upon years without problem but a battery pack won't. If I could get an EV that ran 100km for $5,000 or less I'd see the point but the price to utility equation isn't there yet. Hybrid makes a better argument.

It is about time that a major manufacturer figured out that EVs are over priced toys. Now if they just figure out that waste heat recycling and mechanical energy recovery are a lot less expensive than electromotive energy recovery and drive they'll really be on to something.

Toyota could be caught with is pants down on this, with companies like Jonway jumping in with products like Aptera. IC engine cars are only competitive while the government subsidizes the price of gas, when the price of gas jumps up to $8:00 to $10:00 per gallon things may change rapidly.

The thing is, the new plug-in hybrid prius essentially is an EV for the kind of range they are talking about. Why would Toyota shoot themselves out on an established brand with a long anticipated improvement by offering a questionable product, especially when they are having to make production choices?

re; Jerry Peavy
Which countries subsidizes gas prices. In Europe gas is highly taxed and $.41 per gallon of what I pay for gas is direct tax and then there is the tax expenses that corporations pass on to the consumer.

Until the energy density, life and capacity of batteries approaches usability expectations (something similar to petroleum), true EV's will be an environmentalists dream rather than reality. Given the poor performance of battery technology and the automobile industry's silence on their lifetime and replacement cost, the market for pure EV's has not been stellar. Until some sort of guarantees along with a recharging/replacement infrastructure exists, EV's will blunder along as interesting to a few, but not mainstream technology. Guarantees, performance, and standard infrastructures are absolutely necessary for mass market acceptance. We are a long way off this set of requirements today.

Given track record of laptops and cell phones loosing peak charge capacity with-in a year or two it is hard to trust pure EVs . The last thing I want to see is already-short-range of EVs dropping to half with-in few years. To that, I believe, Toyota is doing the right thing, getting back to the lab and drawing board. Will it be more prudent to focus on fuel-cell technology and hydrogen distribution infrastructure? Advancements around power train, super capacitor, etc. can only help better performance of fuel-cell powered electric vehicles.

It's all very interesting - but at EV Fest 2012 - my man from Toyota Canada convinced the company to let him bring the RAV4 EV to the show - along with their preferred Canadian offering - the Prius Plugin Vehicle (PHV) and the RAV4 EV got so much interest, that now he is thinking - since he can't sell it here, and so many people expressed interest in buying it - even at the higher price - that maybe he won't bring it next year!
Obviously - even in my short show of just 1 day, and small crowd of under 500 - the important thing is - that those who want EV's are willing to pay, and want them now!
If Toyota Canada - brought the RAV4 EV to Canada - on a Trial limited basis for public purchase - and they only marketed it to Guests of EV Fest - they would probably have sales, but then they would have to train a couple dealerships in the Toronto, Ontario Zone for Servicing the Vehicle! I bet they could sell at least 2% of my own show attendees the vehicle just from an email to them - saying - would they pay X 10% (California price Plus 10%)
But hey - who am I to question the Wisdom of the wise?! (Just the creator of a new EV Show that for each of the past 3 years has had more Electric Vehicles at the show each year than the major Toronto Auto Show!)

The internal combustion engine will have a quick death. Nanoparticle emissions will kill it and us. The industry ignores this at our peril. Nanoparticle can kill....that is why the government ignores it.