Toyota's production-bound BEV bZ4X concept

This one is interesting. Recently Toyota's Chairman got visibly upset when folks questioned his stance on EVs. He stated that hydrogen was the future and these same folks asked why take the middle step when they could just go with a true battery-only EV? Let's remember that hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles use hydrogen mixed with oxygen in the air to make electricity to send to batteries to then drive the vehicle. The only tailpipe emission is water. Cool right? And then you must consider where the hydrogen comes from either water or hydro-carbons (aka oil) processed. But as you can see, eliminating the hydrogen-fuel cell and by putting in larger batteries can accomplish the same thing in a much simpler manner. Plus you don't have to drive around with highly-pressurized hydrogen tubes which are incredibly flammable. Like blow-up flammable (remember blimps?). Sure the tech has made advances but ICE cars don't catch fire like in the olden days (remember that your gas tank is basically a Molotov Cocktail) and that battery fires are few in comparison (unless you blow it like GM has with recent Chevy Bolts...supposedly fixed btw).  Let's move ahead to today's post. Toyota recently announced it's new EV division bZ (as in let's get busy or I'm so busy? Oh Beyond Zero, right...) with the debut of the bZ4X crossover concept. The RAV4 sized ute is handsomely styled, but no specs have been released. The bZ4X is expected to go into production next year so more info is around the corner. No word on whether this concept (and production version) will ride on a new more-efficient EV-only platform or whether the bZ4X utilizes an existing one. Expect Lexus and Subaru versions. I know more information is on the horizon, but this is a step in the right direction for Toyota and our futures. Maybe Toyota executives should take their chairman for a ride in a new Tesla Model S of a Lucid Air. I really take issue with the media release making Toyota sound like the EV leader. The numbers quoted include hybrids (like the Prius, etc.) and while a hybrid is a good step, a full battery-electric vehicle is better on many counts. And in just a few short years, EVs will be purchase-cost competitive since they are already cheaper to run.

Source: Toyota - Media release, pics, and video after the "read more" jump.