I don't type that as an EV hater. My wife and I like both our EV car and our mid-size ICE pickup. When I decided to make one of our cars an EV and keep one as an ICE car (to have one of each and, therefore, have the best of both worlds), there are technical limitations as to why I chose not to have the pickup be the EV.
Maybe if Ford, GM, and Rivian had gone with a small truck being fully electric, that might last more than a fad. Many small pickup owners don't regularly carry/tow large loads -- otherwise they would have bought large trucks. They usually use those trucks as commuter cars but with pickup features to handle small pickup chores every now and then on the weekends. You'd think if there was any sustainable market for EV pickups it'd be those pickup owners.
I would think that Toyota could sell a plug in hybrid version of the Tacoma very well. Heck, I might even buy one.
If that vehicle could drive on battery for 50 miles but still have a V6 engine for longer trips or when I occasionally pull a trailer or load up the 6’ bed.
https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-losing-billions-on-electric-vehicles-evs-2023-3?op=1
All while these companies cozy up to China, our enemy.
Six months ago, my wife and I moved to my wife's home country, Japan, a nation where electrification of passenger/work transportation is very advanced.
We live in the heart of an 800,000 population city in an elevator-equipped — and earthquake-proofed — apartment building only a quarter mile from the city's busy train station.
Surprisingly, the clickety-clack of the inter-metro trains rolling down the tracks no longer bothers us. In fact, it kind of lulls you to sleep — as it does for the tens of thousands of commuters here who ride the trains (and sleep in their seats). Of course, the bullet trains are very quiet by comparison as they whoosh by in a few seconds.
And Japan is a place where you can get by without a car. The inner cities are safe and there are plenty of public bus and train options. So the only vehicle we now have — and it's essential — is a human-powered shopping trolley that we fold and carry to the local grocers, farmer's market, and department stores.
But life in Japan is not all city: the high rises and multi-story apartment buildings extend to only a 3-mile radius from the city center. Beyond that, the landscape is dominated by single-family homes, two-story apartments — and cars — tons of cars, like American suburbia. But the Japanese suburbs have only tiny yards, their floor space is maybe two-thirds the size, so the homes are more tightly packed.
In fact, the sale of hybrid cars is booming -- no surprise in a country that has no internal supply of petroleum and recently found the need to buy oil from the Russians.
We are getting rides from friends in these cars, and I'm sure FReepers would get a kick out of them. The market is completely different: the designs are quite boxy relatively few SUVs and pickup trucks are sold, but passenger hybrids are comfortable, have lots of head room, and are loaded with electronic. Japan is way past the PRIUS novelty phase. Curiously, I have not seen any Teslas or ads/publicity about them here. So that's a quick update.