Does Toyota Believe in Electric Cars?

Toyota does not believe in pure EVs yet, Nissan does. But that's OK, the electrification of the automobile is just beginning, and many of us are not ready to go cold turkey from our oil addiction. Prii and other Toyota hybrids have convinced a lot of doubters that batteries and electric motors do belong in cars and as time goes on they will accept more of the same. Toyota's cautious approach may win over more people in the long run than Nissan's go for broke headlong rush, or even GM's expensive 2 full size drivetrain Volt. I think it's great that the market is delivering a range of compelling solutions, pure EVs and EREVs for us, PHEVs and hybrids for those with different needs or less risk tollerence.

For good overall insight read the book Internal Combustion by Edwin Black.
Just like GM, Toyota does not want to speed up the inevitable electrification of passenger vehicles because it goes against most of their business models. The major auto manufacturers profit mostly off of the fact that ICE cars have limited lives and require regular and escalating tuneups, maintenance and parts replacements. Pure EV's turn this model completely upside down. That is why both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford knew that EV's were the best vehicle for the American public. What was clear to them 100 years ago is even more true now with the motor, battery and electronics advancements.
Look at the evidence of Toyota and GM purposely dragging their feet on offering the technology to the masses. The Prius could have been plug in years ago. GM, after helping get the CARB to remove the requirement for zero emmision vehicles and destroying almost all EV1's, markets the Volt as "more car than electric". Through marketing/propagandizing telling their buying public that electric vehicles are not really cars.
The good news is that EV's time has come and both the new auto manufacturers and truly big picture, long term company's such as Nissan, Benz and BMW will lead and revolutionize the driving experience for all. Be sure to see the movie Revenge of the Electric Car when it's out this fall. You'll be excited and optimistic about the future. :))

Toyota believes in constant and incremental improvement, instead of revolutionary change. Just like GM, they only built electric cars in the 90s because of the mandate CARB.

What I expect to see over the next 5 years a kind of tortoise and hare race between Plugin Prius and everyone else. The range in the Plugin Prius will gradually be increased every year or two, leading GM to do another Volt-style "moonshot" in 5 years or so. And those of us who remain in the middle-class who really want an electric car will have already bought a LEAF.

It's not as exciting as what I'd like to see, but at least it's finally happening!

Using NiMH batteries, the solectria sunrise demonstrated 220 miles range (later upgraded to 360 miles). GM tried without success to suppress NiMH, so it sold its control of NiMH patents to Chevron on Oct. 10, 2000; the next year, Chevron entered suit against Toyota, Panasonic et al, forcing an end to the use of NiMH for plug-in cars.
Our 2002 Toyota RAV4-EV still go 120 miles on the same battery pack pre-Chevron-lawsuit; imagine if the batteries had still been produced and improved.
The EV1 with NiMh went up to 160 miles on a charge, and that was without the higher-quality Toyota NiMH, just the low-quality GM-ovonics version.

I understand BigOil will buy up patents, sue others, and do whatever they need to do to protect their interests. That's how the system is set up. I also believe (naively?) that because research continues to go on in manufacturing batteries based on other components and technologies, new batteries will be developed and it will be necessary for BigOil to suppress them as well (which costs money). Additionally, as oil continues to be ever-increasing in costs (unless they figure out how to get those gas-producing microbes engineered), sooner or later, EVs will be here. Even if the future includes gas-excreting microbes and an ongoing preference for the current business model, Internal Combustion engines, at some point, government is going to look at the "big picture" and decide that IC engines' down-side (e.g., health costs, environmental issues) make them more costly than battery-powered transportation. Business interests might not ever come to that conclusion (health-care costs don't dome off their bottom lines nor do contrainment/reconstruction costs associated with continued pollution), but hopefully we will elect people who can see past next-quarter profits and into next-decade profits.