Here is VW's 5-10 yr vision. What is Toyota's?

Not until after 2020, at least.

 

Me too. But at the same time I bought a 500gb 950Pro, I also bought a 4TB 2.5 external.

The difference is, owning both of those is cheap. Owning a Model 3 for around town and a Prius for longer trips is expensive.

 

According to some the Prius isn't niche. Then it and the new Rav4 are the only hybrids selling in remarkably greater numbers than nationally available BEVs. The Rav4 hybrid sold only 27 more cars than the Model S last month. Small SUVs and Crossovers are the big thing now, and a hybrid one is doing marginally better than a BEV car that starts at about twice the price. The rest of the hybrids are in the noise with the PHEVs and BEVs.
September 2016 Summary | PriusChat

As a segment, hybrids have been out for a decade longer than any plug in, with a wider range of models to choose from than plug ins. Yet they are still under 3% of total personal vehicle sales in the US. Then the number of available plug in models has grown faster in the past 6 years faster than hybrids did in their first ten.

 

That's an overly simplistic summary which portrays circumstances as being similar. We can argue difference details until the cows come home, but it won't do any good. A fundamental mistake continues to be made... sadly, by the majority. Most people are overlooking scope. They assume the audience is just a growing number of homogeneous buyers. Who they are isn't being taken into account. Such a flaw in logic must be brought to the attention of all those celebrating the supposed faster progress.

Reality is, current buyers are still only early adopters. That low-hanging fruit is running out too. We haven't seen any affordable offerings selling in a market without tax-credits either. If the subsidy money runs out before those vehicles become well established as a mainstream choice, potential buyers will just move on to something else. Why purchase a plug-in when their prices aren't competitive with traditional vehicles running on cheap gas?

Audience is absolutely vital. Sighting statistics that only represent early adopters causes us to incorrectly perceive progress.

 

So hybrids are still niche then?

 

It takes about 14 years for half of the cars sold today to be removed from the road by natural attrition.

 

fortunately then - those 14 + year old cars going to the scrap yard are typically the ones putting out the most toxic exhaust - so that would seem to be a win-win.
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My point was, you could maybe ban the sale of IC cars in 14 years, but not the operation of them since so many will still be around. To ban their operation in 14 years, you'd have to have banned their sale about 10 years ago.

 

the question is, who's doing the pushing in germany, how much power do they have, and how can they overcome the mentality that let vdub get away with cheating, even after they knew about it?

 

probably no more than over there.

 

I'd like to see cars become more standardized and modular. When EVs become so maintenance free and can last decades, then it would be neat to change out the infotainment unit and battery as technology changes.

That's because their cars don't last as long as other manufacturers. I'd have reliability anxiety if I drove any VeeDub older than 5 years.

 

It's not banning usage of combustion-engined cars, it's banning registration of new ones, so replacement rates aren't as much of a concern for this.

 

the quote from the article, 'ev's require only 10% of the work force as combustion engine vehicles' tells me everything i need to know.