Is Toyota right to hold off on all-electrics?

Business-wise, I say yes, its stance is smart.

An aging Japan offers little market; Europe’s not big on them; the US market is still fickle, and sprawled Chinese cities, like many US ones, need an electric with more battery life.

This, though, is NOT good business sense: Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s new president, is a big backer of fuel-cell cars. Hydrogen power is just as much “just around the corner” as is peaceful nuclear fusion.

Toyota needs to be careful it doesn’t become the new “old GM.”