Toyota is known mostly for its hybrid-powered vehicles, with the Prius first coming into mind, but with all the other manufacturers racing towards an EV-only future, the Japanese brand seems to be lagging in terms of a wider-scale adoption on the electric-only front.

In fact, it's reportedly one of the reasons why its CEO, Akio Toyoda, who's the grandson of the firm's founder, will be stepping down in April. But even as Toyota moves to develop its first dedicated EV platform, it still won't make the shift to an all-electric lineup and now it's using science to tell EV-only extremists that they're wrong.

With some solid facts and figures at hand, the carmaker's Chief Scientist Gill Pratt says that the best approach for a sustainable future is a multipronged one, blending EVs with hybrids and other green technologies, and not a full-on commitment to battery-powered cars only.