How Toyota swerved the great electric car slowdown

Meanwhile, early adopters of EVs have been hit with sky-high insurance premiums and rapid falls in value, with used prices expected to fall by as much as half over three years.

Against this backdrop, hybrids are proving hugely popular, with sales currently growing faster than those of EVs in some markets.

UK sales of hybrids and plug-in hybrids surged 31pc higher to a combined 380,253 cars last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This grew their total market share from 17.9pc to 20pc.

By comparison, sales of EVs climbed 18pc to 314,687 – but their market share shrank from 16.6pc to 16.5pc.

Over the same period, sales of hybrids in the European Union surged 30pc higher to 2.7 million units as well, fuelled by demand in Germany, France and Spain.

And while the UK and the EU are both set to ban sales of hybrids from 2035, a much bigger market is set to remain open for longer: China.

In Western markets, hybrids often sell for a few thousand dollars more than petrol cars but in China this trend has been flipped – with some auto giants selling them for 20pc less than their combustion engine counterparts.

Last year, while the number of EVs bought in China surged 38pc to 6.68 million, the number of plug-in hybrids rocketed 85pc higher to 2.8 million.

“While pure battery-powered EVs are leading the transition… sales data suggest consumers are increasingly demanding various types of hybrid vehicles that burn fossil fuels as backup,” Ernan Cui, an analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics, told The Nikkei in Japan.

What’s more, Toyota’s current hybrid advantage is not easily replicated. It takes between five and seven years to develop a new car, notes AlixPartner’s Bergbaum.

“So decisions made years ago really determine when you’re going to launch a car,” he explains. “You change that but really only by a year or so.”

Manufacturers can adjust their EV production lines, however.

“But if you don’t have a hybrid in development or production at the moment, you’re probably not going to create one – because the investment is so huge.”

Toyota’s strategy also includes continued investment in hydrogen cars, but has met far less success so far with the launch of its Mirai model. Hydrogen cars use a fuel cell instead of a battery, relying on a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen for propulsion.

Like petrol vehicles, they can in theory be refilled extremely quickly. “But if you’ve actually bought one in Europe, you will find it very difficult to fill up,” Bergbaum adds.