RE:IT'S HAPPENING EVERYWHERE...Toyota was criticized for over a decade for going in on hybrid, and doing little to nothing with EVs. The token efforts they did make earned them nothing.
Their hybrids on the other hand are amazing. In fact, Toyota even made their hybrid patents public at one point, years ago, they were that confident in it.
There is demand for reducing one's gas mileage. A hybrid does it, while avoiding the anxiety on trip range and a good 'ol fashioned fill up.
Ford (et al) are learning a decade late (and even later) that EVs are a flash in the pan until their shortcomings are addressed. That means gargantuan increases in charging stations (and the current ones don't even pay for themselves) and equally gargantuan increases in battery energy density.
Over the last many years, battery energy density has crept forward at a snails pace. Not the future you want to see, but the one that's reality.