He seriously makes the claim that it was just a coincidence; Henry Ford happened to like ICE, so all the other automakers in the world obeyed the will of Ford and stopped developing electric vehicles even though they were just as promising.

You can tell can tell how effort has gone into EV research from patent filings, and its a lot. Countries with a manufacturing base but no oil reserves are particularly motivated.

However there are real problems getting the technology into a form that enthuses consumers