Wait, you mean the Chevy Volt isn't a good idea? Well,

“Because of its shortcomings — driving range, cost and recharging time — the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars,” said Toyota’s vice chairman, Takeshi Uchiyamada, in a Reuters report. “We need something entirely new.”

Toyota Motor Co. — the world’s largest hybrid manufacturer, Reuters reports — recently announced a plan to drop pure electric-car development, also.

The announcement follows a White House decision last week to reduce its goal of 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015, Reuters said.

This is the problem when governments start setting technological decrees. It's one thing to put a man on the moon in 10 years -- it's quite another to assume you can somehow circumvent the limitations of chemistry that are involved in battery storage.

So what are the Japanese carmakers working on now? Fuel cell technology that would use hydrogen. Who was touting that technology years ago? Gee, I wonder.

Cross-posted and comments welcome at Mr. Dilettante's Neighborhood.