THE American response to rising gas prices has been depressingly predictable. We’re shocked to see prices top $4 a gallon, as if it’s never happened before. We demand that something be done — not to reduce our dependence on oil, but to cut the cost of a fill-up. Fortunately the White House is standing behind a goal that could genuinely transform the nation’s automotive fleet: putting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.

The plan is ambitious, but it’s more realistic than its critics maintain. Some argue that because batteries can’t yet propel a full-size car 500 miles on the highway and recharge in a few minutes, we should give up and focus on squeezing better mileage out of existing technology.

But many of the electric vehicles that will count toward President Obama’s goal won’t run on electricity alone. They will combine batteries, electric motors and internal-combustion engines to use as little gasoline as possible while still doing everything Americans expect their cars to do. Electrification is not an all-or-nothing proposition — it’s a process, the gradual replacement of gas-burning engines with batteries and electric motors.

The process has already begun. Last December, the first mass-produced electric vehicles of the 21st century — the Chevrolet Volt, which runs on battery power for up to 50 miles before a backup gasoline engine kicks in, and the Nissan Leaf, a purely battery-powered five-passenger hatchback — began shipping to customers. Tesla Motors has been selling small numbers of expensive electric sports cars since 2008. Ford will soon come out with a plug-in model of its own, and Toyota will release a plug-in version of the Prius hybrid. (The current Prius can only run gas-free for short stretches and at low speeds.)