Toyota has trashed its plan to release the all-electric eQ minicar, instead opting to focus on technology that will help roll out 21 new hybrid models by 2015.

Toyota's plans to release an all-electric minicar have been trashed, according to Reuters, which reported that the carmaker "misread the market" and overestimated the still-emerging battery technology.

The Japanese company originally announced plans in 2010 to roll out several thousand battery-powered eQ vehicles per year, but instead will provide an extremely limited release of 100 vehicles in the U.S. and Japan.

Dropping the new, pure-electric variant of Toyota's iQ minicar  expected to retail at $45,000, according to the Associated Press  was the company's way of casting doubt on an alternative to the combustion engine which, according to Reuters, has been applauded for its oil-saving potential and criticized for its heavy reliance on government subsidies.

"The current capabilities of electric vehicles do not meet society's needs, whether it may be the distance the cars can run, or the costs, or how it takes a long time to charge," Toyota's vice chairman and vehicle development engineer Takeshi Uchiyamada told Reuters.

Uchiyamada spearheaded the manufacturer's development of the Prius hybrid in the 1990s, the news organization said, and is playing a part in Toyota's attempt to add a hybrid variant to every vehicle is sells. The company is emphasizing that technology, announcing today that it expects to have 21 hybrid gas-electric models like the Prius by 2015.

Toyota's only all-electric choice comes in the RAV4 model, which the automaker expects to sell 2,600 of over the next three years, Reuters said. Comparatively, almost 37,000 Camry sedans hit U.S. roads in August alone, making up Toyota's largest market. Only 8,400 Prius plug-in hybrids were sold in Japan this year, not even close to the expected 35,000 to 40,000 goal.

Meanwhile, Nissan's Leaf pure EV has sold about 38,000 since the car launched in late 2010.