In January 2011, the upcoming general election was still too far away to warrant political waffling. The Obama administration, full of its own hope and change, felt confident enough to make bold claims that thrilled clean tech advocates the world over. ”We can replace our dependence on oil with biofuels and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” Obama then said.

Well, here we are almost 18 months later, and there’s almost nothing to show for the $2.4 billion invested by the Administration to make that goal a reality. In fact, a CBS News investigation found that six of the 11 EV makers that enjoyed the bulk of that investment– Ford Focus, Ford Transit Connect, Fisker Nina/Atlantic, Tesla Model S, Tesla Roadster and Think City — either haven’t made their first delivery, stopped production, or are already out of business.

Even those that have managed to stick around are falling far short of their production targets: Fisker Karma only produced half of its intended 36,000 electric vehicles and current projections show that with recent cutbacks, the Chevy Volt will only achieve 1/8th of its 505,000 goal. Only Tesla was able to meet its projections, making 1,000 Roadsters in 2011.

Despite this depressing reality, there have been some major advances, both in the technology and number of vehicles on the road. Nissan has sold 27,000 all-electric Leafs worldwide since introducing the car in late 2010, and 11,000 of those sales were in the U.S. Unlike some of the other makes mentioned, Leafs have performed superbly, giving the public no cause for concern about safety or efficiency. Despite issues with the Volt, and lower than expected production, even General Motors managed to put over 5,000 EVs on the road.

As a result, the American public is now more informed about and comfortable with the idea of electric cars than ever before. Many states are moving forward with bold projects to put more charging stations where people need them most, and assuming funding holds out, EV prices should continue to drop, putting more people in a position to buy.

Photo Credit: EG Focus/Flickr