Not sure about the US, but the Japanese didn't stop focusing on hybrid development. More than half of all sales in Japan are hybrids, whereas electric is only a few percent [1].
Honda even recently announced that they're scaling back on electric to focus on hybrids:
Yes but Honda seems to be doing this because they can’t make batteries. BYD can, ever cheaper, and they’re expanding their plug-in offerings much faster than Honda is scaling them back. I’m worried for Japanese car makers.
