Wow, I just learned how USA hybrid research was supressed by EPA in 1974. Full story here: Hybrids and the EPA Fuel Economy Controversy | Hybrid Cars It's interesting how even now, hybrid bashing uses the same arguments. It's more than conspiracy, it's a close minded mindset IMHO.
You may be interested in this related thread a few months ago. Does not sound like it was top secret from the video (it is uncanny how close DOE was to a PiP in 1970's). Apparently someone forgot to tell Toyota not to progress the concept (believe the video says Japan automakers were involved as a participant in the 1970's DOE work). http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-hybrid-ev-alt-fuel-news/105323-hybrid-future-1979-a.html
I believe 78 years old may justify the phrase "going nowhere". Mr.Alzheimer forgot where to go, also. LOL
One dumb bureaucrat, does not a conspiracy make. Keep also in mind that Wouk was unable to convince any of the Detroit carmakers to pursue his ideas. His ideas were never suppressed, they were simply not supported for government subsidized R&D. Wouk was delighted that Toyota eventually brought his ideas to fruition, and drove a Toyota Prius his last years. IMO Toyota would have balked at trying to commercialize Wouk's ideas in the 1970's. CARB regulation was still in its infancy, fuel was cheap, and the computers on wheels we drive today were decades away from realization. Heck, Toyota itself readily admits that the Prius was a direct response to a perceived competitive threat arising from the US' PNGV initiative only US companies were allowed to join. In a way, I think Hyundai and Ford today might be proving that old bureaucrat had a debatable position. Start with a small(ish) car, add auto stop and direct injection, and focus on fuel economy rather than power and weighty suspensions. By the way, not too many years later a brilliant engineer in the EPA took up the hybrid idea, and was also unable to gain enough traction for commercial production.
How about "massive incompetence?" "Hey, we're going to give you a job and pay you money to come up with a list of ways to make cars more fuel efficient." "Ok, I'll take the job and bury every idea that's thrown at me. That's how I'll earn my paycheck." Unbelievable.