^^^
The Leaf is a real car, despite its range being way shorter than a Model S. There are plenty of other folks who have put on plenty of miles on a year or their Leaf, but not as much as that guy.
Just because it's not practical for road trips doesn't make it not a "real car". Not everyone can afford a $70K+ car (upfront cost before tax credits) nor wants to buy a car from an automaker that has turned a profit only once (just barely) in its 10 year history and a car w/an unknown reliability record.
Yes, for those w/cars the range of the Leaf, most EV owners will need to keep an ICEV as a 2nd car/"range extender". For those who choose an EV w/the range in the neighborhood of a Leaf, I'd wager that for the vast majority of them, it suitable for at least 80% of their trips, maybe even 90 to 95%.
I've posted part this elsewhere before:
Per
http://nhts.ornl.gov/2009/pub/stt.pdf (from
NHTS Publications) on page 54, the average commute speed in a private vehicle in 09 was 28.87 mph. Also for private vehicles, the average commute travel trip length was 12.09 miles and average commute travel time was 22.85 minutes.
On page 21, it says that average vehicle trip length in miles for all purposes is only 9.9 miles.
As for the Phoenix Leaf battery capacity loss, yes. It sucks. It's too bad the Leaf has no battery TMS. I wouldn't ever recommend anyone in Phoenix or a hot climate buy a Leaf. They should only lease or get a EV/PHEV w/TMS instead.