While I hope that
@3mp_kwh's optimistic view works out, I fear that
@RDoc's points are more likely to predominate. I think the public continues to have a strong impression of EVs-as-weirdmobiles, and the conversations around lower-range EVs and their battery issues are painful.
I personally tend to recommend the Chevy Volt for people who are (a) "ordinary" car users, e.g., parents with kids and (b) can't afford the much more sensible Tesla option, at least in terms of initial capital outlay versus a TCO-lifetime analysis. The reason I recommend the Volt is because you basically don't have to think about it at all if you are used to filling up a car with gasoline. Hopefully, you also remember to plug the thing in but, if you don't, no real worries. Drive it wherever you want to, like the pure-ICE you are replacing.
I like that the Leaf and the other EVs exist, and I deeply respect the people who buy them, as they are almost always making such purchases driven by their commitment to carbon dioxide emissions reductions and/or other environmental considerations. These people are analyzing their commuting pattern, figuring out how to make their EV work for them. They are also making smart decisions about cost.
But trying to educate an "ordinary" person about the real range of these EVs, and winter battery degradation due to temperature (yes, also an issue for a Tesla, but not nearly to the same extent), and charging times, and long-distance limitations... So painful.
Every time I stop at a Supercharger in a public area, and I notice someone looking at the car, and I call them over and put them in the passenger or driver's seat, and talk to them about the car, and answer their questions... Nearly every time I wind up thinking that my victim has walked away thinking that one day they might buy a Model 3. Or even an S or X. Not a single time have I ever picked up the "this thing looks weird" vibe, or even the "can't go far in this thing" vibe (instead, it's the "free long distance travel!" vibe).
Finally, I have come to think that the main thing driving Massachusetts' EV behavior from a state government perspective is "optics". And the MA environmental community as a whole seems somewhat unfriendly towards Tesla. They are always worried that the car is expensive. That the owners have too much money. That it "looks bad" to support Tesla owners. I've heard environmental group representatives worry that there is not enough focus on assisting the poorest people with EV purchases, and that even the middle class should be driving Leafs instead of Teslas. No matter how much I explain that a Tesla can be a complete replacement for an ordinary ICE vehicle, these representatives and environmental groups seem to miss the point that the "lesser" EVs have severe range restrictions and those middle-class people who can afford one almost always have a second car "for other things". And so the Pike can't be seen to be supporting a charging solution for rich Tesla owners but instead must support charging options for vehicles that will be painful to use along the Pike. Yes, some EV owners will benefit from these chargers, and for that I'm glad. But it's hard on an owner to stop every 50 miles, and not at all attractive to an "ordinary" person, and so these chargers perpetuate a paradigm of seeming EV near-uselessness.
From the standpoint of the "ordinary" person, one kind of charger promotes the view that a weird-mobile can only go 50 miles between charges while the other kind of charger (Supercharger) promotes an aspirational view of a cool, high-performance car that almost every "ordinary" person would like to be able to acquire.
But I rant. Sorry.
Alan