"In short, Detroit is drifting further and further from the starter car, while factories in China are specializing in it. Just don’t expect the latter to solve for the former anytime soon."
https://archive.ph/xYi2U
There is a bit of union blaming in the article, but it is an overall good article. Basically import taxes, tariffs, and anti-Chinese political sentiment prevent us from having sub $20k EV car.
I mean, you have a point. Americna infrastructure is wildly hostile to bikes in most places. In my area bikes go on the sidewalk as a mater of course or someone will make it weird. So then you have deal with poorly maintained sidewalks.