This is with traditional Li-on cells, customized a bit, but there will soon be battery packs with double the energy density, the same power weighing half as much. New efficient flexible solar panels will help too, but if a design similar to this can get in the 10 miles per kilowatt hour range and with half the weight in battery that would be easier, it should cover the commuting needs of the average driver and could be recharged overnight to a range over 100 miles on a 120-volt internal charger.
The cheaper Chinese designs might look more like a conventional compact car, but 40 miles of solar range a day equals free transportation for the average American commuter and a small solar array on the garage and a cheap sodium battery bank could charge the thing up to 100 miles or more a day easy. Free transportation energy, the low EV maintenance costs and potential long life would be a big draw for most people. Even if you paid 20 cents a kilowatt how much would you use to top up such and EV for any kind of reasonable commute. Paying through the nose for power @20 cents a kWh and charging to 120 miles range on 120volts at home over night would cost about $2.40 for 120 miles of range, plus another 40 from the sun. Few people drive an hour to work and most probably drive 30 or 40 minutes or miles. Expect that next generation of batteries to be more power dense and have much better cold weather performance.
If solar power can give 40 miles a day with a vehicle getting 10 miles per kWh, then better solar panels and much lighter batteries will expand the range of vehicles that can do this to larger more conventional designs. I can see such cheap EVs doing very well globally, not just in America and the government should give the largest subsidies to them and none to kilowatt guzzling half tons or big SUVs. Maybe not so much in America, but EU countries would not have to import much gas or have to use much grid power if the majority of vehicles on the road were like that and could charge themselves with solar for the average daily commute. Think how resilient the population would be in the event of a grid failure or other national emergency, transportation for most would be largely unaffected, inflation would have a less impact and it might cause a drop in power rates because of reduced demand.
Aptera's Secret to 1,000 Mile Range