>not sure why people are so obsessed with range.
so for newer/more expensive car with a 200+mile range? yeah, that's probably enough for most people, with enough reserve to get you to a supercharger. I mean, it is a pain, 'cause a lot of people like to park at the supercharger and it gets to be a problem, but geting gas is a pain, too... so sure, if your range is comfortably over 200 miles, for many people, maybe even most Americans, that should be plenty.
but that's the high end. and if they lose 20% range after 5 years, only the 'extended range' variants of the high end cars seem to have more than 200 miles.
As a more typical auto-buyer, (well, more typical than the 200 mile plus new car buyers) I'm looking to buy a car right now, as uber/lyft seem to be about 30% more expensive than they were pre-IPO, once you count the difference in special offers given to me. I've always regarded it as a luxury, but it slowly is getting too expensive for me.
One of the cars under consideration is a used leaf: a 2012 model year or thereabouts. It's an all around reasonable car, it's gone through most of it's depreciation curve, etc.. it's newer than the average car your average American is driving. It's got a usable range around 50 miles. (that's only down like 20% from what it advertised new)
this is... probably fine for me. I don't have charging facilities at home, and installing those in the shared garage would be iffy... would require HOA approval. but I do have (free!) charging facilities at work, 10 miles away.
But I am a bit unusual. I don't particularly like driving, not for daily, utilitarian purposes anyhow. If I buy the thing, as I'll be stepping down from taking uber/lyft everywhere, so I'm already all setup to use trains or airplanes for anything over 20 miles or so, and for that matter, I live with someone that owns a petrol car, so it's all just kinda extra.
but I work with a lot of people (a lot of very highly paid people, the sort who buy nice luxury cars) who have commutes that are more than 50 miles each way - and you usually want enough power that you can go a day without charging.
Now, I also have a bunch of co-workers who have Teslas with extended range packages, and there is some overlap with the long commutes. But... without those extended range packages, that would be pretty iffy. And these are people who have the luxury of replacing their car often; they really don't have to worry about things like battery degradation.
The average American is going to find a 50 mile range unacceptable; the average American would find the 150 mile range of the new base model nissan leaf to be pretty confining, for that matter. I'm gonna go ahead and say that 200 and change is gonna be the minimum for most people, and then only if they can install a charger (I.E. they don't live in an apartment.) or can charge at work.
(my work does tell me not to rely on work charging as my only charge... but eh, if the chargers are full/down one day a week or what have you, uber/lyft probably still has some legs.)