The 2020 Hyundai Kona Electric looks promising. Subcompact SUV, 258 mile range, and overall reasonable specs for under $40k. And it looks like a normal car from an established auto maker with existing service network. Can fast charge to ~80% in under an hour.
Don't think I would want to road trip with it, but for a daily driver/commuter/around town it looks pretty ideal.
If the trend continues of price and technology improving, then Americans will start buying a lot more EVs. Especially two vehicle households. It makes a lot of sense to have an EV for short trips and an ICE for longer trips.
The 2019 is the wife's new car. She just wanted to get another Subaru and be done with it I made her cross shop the Subaru with comparable ICE cars (Toyota/Mazda/VW) and, since based on her past cars, she will have it for 10-15 years I dragged her to look at EVs (Bolt/Tesla/Kona/Niro). Range killed some EVs, like the E-golf even if just because of range anxiety.
I fully expected her to drive the EVs and dislike them and if I had to have bet, I would have said she bought another Forester.
She liked the Tesla, but couldn't get behind the image she felt owning one would project. But, the Kona EV was her favorite car we test drove. She liked that there is a dealer nearby, that there was surplus range for her daily commute, that at first glance it doesn't look different than a regular car, that it has a good feature list, and that the brand doesn't have the same kind of baggage as say a Tesla.
It has quickly taken from my car as the car we take when we are going somewhere together.
The only real knocks I have on the Kona Electric are:
Some of the interior parts are pretty cheap. We compared and sat in all EV trims and there are plenty of pieces that are right at home in the ~20k base model ICE Kona that feel really out of place/flimsy in a ~46k (if you were to get the EV ultimate) car (it reminds me a little of a early 2000's wrx I had an economy car they put all the money into the drivetrain).
And the back seat is bad, knee room isn't great and the floor is raised to house the batteries which makes it worse. If you have people with legs that can reach the floor that routinely ride in the back seat for an appreciable distance at a time it is probably best to consider the Kona's near twin the Kia Niro EV (or perhaps the delayed Kia Soul). For us it wasn't an issue, it is just the two of us with not plans to change that and the seating it ok for a quick jaunt if we were carpooling with another couple to dinner. Plus the Kona is the better looking and better driving car.
Despite being marketed as a SUV/CUV I would say it is much closer (at least in EV trim) to a hot hatch; 6.4 second 0-60, FWD only, less functional rear seats . . .
Oh and the way the DW drive it projects over EPA rated range at 80% change which is her day-to-day charging limit at 100% it guesses somewhere around 310; but they do call it a guess-o-meter with good reason.