If the timing weren't so off (I just bought a compact electric car), then this would have been a real possibility for me: 150 miles is about 1 weeks worth of driving for me, it's usually just me (or occasionally +1), and we have my wife's car for driving the whole family long distances. Of course I'm skeptical that it will come in under $27,500 (implied by the "Under $20k after federal incentives), and if it's much more than that it will start to get squeezed by other options.

Completely agree. It has to end up cheap enough to be a "tool", rather than a "vehicle". If there isn't a clear price-based market segmentation between the two, this will get crushed.