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I think Federal law allows NEV's (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle) on all roads with speed limits of 35mph or less and it's up to the state or city to allow them to go faster then 25mph, 35mph is common, but to a lot of people that makes a lot of them pretty useless, local law can allow non DOT vehicles like you said, but NEV's are DOT approved.
I agree with you to a point on the high end EV's that are on the market seeming like they are cutting out a large portion of the potential buyers, but at the same time the extra little frills tend to be cheap and allow them to be quicker in recouping start up costs, just like Nissan is going to offer, for 2013 a more basic Nissan Leaf that costs $6000 less and in the past two years they've managed to extend the range while using the same battery by making lots of small improvements to the car, I highly doubt tho that someone like your self would go out and buy a brand new car then only drive it 100-200 miles per month, of course it would most likely last you the rest of your life but with that light of use pretty much any car could last you the rest of your life! other then of course wearing out starters, drivers seats and ignition switches from repeated short trips.
As it is it sounds like you already have a vehicle and a pretty good choice for your needs, I'd look at installing a block heater so your engine warms up more, if you put it on a timer it will also save you more in gas then you spend in electricity to run the block heater, personally I'd install a plug like boats and RV's have for plugging in on the fender or something so you are not fumbling with a little cord hanging out the grill, those tend to also have a weather proof cap on them.
If you do want to go the EV route, there is an EV club some where around Chicago, in recent years members of these clubs that can afford to buy factory built EV's have done so and some of them are willing to sell their home built EV's that are in fine working order pretty cheap.
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