Part of it is self-fulfilling prophecy, in a way. A year ago I was on the market for a new car, and went to several dealerships across some of the more affluen

Part of it is self-fulfilling prophecy, in a way. A year ago I was on the market for a new car, and went to several dealerships across some of the more affluent suburbs of Chicago, looking to get a plug-in hybrid SUV, and was literally laughed at by a couple of salesmen at different dealerships, and told those cars only get sent to the coasts, none get sent to the Midwest (I think one said they got two sent to their dealership the past year. Just two). I was even told they've heard of some people make trips to the coasts just so they can buy those cars. I'm not willing to do that myself. We ended up leasing a non-plug-in hybrid and are hoping things will be easier when the lease expires. Electric sedans are a bit more common and easier to get around here, but my partner really wanted an SUV, in part because it makes long trips possible, especially to more rural areas, like many places around Lake Superior, where we vacationed a couple of months ago. I don't think I saw a single public EV plugin while we were up there.