I agree and love the electrek dude and his Chinese import mini truck, but automobile companies are trying to make money. Selling a plastic molded macho truck for 90k fully loaded is a high ticket item with relatively good margins compared to low cost mini cars. The incentive tends towards gigantic tanks, not a joke, it fulfills fragile human ego and makes a bunch of money.
It doesn’t have to be big car manufactures though. In fact there are already many golf cart manufactures which can drive on roads with speed limits lower than 40 (or something like that. In CA)
Most cities now have 40+ limit roads though which makes it impractical or impossible to use them. A tweak to that law would make them viable. Also, brand new they are like $10k
Here’s the link I refer to above, it’s a great read and shows that the tech and demand is there but the regulatory environment in US and profit motive means it’s a huge uphill battle. https://electrek.co/2023/11/14/two-years-after-buying-a-2000...