I have a wee bit of experience in the battery car arena. I just turned in my Chevy Spark EV that I leased for 3 years and I'm really sorry to see it go. That car was a kick to drive. 400 ft-lbs of torque (albeit just 105 HP) makes passing a true event! Punch it and fry 'em - that's my style!
At our previous house, we had an 8 kW solar array with a Power Purchase Agreement of $0.15/kWh. I could get 5 miles/kWh (if I kept my foot out of it) so I was driving for $0.03/mi. Sure, it had a limited range but not every trip winds up out of state. More often than not, it's off to Mickey D's a few miles away for a frappe'. The cost of driving my truck is probably $0.25/mi (perhaps more if I throw in maintenance) and its a lot harder to park.
I had thought to buy the car at the end of the lease but I just don't want to own it when the battery dies. But, other than that, there is just about zero maintenance required and, for certain, it doesn't need a semi-annual smog test.
Regrettably, the roof of our new house isn't conducive to solar arrays, or so I have been told. Otherwise, we have room for a monster array and I would be looking at the Chevy Bolt.
I don't think a battery car should be the ONLY vehicle but it can certainly be the primary vehicle. I had probably only put 100 miles on my truck over the last several months as we mostly used the EV - 'Sparky' as we called it! It was a great car!
As to a job: I retired 13 years ago and have no intention of ever going back to work.