The reason is the hype, though. Consumers are not rational, and the Chinese EVs were blocked out, too.

I mean, no, not really. They were fine 20 years ago when for a brief time they were better and cheaper (due to being heavily subsidized) than pretty much anything else on the market, and the free supercharger network was pretty much the only way to charge on the go. They've since been vastly surpassed, and have only decreased in quality as you admit. They're definitely not great cars anymore.