Because they give people a lot more freedom than trains

if you own a car. If you don't own a car but live in a society where everybody else has one you are kinda screwed.

You ever try taking your new mattress and bed frame on a train?

Public transit good, but in america public transit is not well funded and only really available in big cities. I think sadly it will be years before americans can give up the independence of being able to have transportation direct from point a to point b. Consider that in rural areas it could be a 30 minute drive to get groceries with no transit options. As long as americans are going to drive cars, we can at least try to make them electric vs ICE.

I will continue to vote for public transit initiatives and if we had a bus or train system in my town I would use it. I have a fuel efficient ICE car but trying to buy electric as soon as I can afford to buy something that isn't a telsa pile of crap.

Simple - Tracks vs Road ratio.

Because as the wiseman said, somebody just wants to sell more cars.