The US tried that back in 1975. Remember the electric Citicar? The car lots on S. Memorial Drive in Tulsa had lots of them back then. Never saw one in operation anywhere.
https://motor.elpais.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/citicar.jpg
The Nissan Tama back in 1947. Tama named for the region of Japan, available in both electric and gasoline versions. Gasoline was rationed and in short supply, people used the electric version until gasoline was again readily available. The Tama is the predecessor of today's Nissan Leaf.
