But chasing the higher hanging fruits might allow for breakthroughs that you would not see if you only went for the low hanging fruits.
The range anxiety is less and less problematic with EV. The Tesla Roadster 2 already is said to have a range of more than 1.000 km. Add current research in the fields of solid state batteries and super capacitators and you have the possibility to reach those numbers even with less expensive versions of EV. German automakers already calculate that by 2026 electric engines will be cheaper and more capable than their ICE counterpart.
If you go for that easy middle ground like hybrid cars that you suggest, you limit yourself to the local maximum of that solution. Hybrid cars have the same maintenance cost as non hybrid cars and additionally the complexity of balancing both engines. The only saving in maintenance cost is by going full electric. In the same way you might only achieve certain breakthroughs by actually going for full autonomy even if it wont work perfectly for the next decades for all edge cases.
What made you leave? Did you miss european culture ( or sports on TV or anything like that)? How did you deal with the time difference between Europe and NZ? When I was in NZ on vacation I missed being able to watch the stuff that I am used to on TV in the evening, due to the twelve hour time difference to Europe. I dont think I could ever switch from soccer to cricket.