I live in Seattle, it's cold and rainy all year long (more or less). I still prefer using my bike over a car (though I have no problem with small car that replaces big car.)
Even so, I think mobility vehicles like this are excellent and should absolutely be part of our transportation systems. Sometimes you:
* Have a disability that prevents you from biking.
* Need to pick something up from the store that won't fit in your paniers.
* Want to bring a passenger who doesn't bike.
* Need to bring a small child who can't bike or doesn't have the endurance.
* Need to carry something you can't get wet and won't fit in your panniers.
* Are going somewhere nice and need to arrive without your hair and clothing discheveled.
* Won't have a safe place to park a bike.
* Need to leave something with your vehicle and want to be able to lock it away.
There is a reason cars are so popular. They are amazingly useful and convenient. I dislike arguments against cars because so many of them try to downplay the benefits as if car consumers are idiots. The benefits are real and profound. The problem with cars isn't that they aren't as great as people think they are. It's that the externalities often don't make the benefits worth it.
Any vehicle that can give you many of those same benefits while reducing those externalities should be applauded.
Charitably, I think it's most often just that they're young and not yet as experienced at seeing things from a variety of different perspectives.
And I deal with a similar issue in my own life -- not due to a disability, but due to another form of discrimination. Believe me, I'm well aware that spaces aren't designed for everyone. If I gave the impression that bikes were the only or universal option, then of course I apologize!
End of May - September, Seattle is the 5th driest metro in the USA, with temperatures in the range that most people consider "ideal".
Good effort trying to perpetuate the story told to outsiders, though. (I lived there for 7 years).
This is exactly what GP is getting at. We have a warped view of "cold" here on the west coast, because "cold" to us means 0C, not -30C ~ -40C.
Putting on a pair of snow pants over my jeans and a waterproof shell over my jacket takes... 1 minute? and protects me from basically all our weather.