Actually, there's much to be said for a steam-powered vehicle.
They're supposed to be quite efficient.

Probably 1/3 of the US population lives in the Sun-Belt,
so there's no problem with freezing, or long warm-ups.

A steam powered vehicle could burn darn near
anything that makes heat. ( kerosene, diesel etc. )
Hell... you could burn corrn.
It would reduce the demand for ( refined ) gasoline.

A steamer would be the perfect suburban "errand car"
And, you can wait 45 secs for it to warm up.
You don't need a Hummer to go buy grocerys.

Unfortunately, if US automakers produced it,
it'd probably cost $20,000

rj