You bring up a good point that goes directly to the design.
In it's development, focus groups kept coming back with one major obstacle in its acceptance which was dubbed 'range anxiety'. People could not get their head around "what if I want to go further than the battery range"? Hence the combination of the electric/gas drive train. This is where the $40,000. sticker comes from.
If it makes it to it's second generation, you'll hopefully see a decrease in the sticker.