The Sinclair E-Bike prototype built by Ben Wilson Design was just gorgeous. Such a shame the idea was dropped. It needed a fair bit of work to productionise it and had some flaws that needed working out. But as an idea for a semi-enclosed recumbent e-bike it's lovely. Now can somebody else please make something like this.
http://ridethemachine.tumblr.com/post/114106470980
http://www.sinclairzx.com/spec-x-1.html
http://www.benwilsondesign.co.uk/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5C_PJy5MIhc
Recumbents in traffic always look really scary to me, but I imagine electric assist really helps.
Forget the fairing for a minute. These long wheelbase semi-recumbents are quite popular, especially in the USA. And there are lots of places where they would work fine as a general utility bike just a bit away from the crazy UK town traffic with it's tipper lorries, buses, HGVs and aggressive BMW SUVs. The fairing just adds a bit of weather protection and storage space. And one thing in particular, it makes you a lot more visible. There'd be no excuse for "sorry mate I didn't see you". More likely is that you cause incidents with all the rubber necking of "WTF is that?" ;)
Maybe a more minimalist design would be a better place to start?
https://wilsonbrothers.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/research/
https://wilsonbrothers.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/big-bucks/
And art car.
https://wilsonbrothers.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/in-the-wild-2/