Well wait a minute here.
It’s unfortunate that we still rely so heavily on coal plants, but I’d much rather have all the pollution coming from a single source instead of thousands of cars. It’s much more controllable that way. If the technology controlling the pollution from the plant would improve, changes would be much more immediate than the alternative – waiting for all the car owners to wear out their old vehicles and buy the better version.
And as far as the $10,000 battery thing is concerned, I highly doubt that the battery would still cost $10,000 ten years from now. The price of technology drops exponentially (think cell phones and computers). Chances are, if EV take off, the price of the battery would drop very, very quickly – I’d assume to about $1,000 by the time you need a new one. That’s still a hefty price tag, but keep in mind $1,000 only 250 gallons of gas now. Which purchase would you prefer?