There is one reason electric vehicles are being pushed by North American and European car makers now,  China.
China has  mandated that sales of GM, Ford vehicles (and others) must  be 8 per cent electric by 2018, 10 percent by 2019 and 12 percent by 2020.
China is now GM's largest market. Sales growth there has lifted it to volume it never achieved when it was the world's biggest automaker.
GM, Ford and others have decided to dovetail EV production in North America with China's  new quotas requirements.
In other words, China is setting the trend.
Yes most of China's electricity for the cars will come from coal. They plan on phasing out the coal. However, that has nothing to do with the worldwide hit on fossil fuel demand this will create.