However, there is quite a bit of research that shows that EVs have a lower environmental impact after only some three years. Also, in real life batteries don't degrade much. And as for the bateries themselves, the new generation of LFP batteries such as in the new and cheap Citroen ec3 EV performs better and is less toxic. The electricity that EVs use should obviously be as green as possible. Charging at home or work from solar is a good way to achieve that, particularly with a smart charger that uses electricity when it is abundant and cheap.
More generally, I would argue that the vast majority of the necessary technologies already exist and in a pretty mature form. What it needs is implementation, and a speedy one at that. Ask any economist, and he would tell you to combine pricing with regulation/legislation for where the price mechanism is insufficient to use. I am a great believer in the market, and both the US and Europe are essentially market economies, therefore none of this should be too hard. So what does the undergraduate economics textbook tell you? Put a price on negative externalities, and a bonus on positive ones. So put a tax on fossil fuel, and advertise a schedule of annual tax increases, for consumers and companies to prepare and achieve a managed and gradual changeover that does not create economic chaos. Similarly, introduce subsidies to prime the pump, and encourage the transition. Don't keep these subsidies for longer than necessary, and again be transparent about the schedule of annually declining subsidies. Those who dare to be pioneers will be rewarded, and those who wait will run a smaller risk but get a lower subsidy. And these are just a few suggestions from the economics textbook - there are many more such possibilities. We really don't have to wait for technologies that will not happen in our lifetime.
It's a way to force markets to go in a direction that market economy principles left to themselves don't support. 
