BEVs are more expensive solely because the manufacturers are marking them up to get people to file for the Federal rebates and state rebates knowing full well that the simplicity in making electric cars costs less in the long run that ICE vehicles with hundreds of moving parts. It's called 'markup' and they are not loosing thousands on vehicle that's a lie by the factories. Detroit doesn't want to produce EVs and lose it's cash cows--ICE trucks and SUVS. But Tesla is going & the global community is going to force them to make them in order to stay competitive. That's competition and Detroit will lose. The world gains.

and mining, refining and processing the exotic materials in EV's add a lot of environmental harm as well ... CO2 is not a pollutant, its plant food ...

Power generation is only half of the formula. The second half is the battery. You can't honestly talk about the difference between gas and electric driven vehicles without addressing mining for the rare earth minerals that go into battery manufacturing process.

Excellent thought out answer. I do believe, however, that as soon as someone brings out an electric that charges in 5 minutes the complexity and geo-political insecurity of petroleum based passenger vehicles will be their undoing. Whover invents that quick charging battery will be the next billionaire...

You also have to account for the production all of all the materials that go into making the batteries, what happens to those batteries once they go bad and all the extremely toxic waste that is produced from that. The amount of energy that goes into the production of these respective products. SO really as a measure of just how damaging to the environment vs regular vehicles. Think about it. The burning of hydrocarbons vs the very toxic chemicals produced from the making of the batteries and electronics that go into making electric vehicles.

What about the impact of producing the materials for the battery packs? What about the end-of-life impact of the batterie packs and their disposal?

This comment is in relation to the part of the article that compares emissions of battery powered electric cars to petrol powered cars. Obviously the electric has zero tailpipe emissions compared to the petrol car. Then the article points out that there are emissions generated in making the electricity to charge the batteries, particularly coal powered plants (awful, I agree). Consider that the majority of electric cars in the USA are in California. California electricity is largely generated using natural gas, far less harmful emissions than coal, and geothermal, wind and dams. Also, consider that a person buying an electric car in California may very well have solar PV panels on their house. Now let’s get to the good part, looking at the emissions generated by the production of gasoline to provide fuel for petrol powered cars. Emissions from tanker trucks delivering the gas to the station, emissions from the refinery to make the gas, emissions from delivering the crude oil to the refinery, emissions from the oil rigs used to get it out of the ground, particularly the environmental impact of fracking, and let’s not forget oil spills, did you happen to see DEEP WATER HORIZEN, a great reminder of the environmental impact the oil industry has on our world. The author did say that electric vehicles are somewhat better regarding emissions, but after looking at all the emissions generated in either case, I think electric vehicles are far and away better than petrol powered vehicles.

Costly rare earth lithium mining is damaging to the environment. Until there is a lower cost,higher efficiency battery made from common material,electric vehicles are slow growth. Cold weather cuts their efficiency even more.

All these arguments are spurious. Electricity used to charge the cars batteries can be produced by hydro, wind or solar, not to mention solar cells on your garage roof. All zero emission.

Wow. Very one-way logic in the comments. You also have to account for all the chemicals and environmental destruction being caused by EXTRACTING, REFINING AND DISTRIBUTION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS. And we all know that burning gasoline and diesel releases CO2 locally. At least electric cars keeps local air cleaner.
Besides that, electric cars are up to 3 times as efficient in converting chemical energy to kinetic energy. And that is why (no matter if ICE's will get more efficient, it will always be less efficient) eventually electric cars will replace gasoline cars. Once batteries become cheap enough (energy density is doubling every 7 to 10 years so that will happen, and recharging times are also improving all the time) it WILL replace ICE's.
Unfortunately people are shortsighted and impatient. Look at the transformations the world has undergone during the 1st and 2nd Industrial revolutions. Coal powered steam took more than a century since discovery to peak before being replaced by oil powered ICE's. The next revolution is renewable powered electric motors. Each time the world experienced huge transformation and massive increases in wealth. Coal powered steam engines powering factories got replaced by electricity consuming electric motors powering factories. This caused a much better work environment (cleaner air, quieter work environment, more efficient process, etc.). Now electrification is moving to transportation. And at the same time the generation of the electricity is moving to renewable sources.
Unfortunately people balk about this and make all these feeble arguments because they expect change overnight. An oil-combustion economy took 40 to 50 years to supplant an steam-coal powered economy. The renewable-electric economy will take another 40 years or more to replace our current oil/ICE economy. The renewable electric age is just starting. The people who today deny that and talk about the dominance and superiority of oil and ICE's are the same people who argued for coal and steam engines 100+ years ago. Or for horse and buggy's vs ICE's 100 years ago. Or wood and whale oil vs steam and coal 200+ years ago. After more than 100 years of development and progress, the renewable age is finally dawning.