Should people switch to electric cars for the environment?

Electric cars cut back on use of fossil fuels

Question: Should people switch to electric cars for the environment?
Position1 of 2›: Yes, people should switch to electric cars
Argument1 of 3›: Electric cars cut back on use of fossil fuels

Cars run on fossil fuels like petroleum, coal, and crude oil. Fossil fuels are made from fossilized and decomposed organic materials that are heated under the earth’s crust. However, it could run out in the future. Therefore, the world’s fuel source needs to switch to electricity.

The argument

This argument rests on the finitude of the resource that transport currently runs on. Some 99% of vehicles use fossil fuels — gasoline, petroleum and the rest — which means that almost the whole of the world's road transport draws on a single stock. That stock is not replenished on any human timescale, and scientists estimate that the earth will run out of fossil fuel in the year 2090. The significance of a date is that it converts an abstract concern into a budget: every litre burned now is subtracted from a total that will not be added to. Against that background the case for electric cars is one of arithmetic rather than of preference. Electric cars do not consume fossil fuels, so each journey made in one is a journey that does not deplete the remaining supply. Because almost every vehicle currently draws on that supply, the scale of the saving is proportionate to the scale of the switch: the more drivers who change, the slower the remaining stock is drawn down. The conclusion follows from the combination of the two facts. A resource that nearly all vehicles depend on and that has a foreseeable end point places transport on a trajectory that cannot simply continue, and the alternative that is already available is one that does not draw on that resource at all. Switching therefore addresses the depletion directly rather than merely moderating it, and it does so by removing demand rather than by rationing supply. Because electric cars cut back on the use of fossil fuels and conserve what remains of a finite and dwindling resource, people should switch to electric cars for the environment.

Premises

[P1]Some 99% of vehicles run on finite fossil fuels, which scientists estimate the earth could exhaust around 2090. [P2] Electric cars consume no fossil fuels, so switching to them conserves the remaining supply. [C] Because electric cars cut fossil-fuel use and preserve a finite resource, people should switch to them.

Counter-arguments

Electric cars do indirectly use fossil fuels. Electricity is powered by fossil fuels in power plants. If everyone were to get an electric car, fossil fuels would be used just as much as it is now.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Scientists can only speculate that fossil fuel will run out. That means by 2090, fossil fuel could very well still be available. [Rejecting P3] Electricity is made by burning fossil fuels. This means fossil fuels are being used for electric cars. Therefore, the amount of fossil fuels will remain the same and could increase. [Rejecting P4] Fossil fuels will still deplete with electric cars because electricity is made from burning fuels.