I've read that this is myth, FUD originated by the oil industry and spread by the traditional auto industry that will lose much of the money they make today on after-sale maintenance. Renewable energy is already cheaper to produce than anything fueled by coal, that's a dying industry held together mostly by subsidies at this stage. And the subsidies for oil are huge including a few trillion spent in the Middle East in recent times. People with plug in vehicles don't fail to take this into account. That's naive propaganda to paint that short sighted attitude onto EV owners.
Petroleum and natural gas used to generate electricity for an EV results in greater efficiency than burning it in an IC engine, something like 2~3 times the miles per gallon of fuel consumed due to the more efficient conversion of btu's to forward motion comparing electric to an IC motor, and considering what is used for pipeline construction, trucking etc before the fuel reaches a gas station. And renewable energy - hydro, wind, solar - are increasing as a proportion of the world's total generating capacity. As renewable energy increases in importance some of the big generating plants planned for the future are being deferred or cancelled because demand for petroleum or coal based electricity is no longer climbing. I think it was Germany, Britain, and some Central American country that noted they had accomplished whole days running on nothing but renewable energy. That trend will continue.
Other countries with shorter travel distances are now considerably ahead of the US in adopting EV's. Keep an eye on Ford, they seem to be the leader in traditional US manufacturers developing EV strategy - while Tesla has already become a major passenger car supplier in the US. In summary the future is already here.
