This morning's commute and other commuting stories

better a coal fired power station in the middle of nowhere than a diesel in my face...

And the pollution generated by all the many devices using it can be dealt with in that one place.

Also, @Skülly, separating the original power generation from the vehicle means you can change the method of generation without having to redesign and replace the engine. So if coal powered stations are replaced by something cleaner, all the dependent electric devices become cleaner. Separation of concerns. That's a big contrast to petrol/diesel engines, which in any case are so tightly coupled to the nature of the fuel they burn that it's very hard to genuinely reduce their pollution.

Of course, batteries aren't made from hemp, bamboo and coconut water, don't last for ever and are hard to dispose of cleanly, so the real balance is trickier to calculate.