I also lived through all
I also lived through all these shifts and used to have a compass for school, way back then. We had an IBM XT, then I became a computer consultant. I know a lot of people who power their EVs with solar panels and elsewhere where the wind blows more, wind turbine make even more sense. I hope to see off shore wave energy harnessed because that is a day, day out abundant energy.
There is a great talk on TED, I think it was Simon Sinek who talked about the early adopter curve and then the mass. All new technologies did the same. I was one of the first people in NYC to use a headset for my cell phone in the late 90s. People thought I was crazy and talking to myself. Today we commonly see ear cockroaches :)
I think we are a reluctant bunch and our analytical and critical capacities have never been developed through our worn out education system, so something like EVs are too much for most people to understand. I'm working on a how do you talk to people about EVs, depending on who they are. In other words, don't tell an environmentalist about 100% electric motor torque, or an adrenaline junky about zero emission.
As far as PHEVs, like I said, it's a stepping stone and will do very well the next 8 years until battery energy density becomes good enough to carry us further. You mention 500 miles is not important. As much as I agree, yes, it's not practical and I don't know many bladders who can drive 500 miles :) But somehow, people are clinging on to this magical number, drawn out of nowhere. Maybe it's not such a bad thing and it pushes carmakers to go beyond and further. At the same time, it hinders the mass adoption of what we could already have now.
P.S. go check out Power Engineering, they have interesting new studies, US energy pollute 19% less then in 2010 and a new wind farm producing 50 gW.