rationalskepticism.org

Everybody is responsible. Oil companies, auto manufacturers, consumers, urban planners, basically society in general. We (at least Americans, Canadians, and Australians) live in large countries where pubic transport is not economically viable except in urban corridors. There are enormous swathes of sparsely populated countryside where ICE transport is necessary. Hybrid technology can help address that, but not EV. It's simply not possible, at this juncture, to replace (for example) big diesel rigs with electrics, the tech just isn't there. It's not just battery storage capacity, it's also charging time, and charging infrastructure. I've no doubt that we will eventually get there, but not for a while. In the interim, financially penalizing people who have no reasonable options is counter-productive. Somebody needs to live in the sticks, as long as you city folks want to eat, that is. And yes, we can build vertical hydroponic farms in urban areas, automate distant, large scale farms, redesign our cities, fix the railroads, upgrade the electrical grid, bring solar and wind and geothermal power online, all that great stuff, but it isn't going to happen overnight, and not without an enormous financial and political commitment.