Besides all the other great points commenters have raised, I'd like to address this:
> If we rolled out EVs, and then just burned all the plastic trash (using waste-to-energy plants), we would still be far ahead.
Well yes. But... we're probably not going to just "rolled out EVs" so easily. Every step will most likely seem small, because it will be, because that's the only thing we can realistically, politically do. But that doesn't make it not worth doing.
We may as well say "if we just stopped using electricity we'd be way ahead". Not a good basis for comparison, and even if it were, it's still only like 20%-30% percent of oil use (off the top of my head), so even that won't unilaterally solve all problems.
> I get your point, but no. This is the type of thinking that led to the stagnation of the auto industry.
I'm sorry, I don't follow. In what way?
> Why not roll out EVs that easily? The most profitable case company is doing it.... why would anyone go anything else?
I'm all in favor of rolling out EVs. I'm in favor of new technical innovations. I'm in favor of better regulations. In short, I'm in favor of doing many things at once to combat one of our biggest emergencies.
> If we rolled out EVs, and then just burned all the plastic trash (using waste-to-energy plants), we would still be far ahead.
Well yes. But... we're probably not going to just "rolled out EVs" so easily. Every step will most likely seem small, because it will be, because that's the only thing we can realistically, politically do. But that doesn't make it not worth doing.
We may as well say "if we just stopped using electricity we'd be way ahead". Not a good basis for comparison, and even if it were, it's still only like 20%-30% percent of oil use (off the top of my head), so even that won't unilaterally solve all problems.