> b)Large automakers know this but simpler for them translates into less maintenance which means lower profits. Automakers therefore will pay lip service to electrics, drag their feet and kill off any real electric competition if they can. The world's environment is not a shareholder in the large automakers.

If I'm not mistaken, maintenance translates to profits for dealers which are completely different from manufacturers (unless you're talking about Tesla). From the standpoint of the manufacturers, it's in their interest to force people to buy new cars instead of buying them, so they should be making cars that fall apart quickly--except the evidence is that car quality has dramatically improved over the past 40 years.