I mean your logic is sound but car companies dragged their feet for years on even plug in hybrids and so just like the mulled wine example in the article, it wouldn't work in the real world. GM had an amazing things with the Voltec architecture. ~50 miles on electric was more than enough for even the most discerning customers yet they never really extended it past the Chevy Volt. It should have been rolled out to all of their vehicles. That would help push them to also drive down the cost and eventually make it the standard powertrain on their cars. Over the course of 1 generation you have eliminated a large chunk of co2 emissions from transportation.

Instead they never introduced it to other cars, now they have discontinued the Volt(because who wants an overpriced Chevy Cruze anyway?) and now they nothing for sale because of battery issues.

Battery issues will be resolved in the next few years as more factories come online so I don't see how a "battery hog" issue will arise unless there is a fundamental shortage of raw materials. Seems like the battery companies are also investing in recycling so this eventually becomes a closed loop system.