I like the old diesel Mercedes as much as any one, but the writing is on the wall.

Economic factors, not subsidies are what Seba is talking about. A superior product, e.g. a vehicle with 18 moving parts and a 95% efficient motor will supplant a polluting breakdown prone expensive to maintain product as surely as E-mail is supplanting snail mail. (Tho i miss the snail mail and still use it some!)

Seba maintains that battery prices and storage capacity are also on an exponential curve, and he projects that at a certain point electric vehicles with sufficient range will become cheaper that the current gas guzzler.

You can't have it both ways. Either batteries do not have sufficient energy density, or they are an explosion hazard greater than 20 gallons of gasoline in a tank.

In the 1970's, fossil and power plant proponents said that U.S. electricity consumption was increasing at 7% a year. Someone did the math, and concluded that to maintain that growth rate, by the year 2600, the U.S. would be a solid shaft of power plants extending outward into space at the speed of light! Such is the power of exponential growth.

Surely the wealthy, and those of us who can find sufficient WVO, will continue to drive the classic old cars, such as our beloved Mercedes diesels. But for ordinary folks, EV's and solar power will be the only practical and affordable choice.