"Over the vehicle’s lifetime, however, the global warming emissions benefits of driving on electricity far outweigh the emissions costs of vehicle manufacturing; most EVs “pay back” their production emissions within one or two years of driving, a period that will shorten as electricity grids get cleaner.
Read more about manufacturing emissions in our in-depth analysis of life cycle EV emissions, "Cleaner from Cradle to Grave" (2015)."
That was always my argument. I think that to look at it holistically, you also have to consider people who are adding an EV instead of replacing a normal car with one. Rich people love tax breaks, and they're happy to drive a Tesla with $7k paid for by taxpayers. If you do replace a car, factoring in not just the EV but the effects of that otherwise-serviceable car being scrapped or whatever. Consider also that EVs becoming popular creates more demand in general for cars, so someone is likely to purchase a new EV when they could have just kept using their normal car.
"Over the vehicle’s lifetime, however, the global warming emissions benefits of driving on electricity far outweigh the emissions costs of vehicle manufacturing; most EVs “pay back” their production emissions within one or two years of driving, a period that will shorten as electricity grids get cleaner.
Read more about manufacturing emissions in our in-depth analysis of life cycle EV emissions, "Cleaner from Cradle to Grave" (2015)."
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/electric-vehicles/ev-em...
(They also have an interactive tool, but it only does mileage based on your local grid and vehicle, not manufacturing)