The thing is that buying a new car of any kind actively works against a future that solves the problem merely attenuated by buying an electric car. You can have

The thing is that buying a new car of any kind actively works against a future that solves the problem merely attenuated by buying an electric car. You can have the same impact by keeping your current car and simply driving less. People willing to spend $15k on this cause are probably willing to take the equally impactful and less compromising step of changing their transport and consumption habits, instead. So you're probably right that what's left is mostly people participating in a cultural trend. You're just wrong that people are refusing to solve the problem through electric cars, since electric cars don't solve the problem. People are acting reasonably in response to that, there's no inconsistency or hypocrisy in it.