This provides a reason to think that the pollution from power plants would not necessarily affect urban areas. Thus, Umit’s point about pollution from power plants does not necessarily show that battery-powered cars can’t reduce urban pollution.

Even if the increased pollution from electricity demand would be offset by decreased pollution from electric cars, that just means we’re back to the same level of pollution as before. This doesn’t undermine Umit’s point, which is that electric cars won’t decrease urban pollution.

Even if electric cars could be limited to smaller batteries, that doesn’t change the fact that widespread use of electric cars would create a greater demand for electricity from power plants.

The argument concerns widespread use of battery-powered vehicles. Hybrid vehicles are a different kind of vehicle and don’t impact what would happen if non-hybrid electrics become widespread.

The issue is not whether the power plants could produce enough electricity. It’s about the pollution produced from the power plants. If anything, (E) might strengthen by showing that power plants have the capacity to make more electricity and thus pollute.