Your EV vs. ICE strawman misses the point the speaker was making which is more nuanced than your proposed black/white dichotomy. Reduction of his presentation to an EV bad, ICE good theme is more a religious interpretation than anything logical.
The board is debating the path, not the destination. I think that's a valuable debate.
Rule #1, Don't lose money. Rule #2, read rule #1. - WB.