You will not be saving the environment nor will the life-time cost per mile be less than a used diesel car.
twotone, you really surprise me. You don’t even know the OP’s situation. The OP might be using power generated by a nuclear plant, solar panels, windmills, or hydroelectric power plants. What about a natural gas power plant? Doesn’t natural gas burn cleaner than coal and oil?
In addition, I am willing to bet there would be an efficiency advantage that any internal combustion engine can’t match. Even if the power came from a coal or oil burning power plant, do you really think a power plant would burn as much fuel to power the car and generate as much pollution? Maybe if we were talking about an unregulated power plant in Haiti, you would be right, but now that Bush is out of office, the EPA is doing its job again regulating power plant emissions.
Maybe it would be wise to ask questions before jumping to conclusions.