Would we also by now be facing problems from the emissions from what would have been hundreds of millions of 'petrol' and 'diesel' cars?
Much worse, and the Torque curve on even a Diesel engine is terrible compared to an electric motor, (but compared to the even older Steam models they do pretty well.) And they were dirty as all get out. Still less destructive than the Early Modern electric cars were, since all those batteries did just go to the dump half the time.
But Following the Clean Air act, things were getting better. Heck, the Honda Civic CVCC is still one of the cleanest vehicles ever produced in terms of lifetime emissions, and the numbers are only looking up in places like Latin America.
Anyway, I wouldn't say that the Internal combustion engine is dead yet. Most utility vehicles (like the International Harvester Scout and Land Rover) do have an option for a Gasoline/Ethanol or Diesel engine. Yes, contrary to popular belief, pretty much every Automaker has at least one legacy Liquid-fueled model sold in the West/Developed world, and they're AMC's bread and butter for the most part, since no-one really seems to want an electric Jeep. Although they were the first to introduce the now standard system for running AWD in an EV on the Eagle back in '82. Of course it was a much nicer car for Winter than most of the compact european EVs that had dominated the market in the 80s, save the really overpowered SAAB 99E and it's rediculous Haldex AWD system, and a kerosene/propane/coleman fuel heater to keep the batteries and passengers in the right condition.
That said, it's nice being pretty much the only Automotive mechanic for about 100 miles who knows how to work on Gasoline engines. There's still plenty of business from the old hobbyists with their Pre-Modern or Soviet gasoline-powered behemoths.
Maybe the Citroen SM V6 wouldn't have been the pinacle of engineering, design and refinement it was for a solid two decades it was in our timeline. Oh, how I would love to get my hands on one, or an old DS as a hobby car, and something to work on besides water-logged Ladas, questionably legal Volkswagens and ancient landyachts.