Nope brushless is much more cost than nitro. Just for some decent lipo cells alone you are talking the same price as a top notch engine, then add a motor and ESC. The idea of pit mates is something I think that makes nitro good for the social side. You are forced to make friends, especially when you do big meetings with christmas tree finals and you need 1 person to marshal your point and 1 or 2 people pitting for you.
I have meet many people in RC this way when people in my usual racing crowd are busy pitting for others, it just forces you to socialise with people you wouldn't ordinarily. But electric is quieter, so has the social side there.
But yeah, more cost, a lot more. But you get simplicity. Engines are usually good, about 80% of the time, but the 20% of the time they cause hassle it gets REALLY frustrating. Electric 10th is just too weak. You can imagine at a track like the Neo, something nice and big, you would need at least a 7 turn motor to match the speed of rallycross. And at that speed the smallest scrape with anything would snap anything in half.
So yes, electric in 8th scale buggies seems the future. It's certainly not new, a guy has done it down my local club for years now. It's just getting popularity to race on a bigger scale. If people are interested I say start converting buggies, so we can start racing
