Would it sound as good?

no
but it could be a sound that is useful depending on music style
it could also be of use to those doing pre-production work

Would bands he might track be willing to use it too?

Gut feeling is no
it will again come down to music styles

I have an electronic kit and it is near impossible to get bands to use it ...
Often when the band leaves I'll sit on the elec-kit and have a bash and a quick edit.
:(
the singer and guitarist will like it , even with cheesy drum sounds
but the bass and drummer will get very long in the face.

they don't like to have their bad timing shown up
and the drummer has never heard about tunning drums.

So much for your son to learn and recording good drums take all things to be in good condition
room
drum kit
mics and pres
and most of all
...
a great drummer

If your son wants to learn a bit of drums and music production and arrangement for himself then I'd say get a cheap elec-kit ...
otherwise learn about real drums and how to record them.

Thanks for the reply.

I just wanted to make sure I was clear--I meant electric drums, not an electric drum machine.

yes electric drums
like
V-drum
DT-xpress
and many others at various price breaks in between

or even an Alesis D4 with misc drum triggers ... as I have
including DIY drum triggers

Electric drums can be great:
You can rehearse at any time with no one complaining about noise;
You can change the whole sound of the drumkit with a click of a mouse;
And you can load to your sampler non-traditional samples and create grooves (which can be very exciting sometimes) you would never be able to create with one acoustic drum kit.

You might want to check out the following link to see what can be done with electric drums (check out the movies):

http://www.toontrack.com/demos.shtml

Nothing compares to the sound of a real kit, but recording properly an acoustic drum kit is one of the hardest things to do in a studio (kit, mics, room) and without the proper budget it will never sound 'professional'.