Why Gas-Powered Cars Are Superior to Electric Cars

There is considerable hype surrounding the idea of electric cars these days. The Biden administration is forcing the idea on society in a variety of ways, and numerous car manufacturers are trying to push the idea as well, including several startup companies. However, the facts, technical specifications, and capabilities of gas-powered versus electric cars demonstrate that gas-powered cars are still far superior.

Electric car batteries perform poorly at storing energy.

First and foremost, electric cars tend to be very heavy and generally have significantly lower range than their gas-powered counterparts. These tendencies are caused by the limitations of electric batteries compared to fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel fuel. Electric batteries need to be many times heavier than gasoline or diesel fuel to store an equivalent amount of energy. The mass of the batteries causes electric cars not only to be very heavy, but also to get relatively low range on a single charge.

Let’s look at the numbers in terms of specific energy, which is energy stored per unit mass of an energy source, often expressed in watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg). The following examples show how certain batteries compare to gasoline and diesel fuel with regard to specific energy:

• Gasoline and diesel fuel: approximately 13,000 Wh/kg
• Tesla’s 4680-type battery cell: approximately 272-296 Wh/kg
• Hyundai Kona Electric battery: 141.3 Wh/kg (website Green Cars Compare)
• Ford F-150 Lightning battery: 137 Wh/kg (website The Drive, Rob Stumpf article, specs: 112 kWh, 1,800 lbs.)

Other Internet sources may indicate numbers that are somewhat different from the above numbers. Some sources rate the F-150 Lightning’s battery at 110 kWh of total energy stored and 98 kWh of usable energy. In any case, the point is that fossil fuels contain many times more energy per unit mass than even the best batteries. Tesla currently has among the best batteries for electric cars, but even their batteries can put up no contest with fossil fuels.

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are currently the most suitable battery type for fully electric cars, and all of the above-mentioned electric car examples use them. Occasionally, a tech article will be released raving about a new battery technology, such as solid state batteries, that will allegedly be able to store much more energy than even the best Li-ion batteries and deliver much greater ranges for electric cars. However, the hype generally far outpaces the practical applicability of such ideas.

Energy conversion efficiency, an argument for electric cars.

Electric car enthusiasts sometimes argue that the above arguments don’t take into account energy conversion efficiency, which is much higher for electric cars than for gas-powered cars. Energy conversion efficiency implies the percentage of energy originally contained in the gasoline or battery that ultimately gets converted into productive mechanical energy. This efficiency is usually around 90% for electric cars and 20-25% for gas-powered cars, which means electric cars have approximately four times the efficiency of gas-powered cars.

However, this is far from being enough to overcome the difference in specific energy. For instance, gasoline has approximately 45 times the specific energy of the Tesla battery example mentioned earlier according to the numbers mentioned. This is a huge difference. Of course, the Hyundai Kona Electric and the Ford F-150 Lightning both have gas-powered equivalent versions by the same names, so a direct comparison can be made between gas and electric in each of these cases.

Gas-powered cars ultimately prevail.

According to Car And Driver, the Hyundai Kona Electric uses 27 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity to go 100 miles, and the gas-powered Hyundai Kona uses 3.1 gallons of gas to go 100 miles. Gasoline has an energy density of about 36 kWh per gallon, so this can be used for the following conversion: (3.1 gallons) * (36 kWh/gallon) = 111.6 kWh. So, the gas-powered version uses about 111.6 kWh of energy to go 100 miles, which is about four times the 27 kWh of energy used by the Kona Electric to do the same. This is consistent with electric vehicles having about four times the energy conversion efficiency of gas-powered vehicles, as mentioned earlier. But how much energy can the Kona Electric’s battery store? And how much does it weigh?

As mentioned earlier, the Kona Electric’s battery stores about 141.3 Wh/kg, and it also has an energy capacity of approximately 64 kWh (Green Cars Compare). These numbers put the battery’s weight at 453 kg, or nearly 1000 lbs.! If the car uses 27 kWh to go 100 miles, or 270 Wh per mile, then the car’s range is about 237 miles (64,000 / 270), although one or more other sources estimate 258 miles. Meanwhile, sources estimate the gas-powered Kona to get 462 highway miles on a full tank. So, the Kona Electric with a nearly 1000-lb. battery can’t get even close to the range of its gas-powered equivalent.

Let’s consider the Ford F-150 Lightning, which Car And Driver estimates to use 48 kWh of electricity to go 100 miles. It also estimates the gas-powered F-150 to use 5 gallons of gas to go 100 miles, which translates to (5 gallons) * (36 kWh/gallon) = 180 kWh of gas used to go 100 miles. Again, this is nearly four times the energy used by the F-150 Lightning to travel the same distance, granting the advantage of energy conversion efficiency to the Lightning. And what about the energy capacity and weight of the Lightning’s battery?

As mentioned earlier, the F-150 Lightning’s battery weighs about 1,800 lbs. and stores about 137 Wh/kg, which again is no match for gasoline’s ~13,000 Wh/kg! Also, as mentioned earlier, various sources rate this battery’s energy capacity at no more than about 112 kWh. Sources also estimate the Lightning’s range at 230 miles, which seems to assume the 110 kWh capacity based on the rate of 48 kWh per 100 miles. Meanwhile, sources estimate the gas-powered F-150 to have a 550-mile range on a single tank, which far outpaces the F-150 Lightning and its massive electric battery.

The point from all these specifications is that the gas-powered versions ultimately outperform the electric versions with regard to actual results. Electric cars have approximately four times the energy conversion efficiency of gas-powered cars, but fossil fuels typically have 50-100 times the specific energy (energy per unit mass) of the batteries in fully electric cars. The result of the two factors combined is a huge advantage for gas-powered cars.

Other performance issues with electric cars and their batteries.

There are several other performance issues that should be considered regarding electric cars. Fast driving or towing a heavy load can substantially reduce the range of an electric vehicle to a much more disproportionate extent than with gas-powered vehicles. Also, the motor’s power output and torque may be somewhat lower on a partial charge than a full charge, whereas a gas-powered engine obviously produces the same power and torque regardless of the amount of fuel left in the tank. Additionally, an electric car battery’s charge capacity gradually declines over the long term as it undergoes many charge cycles. And routinely using the rapid charging at charging stations takes a much larger and faster toll on the charge capacity and battery life than slow-charging at home. With these considerations, it is important to note that the power and torque output ratings of electric cars are based on testing of a car with a brand new fully charged battery.

There are other challenges associated with the battery in an electric car. As discussed earlier, electric car batteries are very heavy, and the tremendous weight can cause faster wear and tear on the car’s tires and suspension. Also, the battery is full of hazardous chemicals. If the car is involved in an accident that causes the battery to split open, the scene could potentially become a hazmat issue. Finally, the battery could experience problems in extreme temperatures. The car may not operate at all in extremely cold temperatures, and hot temperatures and certain other weather conditions could potentially cause the battery to catch fire. Because of the battery’s chemical content, such a fire would be very hard to extinguish.

Electric cars and their batteries are expensive!

Of course, the issue of cost must be mentioned. It isn’t hard to notice that electric vehicles are generally much more expensive than gas-powered vehicles. This is because the batteries are so expensive. The batteries are the most complex and research-intensive part of electric cars and have been the main limitation of electric cars throughout history because they can’t store nearly as much energy as fossil fuels.

Also, batteries don’t last forever, and the battery in an electric car will inevitably have to be replaced. According to Car And Driver, professional sources estimate that electric car batteries will likely last 8-15 years depending on various factors. They are often covered by warranties, although this may not be the case in all situations. Regardless, someone will be covering the cost of the replacement, which could run many thousands of dollars. The more costs that are covered by the manufacturer, the more they will ultimately have to raise the prices on their cars to cover the costs.

The one thing that could help absorb these costs is the federal government subsidies, but these can only go so far and could even be repealed in the future. Eventually, all the electric cars on the road will need battery replacements, and this will be incredibly expensive overall. And where will all those batteries be disposed? They can be repurposed for a while but will ultimately run out of useful life altogether. Can we dispose of all those batteries without causing a chemical hazard? Questions remain regarding this process and regarding the electric car industry overall.

Energy cost comparison.

Energy costs to fuel or charge a car are also important considerations. The following tables show cost comparisons for powering the gas and electric versions of the Kona and F-150.

	Hyundai Kona
	Gas Version		Electric Version
	Feb 2024 Nat’l Avg	Dec 2020 Nat’l Avg	Charging At Home	Charging Station
Cost per Gallon	$3.328	$2.284
Gallons per 100 miles	3.1	3.1
Cost per kWh			$0.1545	$0.4300
kWh per 100 miles			27	27
Energy cost per 100 miles	$10.32	$7.08	$4.17	$11.61

	Ford F-150
	Gas Version		Electric Version
	Feb 2024 Nat’l Avg	Dec 2020 Nat’l Avg	Charging At Home	Charging Station
Cost per Gallon	$3.328	$2.284
Gallons per 100 miles	5.0	5.0
Cost per kWh			$0.1545	$0.4300
kWh per 100 miles			48	48
Energy cost per 100 miles	$16.64	$11.42	$7.42	$20.64

The first thing to note is that the cost to refuel the gas-powered versions can vary widely. With President Trump, this cost was much lower. In any case, charging an electric car at a charging station is quite expensive and typically exceeds the average cost of refueling a gas-powered car. While charging stations charge much faster than slow-charging at home, it still takes about 30 minutes to an hour, which is much longer than the time needed to refuel a gas-powered car. Also, routine use of charging stations with their rapid charging will substantially reduce the lifespan of the battery and will eat away at its charge capacity much faster than slow charging at home.

Charging an electric car at home has generally been the least expensive, although many hours must be allowed for the battery to recharge. This also assumes that you can obtain access to a charger while at home. If you own your home, you will need to install a suitable garage wall outlet and buy a charger, which tends to run around $500. If you don’t own your home, you may have to rely on your landlord to provide access to charging, which may or may not be an option. Overall, home-charging a car may not be worth the potential hassles.

Economic and infrastructure issues.

While home-charging a car has always been relatively inexpensive, this may not always hold true if electric cars were to become the predominant form of personal travel. Like any prices, gas and electricity prices are determined from supply and demand. If society overwhelmingly shifted to electric cars, there would be a huge increase in demand for electricity and therefore a huge increase in price. Likewise, there would be a huge decrease in demand for gasoline and therefore a huge decrease in its price. Then energy costs would no longer be an advantage for electric cars, even with home-charging.

In addition to individual consumer challenges regarding electric cars, our infrastructure likely would not be able to handle a substantial shift toward electric cars. Our electric grid almost certainly wouldn’t be able to handle the huge increase in charging demand, and our roads and especially bridges wouldn’t be able to withstand the increase in the number of heavy electric cars carrying massive batteries.

There are also economic, humanitarian, and national security issues with obtaining and supplying the raw materials needed to produce the batteries. According to this web page, China ranks first in the world for the mineral deposits needed to make Li-ion batteries, and the United States ranks 15^th. So, the United States would be heavily reliant on one of its greatest adversaries to supply those minerals. Additionally, the process of mining those materials often involves serious environmental and humanitarian issues in the countries with the most abundant mineral deposits.

On the other hand, if gasoline and diesel fuel remain the predominant energy sources used by vehicles for both personal and commercial purposes, none of the above-mentioned economic, infrastructure, national security, or other issues will be a problem. The United States has abundant domestic access to oil and can be energy-independent if we could have a presidential administration that was capable of making any rational sense.

(Blog continues below)

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The market is rejecting electric cars.

Although the federal government and some corporations are attempting to force electric vehicles on society, the good news is that the people are rejecting this effort. Even with the federal government subsidies and with the major car manufacturers engaging in mass production of electric vehicles, the increased supply is being met with weak demand. The major manufacturers are resorting to layoffs, and electric car startup companies are failing. Even Tesla’s stock is slumping, which may be caused by the substantial rejection of electric vehicles in the overall market.

Here is some information about the stock prices of Tesla and several electric car startup companies (as of 3/31/2024):

• Tesla (TSLA): currently around $175/share, was as high as $414.50/share several years ago
• Rivian (RIVN): currently $10-$11/share, was many times higher in its first six months of existence
• Fisker (FSR): currently below 10 cents/share and at risk of being delisted
• Lucid (LCID): currently $2.85/share, was as high as the $50s and $60s per share in 2021
• Nikola (NKLA): currently around $1/share, high of $93.99/share in 2020, finished the year 2020 at $15.26/share
• NIO: currently around $4.50/share, high of $66.99/share in 2021, finished the year 2021 at $31.68/share

The people are resisting the electric vehicle push, and the market and the government are being forced to listen.

Given the limitations and risks associated with electric car batteries, the cost issues, and the risks to overall society, gas-powered vehicles still prevail over electric vehicles by a long shot in today’s market. This has always been the case for many of the same general reasons discussed above and will likely continue to be the case in the future, barring some huge breakthrough in battery technology that doesn’t involve excessive costs.

Summary of key points.

• Fossil fuels store much more energy per unit mass than even the best electric batteries.
• Therefore, electric vehicles are typically very heavy and get poor range compared to gas-powered vehicles.
• Electric vehicles have energy conversion efficiency as an advantage, but this advantage is still not nearly enough to overcome the huge amount of energy stored in fossil fuels.
• Electric vehicles and their batteries have other performance issues that also undermine their market viability.
• Electric vehicles and their batteries are expensive.
• Energy cost comparison involves many considerations and isn’t as straight forward as many may think, as prices of gas and electricity can potentially vary widely due to economic forces of supply and demand.
• Electric vehicles can cause economic, humanitarian, and environmental issues and can compromise U.S. infrastructure and national security.
• The people are largely rejecting the electric vehicle push, and the market is punishing electric vehicle companies across the board.

(End of blog. Comments section below.)

The following is a brief video I made a while back quickly summarizing much of the information laid out above. Click the left (or top) frame to view in YouTube or the right (or bottom) frame to view in Rumble.

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