28 August

Energy, and range. The reason petrol and diesel vehicles tend to have higher ranges is that the fuel they use has enormous energy density, as you can see. Every litre of the fuel contains enormous amounts of energy. By comparison a Li-ion battery has a very small energy density. But petrol and diesel engines waste up to 80% or more of that energy. It goes straight out the exhaust, as heat. They’re hopelessly inefficient, it’s like saying your TV remote lasts longer than everybody else’s, because you keep 2-dozen extra batteries in the lounge room to continuously switch out when it goes flat. Li-ion battery vehicles are now approaching the same range as petrols and diesels, with a MUCH smaller energy density fuel, because they’re vastly more efficient. 80-95% efficient. Petrol and diesel range is a trick. They waste the majority of the energy used. It’s also why petrols and diesels have gears, the engines are so inefficient at converting the fuel into movement, that they need to do it in stages - gears. Try moving off from a red light in 4th or 5th gear and see how far you get. The car will stall. It’s amusing to me that changing gears is such a fetish for drivers, the thing put in petrols and diesels to stop their puny engines stalling. EVs don’t have gears. They don’t need them, you get maximum power from 0 rpm. If you’ve never driven one, you won’t know just how breathtaking that power and acceleration is. And all without the ridiculous amounts of noise (more wasted energy) and moving parts, and crap spewing out the exhaust.