A gallon of gasoline / liter of petrol actually contains a tremendous amount of energy.
The problem is, the technology used by gasoline cars is so old and inefficient, we throw away most of this energy in the form of waste heat.
In fact, only about 20 percent of the energy from the fuel you put in your tank gets used to move your car down the road or run useful accessories, such as air conditioning.
The rest of the energy is lost to engine and drive-line inefficiencies and idling.
Furthermore, if you are driving alone — let’s say around-town driving with lots of stopping and starting — and you weigh about 1/20th the weight of the vehicle, then, of that 20 percent, only 1% of the energy in the fuel goes toward moving you down the road.
ONE percent ?!
We call ourselves an advanced civilization, surely we can do better than that ?
